Loadstart event not triggered by inappbrowswer in phonegap 3.5

I am building an app using a combination of angularjs and ionic. I am running cordova version 3.5 and have the latest inAppBrowser cordova plugin 0.5. I am taking some boilerplate code and having it run in a controller but the loadstart event never triggers.The crazy thing is the window still opens just fine.

$scope.call_google = function(){
       var authWindow = window.open('http://www.google.com', '_blank', 'location=no,toolbar=no');
       authWindow.addEventListener('loadstart', function(event) {
       console.log('loadstart fired');
       var url = event.originalEvent.url;
   });
}