Lineage 1000

[X-rated]

Anyone operating a Lineage 1000 care to share any insights? How would you rate the reliability, support, performance, flying qualities? What do you like about the plane? What don't you like about the plane? We're currently flying a Global XRS and are considering a larger cabin.

 

[Freight Dog]

I used to fly the Lineage from 2009 until last year, including the very first one.

It's a decent aircraft, but it has its quirks and issues. Reliability is pretty good. This aircraft was originally designed with high cycles in mind.

We had some growing pains with the first one with the refueling system. As a result, Embraer put out a SB which 'addressed' the problem, but didn't quite solve it. Basically, if you want to take on max fuel, you have to "reset" the refuel system and have the SOV do their self-test before you take on the last 5000 kg's. I believe this was going to be addressed in one of the subsequent Loads, not sure if it was as the aircraft I flew after the first one had the same problem.

Performance-wise, we generally didn't have any runway performance issues - we used APG for our runway analysis. If you depart at MGTOW, you'll be stuck in low to maybe mid-30's initially. That can be a drag. We'd usually cruise at .78 unless doing max range in which case, we'd do .76. The longest flight I've done on it was 9 hours 25 minutes (Beijing - Bahrain). I'd say range is kinda on par with G-450. I think 4,500 nm that Embraer advertises is a bit enthusiastic, though they've done Mumbai - London. I'd love to see how much fuel did they land with.

The cockpit is very roomy and comfortable. Take it from a 6' 7" guy... it's much roomier than the BBJ.

Here are some of the issues with the Lineage.

No external airstairs access. Yes, that's right... You'll be able to drop off the client, but then you'll have to figure out how to secure the aircraft. Now, as weird as it sounds, we haven't had any significant issues with this. It can suck for the crew, especially if you're at some podunk airport with no stairs and you have to use maintenance steps to get down after securing the aircraft for the night.

The tow bar. It's highly impractical to take with you. Your best bet is to ensure that your destination will have an E-170/190 tow bar if you'll be required to do the pushback. If you have to carry your own, then the pushback, disassembly, and storage is at least a 30-45 minute job.

The shower (an option on one of the aircraft I flew). If you get a shower option, you'll lose about half of your baggage compartment. Without the shower, you'll have plenty of baggage space. With shower, it will get cramped as it's built into the baggage compartment. In a year and a half that I've flown the aircraft with the shower, not one person has actually used it since we took delivery of it.

PATS DeCrane interior workmanship sucked in the first aircraft! Embraer took it in-house, and they haven't been that much better with the second aircraft. They might have improved it in the last 2 years.

All in all, Lineage has a very nice ramp presence. It's a sexy looking aircraft. Your boss will probably like it, depending on your mission. You on the other hand coming off of Global, well... you'll learn to like it.

I can go into a lot more detail, but this is just the basic overview.

 

[johnsonrod]

I realize the Lineage is not the same as the standard E190/95 airliner in terms of interior and custom fittings, but I found one statement by a JetBlue E190 FO recently very interesting (and keep in mind I currently fly older, dilapidated ERJs uke:

"The E190 seems to have been built out of one big Bic Razor. Lots of plastic. Everything seems to have been done on the cheap. The Primus Epic upfront is underwhelming."

Now, that was just one man's opinion. I have also spoken to other JB and Republic pilots who really enjoy it (perhaps a step-up from the old ERJ).

I guess it doesn't matter what the pilots think about the flight deck - the passengers are the ones who want the roomy interior and ultimately write the checks...

 

[johnsonrod]

I found this interesting commentary about the E175/190 on another forum - written by an Air Canada E-Jet pilot. Not sure how up-to-date it is:



Generally speaking, those coming off the RJ love it, those coming off the Airbus or Boeing, are not that impressed.

It is a hybrid of Boeing stuff and Airbus stuff and it does neither as well as the original in my opinion. You get what you pay for. It is a cheap airplane to buy so you cannot expect miracles.

After 2000 hrs of flying the thing, the best analogy that I can come up with would be like shopping for a used car. You can spend more money and get a nice BMW ( Airbus ) or a Cadillac ( Boeing ) but in the end, the KIA sitting in the corner will still get you to the grocery store for a lot less money, just be sure to purchase some roadside assistance.

I am not impressed at all with the Primus Epic. The airline would save much more in fuel if pilots flew the descent profiles manually in idle thrust. Leave it to the FMS and you are more often than not either descending with power on or throwing out all the anchors to make a restriction. Some guys do fly it manually but I find that the newer generation of pilots have not been taught that concept. There is no reason why a DC9 without even a ground speed readout, can be flown into YYZ or ORD consistently, at idle thrust with proper energy management but an all seeing all doing GPS coupled FMS and Fadec guided airplane can't. I am sure ATC gets frustrated as various crews have various methods of building slow down points into the descent profile, so not all Embraers will start to slow at a predicted point. If an Airbus needs to be at 10,000 Ft and 250 kts by a certain point, it will descend at 300 kts ( or whatever is selected ) until just short of that point and then bleed off the remaining speed in idle to reach 250kts by the time it crosses. An Embraer will just draw a straight line to that point, it is not smart enough to know that there is potential energy that needs to be converted to kinetic energy and bled off appropriately. The result is like re entry to the earth's atmosphere. Too steep an angle and you are riding the boards, too shallow an angle and you have the thrust up. This is why guys will build a target waypoint short of the actual. Pretty "mickey mouse" by today's standards.

 

[paulsalem]

No external airstairs access.

If you have to carry your own, then the pushback, disassembly, and storage is at least a 30-45 minute job.

That's insane.

 

[Freight Dog]

Surprisingly enough, it hasn't really affected us.... but it definitely was a "wtf" item when I first transitioned to the plane.

 

[X-rated]

Thanks for the input. It's very helpful since I know virtually nothing about the Lineage. We're also looking at BBJs and ACJs. Personally, I'd prefer a G650, but the cabin is pretty much the same size as the XRS, so we will see...

 

[flyzimex]

Freight Dog and X-rated, since you both live in the same city I can set up a face to face meeting if you wanna talk some more.

 

[PMVULB AvMgr]

I don't know about the Lineage, but I'm on board a JetBlue E190 every two weeks. From a passenger perspective, the cabin heating/air conditioning has some issues. Probably a quarter of all the flights I've ever been on have an issue with the cooling whereby the cabin will go up in temperature about 25 - 30 degrees for about 5 - 10 minutes - this will happen several times during a flight. Must be an issue with the Lineage as well - I wonder?