What does anybody that has flown the ERJ think of it?

[tjsatter]

I know you guys in the ERJ dont do much of this..But what about when it comes to hand flying?? how does it handle??

The single biggest difference between the ERJ and the Freightliners/Peterbilts I drove in my previous job is in speed. It's a faster truck and the freight loads/unloads itself

tj

 

[flighttime]

You can also impress controllers by making the thing drop out of the sky when they leave you high on a visual. Had one tell me once that they weren't worried about a 145 making it down, but the crj is a differnt story.

 

[detwilers]

You can also impress controllers by making the thing drop out of the sky when they leave you high on a visual. Had one tell me once that they weren't worried about a 145 making it down, but the crj is a differnt story.

I have to disagree. The ERJ doesn't come down nearly as fast as the CRJ. The speed brakes work great on the CRJ. I did a repo from ORD to Fargo one morning in the CRJ. We got PD from 35,000 to 2,500. The CA said watch this! He didn't start down until 30 miles out. Pulled the brakes out. He put it in Speed hold DES at MMO/VMO and the airplane pitched down to -18 degrees. The VSI pegged at 10,000 fpm down so I don't even know the true descent rate. It was nice to know that you could get it down real fast and in true emergengy you can leave out the 250kt at 10,000 that could put you on the ground from cruise in a matter of a few minutes!

 

[huncowboy]

I have no comparison as this is my only jet so far.

I find the ERJ easy to fly and operate. There is not a lot to do in flight, except to manage thrust and cross check. The instruments, color codes, and systems seem to be well grouped. Things make sense overall. Since I got me a plug in type headset with molds the noise and wearing the DC Clark is not an issue anymore. That part of wiping the DCs all the time did suck though. Many complain about crosswind approaches (holding the yoke to the left on the FO side gets old after 10-20 seconds) but I like to hold crab until ground effect so my hand never gets fatigued. The yoke itself is very comfortable. We have a good MX and although this is a jungle jet, there aren't too many MELs however I have nothing to compare this to. On a 4 day I fly an average of 6-8 planes and I may see a total of 2-4 MELs mostly for small stuff. As long it is not pack #1 it is all good.

A couple of things that I don't like:
- we are only allowed to do flaps 45 landings (as of now) which sucks in gusty conditions... easy to overspeed
- the elevator is actuated by cables so you fly this plane with trims all the time or you are getting a workout
- the chart holder is useless... everyone puts charts on the side which means you will look aside once in a while while flying an approach
- bulbs in switches seems to go out a lot
- George with a private pilot's decision skills... let's go left... no no... lets go right
- not enough room in the 135 for crew bags
- removing the nose gear pin while the thug is attached results in some ineresting gymnastics that reminds the observer of gay porn
- the lav stinks
- no place for hats, jackets, coats other than throwing them on the bags or hanging them at places where they don't beling to (ie on the fire estinguisher)
- CRTs are often out of focus as they are getting older

It seems like lots of complaints but most of them are pretty minor.

So far I have jumpseated in RJs, Boeings, and in MD80s. Mostly with Delta, US Air and SW. Of course I would love to fly those planes for those companies but if that ever happens I will have a hard time trading the automation and the moderns cockpit of my jungle jet for a typical mainline airplane (except may be for a bus). The cockpit design has changed so much that to me i.e. the 80 and the 73 (the older generation), even the 75 seemed like you would have to pay more attention to what the airplane was doing, more cross checking etc... but than again I know nothing about those planes and this was just the impression I was getting while in the js. No offense meant to anyone who is flying those sweet birds.

 

[siucavflight]

here is another question and im sure its a dumb sounding one...but recently i flew in a ERJ as a passenger on AE. It seemed like the pilot flying hand flew the ILS.. I could tell by the changes in input of power and changes in descent angle... can or do you guys actualy hand fly ils's???? or leave it up to the auto pilot?

I gaurntee you that you have no way of knowing that from the back of the airplane.

