Most Challenging Regional Aircraft??

[Coool Hand Luke]

Cardinal:

The funny thing about having all those generators on the EMB-120 is that if you loose the two main generators and the APU is not available the packs are inoperative and you loose pressurization...even with the two aux generators working normally. Cool. Not.

 

[coogebeachhotel]

+1 on the E120 being the most challenging.

second that

 

[lowtimedriver]

Hopefully, no Skywest regular PAX's will be reading this post!LOL. I always wondered about the Brasilia. The bird looks like a real stable platform when landing and you rarely hear about accidents with the Brasilia. Seems to me the biggest complaint is more on systems & equipment rather than flying qualities. At any rate, this is a great thread.

 

[OPECJet]

Gotta suck having to reverse engineer a turboprop in ground school.

 

[BCpilot81]

I have never flown it, but from what I hear, the Brasilia was a ball twister, and I know that ASA has some stories involving that one. Thank God I did not have to learn it.

 

[Blade Runner]

For my own experience I would have to say the Metroliner. I don't know if they still are flying them in 121 service or just Part 135 now. My instrument skills was the best they have ever been after I flew that thing.

 

[ArcticFlier]

I've flown both the EMB 120 and the SA 227................The Brasilia was cake compared to the Metro..........................



AF

 

[NuGuy]

Dash is nice in a crosswind. Use the wing down, and let the SOB hit. Got a huge rudder back there to keep it going straight.

I've hear horror stories about that little Limey Jetscream.

Funny thing about landing the Dash. I had a month where every landing was a greaser. Couldn't have made a bad one if I tried. The next month, every landing was crap. Opened the overheads a few times. My paycheck was the same as when I was making the good ones... Now I just don't give a frogs fat arse.

Heyas OPEC,

I have to agree with you 100 percent on that. In my 5000 hours on the Dash, I ran into the EXACT same thing. You'd have good months and bad months for no rhyme or reason.

I did love Flaps 35 though...that freaky pitch angle and that BIG flair at the end.

Still, I loved that bird. Built like a brick privy, and still able to carry 37 people and their sh!t out of HHH on a summer day (well, "1995" people, anyway...they weren't as fat back then).

A/C was weak on the -100s, but MUCH MUCH better on the -200s. Summer in CLT or MIA, though, with a -100 was brutal, even with the APU.

Nu

 

[nickfaith]

As for the 402's...I imagine they are a handful. Same goes for the Chieftain.

GP

I have no idea how a 121 Cheiftain was.. but I flew a corporate PA31-350 and it was marvelous. Flew about the same as a Baron... if you could get the engines started.

 

[BenderGonzales]

I can't believe all you Brasillia wussies.

You had an airplane with APU (air-conditioning), a lav, an autopilot, glass, and an F/A to bring you coffee and you're whining?

You guys wouldn't have lasted ten minutes in the Jetstream.

To the tune of Gilligan's Island:

Just sit right back and you'll hear the tale
Of a typical Jetstream trip
(We) Stuff nineteen paying passengers
Aboard our tiny ship.

No Drinks, no Stu, no Cockpit Door
Not a single luxury
Like Or-ville and Wilbur Wright
As primitive as can be
As primitive as can be

My armrest's stuck, my back is shot
I have a second job
The engines are not making torque
I wish I flew a Saab

We wrote one up, the boss is mad
It's me he wants to fire
I should have stayed in dental school
The majors will not hire
The majors will not hire

The freon's out, the flows are bad
No damper is installed
The passengers are turning green
The new guy is appalled

The pressure spikes, the radar's shot
The brand new engine quit
I hope I live to tell the tale
Of a typical Jetstream trip.
A-board our ti-ny ship!

 

[Coool Hand Luke]

I can't believe all you Brasillia wussies.

You had an airplane with APU (air-conditioning), a lav, an autopilot, glass, and an F/A to bring you coffee and you're whining?

You guys wouldn't have lasted ten minutes in the Jetstream.

To the tune of Gilligan's Island:

Just sit right back and you'll hear the tale
Of a typical Jetstream trip
(We) Stuff nineteen paying passengers
Aboard our tiny ship.
...........

Now that is funny!

 

[h25b]

I remember being a new hire a CHQ just before they started getting the RJ's... At that time you were a God if you were lucky enough to get the Saab 340A. Us 340 guys would look at the Jetstream guys in the crew room and think, "you poor bastards..." Then about a year later the RJ crews were looking at us in the 340's thinking, "you poor bastards..." Ah how the times change...

 

[NuGuy]

LOL, I remember seeing a post on the wall of the CLT crew room with this back in the CCAir days, except the next to last verse was:

The freon's out, the flows are bad
No damper is installed
The passengers are turning green
Their cookies will be lost, their cookies will be lost!

Nu

 

[geshields]

I can't believe all you Brasillia wussies.

You had an airplane with APU (air-conditioning), a lav, an autopilot, glass, and an F/A to bring you coffee and you're whining?

You guys wouldn't have lasted ten minutes in the Jetstream.

To the tune of Gilligan's Island:

Just sit right back and you'll hear the tale
Of a typical Jetstream trip
(We) Stuff nineteen paying passengers
Aboard our tiny ship.

No Drinks, no Stu, no Cockpit Door
Not a single luxury
Like Or-ville and Wilbur Wright
As primitive as can be
As primitive as can be

My armrest's stuck, my back is shot
I have a second job
The engines are not making torque
I wish I flew a Saab

We wrote one up, the boss is mad
It's me he wants to fire
I should have stayed in dental school
The majors will not hire
The majors will not hire

The freon's out, the flows are bad
No damper is installed
The passengers are turning green
The new guy is appalled

The pressure spikes, the radar's shot
The brand new engine quit
I hope I live to tell the tale
Of a typical Jetstream trip.
A-board our ti-ny ship!

I forgot all about that rhyme. That was passed around the TSA crew lounge regularly back in the day....

 

[81Horse]

Based on that Jetstream song (which I have never read before, so I'm LMAO now!), I declare the Jetstream to be WORSE than the Brasilia.

However, there once was a time when Metro drivers would watch a Jetstream go by (in freon-induced comfort) and think, "You lucky bastards!" Passengers thought they were a big improvement over the Metros, too. And based on this, I declare the Metro WORST.

Unless you'd all like to go even farther back, to the Beech 99 and the Bandeirante. Because those guys used to watch Metros taxi by and think, "You lucky bastards!"

 

[geojet707]

The "Wiggle Pig"
AKA Jetstream 32

No autopilot...short "arm" (center of wing to tail)
we got real good with trim....and landing gear made for carrier landings(no joke!!)

AMEN....nothing like the J-Ball!!!!

 

[81Horse]

... short "arm" (center of wing to tail) ...

Plus the big dihedral. A real Dutch roll factory.

 

[jester757]

Word...J-ball is the worst. But don't all you former J-31 pilots wish you had half the scan we had back then? I know I do!

 

[geshields]

Word...J-ball is the worst. But don't all you former J-31 pilots wish you had half the scan we had back then? I know I do!

Yes and no...

I sort of like the LNAV, VNAV with autopilot and an awesome A/C system now...and a map...that will automatically figure out the holds for me and draw me a pretty picture....

 

[BenderGonzales]

well that was back when we were aviators. Now we are simply pilots -- the preverbial monkey who pushes the button to get the banana.