How do you land the CRJ?

[Anaconda]

not to ask a stupid question, but i was just curious as to what, if any, techniques or special requirements are required to land the CL-65. anything that can come back and bite you?

 

[MetroSheriff]

anything that can come back and bite you?

Forgetting to put the gear down, I suppose...

 

[skydiverdriver]

The best way I have found is to keep the nose pointed at the aim point until the last second, and then flare. Sometimes I get the wheels to touch just as the flare ends, and it works out pretty well. I used to try to touch down really nice, but you ended up floating so far that you could miss the touchdown zone. Another thing I do is push the stick foreward while on the ground. This is a technique, and it keeps the nosewheel firmly planted and aids in directional control. Some pilots like to keep the nose in the air for what they call "Aerodynamic Braking," but many people think this is dangerous and unneeded. Jets are designed to be stopped with the brakes, and when you do a wheelie, the spoliers are less directly aligned with the wind anyway. I wonder when one of these pilots will have a thrust reverser deploy on one side, or get a good gust of wind and end up in the weeds doing this.

Don't worry about it, the CRJ has trailing link gear which makes most landings look pretty good. It's not that hard to handle, and you can even touch down with a little sideslip, and it doesn't hurt anything. Hope this helps, and good luck.

 

[Anaconda]

hey SDD, do guys at OH use reverse that much or just pretty much rely on brakes? they never seem to use it that much when i have ridden in the back. thanks for the reply!

 

[skydiverdriver]

It doesn't seem like we use it much, but we do. They take awhile to deploy, because the cowls have to translate back for them to operate. Then the engines have to spool up, and we pull them back to idle at 50' agl. Then, they can't stay at full power above 60 kts, so we have to stow them early. Anyway, a lot of people think that the things that stop a jet are reversers, spoilers and brakes, in that order. The correct answer is brakes, then spoilers followed by reversers. The reverse thrust isn't even used in performance calculations on a dry runway. And, the main purpose of the spolers is to get more weight on the wheels so that the brakes work better. Oh, also, you can't hear the reversers much because the engines are so quiet, and they are just reversing the fan air, not the core air. Jets with reversers that use all of the air are much louder. Hope this helps you.

 

[Ted Striker]

"everyone's a passenger for the last 20 feet!"

Just kidding, the CRJ is a **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**cat to land. I have heard that the 70 seater is a bear and talked with a guy who had sat through 3 bonecrushers. That trailing link is pretty sweet. You almost kind of drive it on, wipe the power out at 50' and ride it on. I am one of those bad guys that will hold the nose off a bit when I have tons of runway and the winds are light. It does seem to be barely moving when you drop the nose that way, but I wouldn't get in a habit of it. If it's short, wet or windy-just get it on and let the brakes and boards do their thing. The thing has killer brakes too, you can just stand on them and it will stop in a hurry. Have fun.

 

[Ted Striker]

Ok, it just censored a word that the last three letters are cat, like the animal. The first part of the word looks a lot like fussy. Thank God the censors are here to save us from ourselves!!

 

[DoinTime]

Wheelie King

Some pilots like to keep the nose in the air for what they call "Aerodynamic Braking," but many people think this is dangerous and unneeded

If anyone can beat 72 knts. until nosewheel contact in the CRJ I want to have a head to head competion with you. You aint doin a wheelie until you get the "WOW input" caution message!

 

[flight-crew]

Another thing about the CRJ is that the approach ref speeds are pretty high due to the fact that there are no leading edge devices. Probably on par with a B757.

You may also notice that the deck angle is very nose down because of the lack of leading edge devices. If you look at one coming in on final, it almost looks as if it's diving for the runway.

The reversers do take some time to deploy, but once they are out and the engines are spooled up, they are pretty effective.

As far as the flare maneuver, you usually bring the power to idle at 50ft and then just fly it on to the runway. I usually have a slight amount of nose-up trim in. Then I just ease off a little bit of yoke pressure on the flare.

 

[tcoll777]

I'm with MetroSheriff, always remember the GEAR!!!!!

 

[Beechnut]

I hear that SkyWest has been using the "drag the wingtip along the ground" technique lately. (ha ha folks)

S!

 

[IAHERJ]

The ERJ has no leading edge devices and thus very high approach speeds when heavy as well yet we still fly the approach with about 3 degrees of nose up pitch to track the glide slope. We land with 45 degrees of flaps as our full flap setting with target speeds of around 138 at a normal load. Our reversers are used almost all the time and are clam-shell type reversers that deploy rather quickly however do not spool up until the nose wheel is on the ground. The 37 seaters (135's) land a bit differently and have a bit more nose low attitude (1degree up) on final but you can flare them earlier and not run out of nose up trim when the mains touch, unlike their big brother.
Takeoff is another animal in itself. Yesterday, with a full load out of COS on a hot day in a 145, we used about 8500 feet of runway before rotation started. **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** boy scouts with their duffle bags! Just kidding.
IAHERJ
Temp EWRERJ

 

[Ted Striker]

Wheelie King!

Doin Time,

Nice work!! I got it to about 85-90 knots a few times and I thought that was impressive. The things at taxi speed when the nosewheel hits. Wow, 72 knots....still impressed.


Beechnut, what happened at SKY?

 

[skydiverdriver]

Yup, the lack of leading edge devices do cause a nose low attitude, and this makes it easy to flare early and float down past the td zone. It looks like a bit of ground rush when you get low, and we have even had people in the jumpseat cry out in horror just before landing. So, if you have a jumpseater that flies a different type, be sure to warn him of this. Good luck guys.

 

[Ted Striker]

I didn't think it was any extreme attitude, it's only about 2.5 down. Not horrible, but yeah the ground rush is there sometimes. Especially with an upsloping runway. Most jumpseaters scream in horror when I am at the controls anyhow, so I am fairly used to it!

 

[IAHERJ]

Yeah, back before 9/11 I had the chance twice to ride up front on the CRJ. Once on ASA and once on Airlink. Both trips were into MGM. The ASA captain was very senior and pulled the power to idle on downwind at around 5,000 feet. He executed the approach perfectly and just added a touch of power at 100 feet and greased the landing on. I have to say that it looks as if you are going to land on the nosewheel from the jumpseat but you are sitting a few inches higher than the pilots if I remember correctly. I like the cockpit of the CRJ.

 

[Rook]

Good post on the Landing technique SDD.

I have to agree. I personally get nervous when I fly with pilots that try to look 'cute' when landing the CRJ. Holding the Nosewheel off etc...one of these days if a gust catches you just right well fly safe guys.

Rook
600' AGL
Autopilot on. 'WHEW!'

 

[checkessential]

It is not prudent to make an approach with the engines not spooled. ASA prohibits this type of approach. It is unstabilised and not safe. Hopefully you were just unaware that they engines were spooled. They are quiet enough that this was most likely true.

The -700 in my estimation is quite easy to land if you remember that with a higher body angle and slats, it will fall out of the sky with no power on it. Flare, retard, and "push" forward slightly-
it will roll on. Just my .02-

 

[stardog]

My God, SDD just described how to land a Twin Comanche... I'd feel right at home

SD <- Instructing...

 

[Ted Striker]

Yeah, if you aren't spooled up by 500' your butt had better be going around. That is not cool.