 

[detwilers]

Just some minor pluses and minuses of the ERJ.
LR-ER-EP's are restricted to 250 below 8000. The main issue I have with this is you can not hold 250 on the nose with out getting a MASTER WARNING!
That is another minus. Overspeeds a lot more easily than the CRJ and if you do, it is not just a "Clacker" sound. You get a MASTER WARNING and all the bells and whistles. When I flew the CRJ if you ever got the triple chime you just about sh!t your pants. In the ERJ you get immune to the warnings and cautions because messages that should be Status or Advisory are Caution / Warning Messages in the ERJ.
Also the 250 below 8000' max can sometimes mean you can't speed up to more than 250 when in the climb in Canada when assigned a greater airspeed.

Minus # 2 - Big one for me is no hydraulic elevator. Which means you always have to worry about the control column and the gust lock. In the CRJ when you where done with the yoke you let go and didn't touch it again until TO.

Minus #3 - autopilot / FD. Just really not that good. Almost not acceptable. I sometimes wonder how this we can do CAT II approaches.

Some other minor minuses- It is impossible to consistently have smooth landings in the ERJ, the CRJ was easy and consistent any and every time - There is no aural altitude countdown for 100,50,40,30,20,10 which helps a lot at night, rain, low visibility or when you just are tired. Symbol generator is very limited (i.e. no holds depicted, etc,) - No banana bar for descents and climbs - TCAS not overlaid on the MFD Map with the route. - Very, Very Stiff ride and TERRIBLE Tiller - You need a big noise canceling headset - Yoke sucks in Crosswinds - CRJ has an automatic fuel balance function the ERJ is manual and requires occasional attention - missing minor information most other aircraft (Canadair, Boeing, Airbus) depict right on the PFD, MFD or EICAS. The ERJ makes you look up certain information in the FMS.

PLUSES - ECS systems works very well and combined with the ability to Let the FA control the temp from her panel is great. - Fadecs, You don't have to constanstily adjust the trust in a climb and real easy engine starts - BIG closet for bags - Dual FMS on most of our ERJ's is great because most of my preflight duties as an FO, I need access to the FMS (ATIS, Clearance, Weight & Balance) - A Big plus is the ICE system. Completely hands off when when you combine the FADEC (adjusts the N1's) and the automatic ice control system.

 

[detwilers]

A couple of things that I don't like:
- we are only allowed to do flaps 45 landings (as of now) which sucks in gusty conditions... easy to overspeed

That's interesting. That's all I do now is Flaps 22 landings. Of course 45 still have a time and place occasionally.
You can do a real nice high speed approach with 22.
250 to the marker - Power to idle - Flaps 9, Gear down, Spoilers open - Then at about 190kts and 1000 agl - Spoilers closed Flaps 22, Landing Checklist - On speed by 500 agl.

 

[Motive Flow]

Minus #3 - autopilot / FD. Just really not that good. Almost not acceptable. I sometimes wonder how this we can do CAT II approaches.

I've heard that you can put the RA to 100' (CAT II mins) and that will make the FD calm down a little on the ILS.

I'm usually hand flying by localizer intercept since the FD does such a crappy job of intercepting.

 

[Espalda Mojado]

I have to disagree. The ERJ doesn't come down nearly as fast as the CRJ. The speed brakes work great on the CRJ. I did a repo from ORD to Fargo one morning in the CRJ. We got PD from 35,000 to 2,500. The CA said watch this! He didn't start down until 30 miles out. Pulled the brakes out. He put it in Speed hold DES at MMO/VMO and the airplane pitched down to -18 degrees. The VSI pegged at 10,000 fpm down so I don't even know the true descent rate. It was nice to know that you could get it down real fast and in true emergengy you can leave out the 250kt at 10,000 that could put you on the ground from cruise in a matter of a few minutes!

Duuuuude! Maybe next time you screw around you can take it up to 410, dude!

 

[spiffomatic]

Minus # 2 - Big one for me is no hydraulic elevator. Which means you always have to worry about the control column and the gust lock. In the CRJ when you where done with the yoke you let go and didn't touch it again until TO.

Some other minor minuses- It is impossible to consistently have smooth landings in the ERJ, the CRJ was easy and consistent any and every time -

I agree with most of what you said... but with the trailing link gear on the 145/135, you can really grease them in once you get a feel for where the gear is. I've rarely seen CRJs do this, while in the back. No hit on pilot skill, I just think the ERJ lends itself to some really smooth landings after a while. As far as no hydraulic elevator... I'm gonna also say that the direct connection to the elevator and spring tabs gives you so much more positive feedback... I prefer it much more than hydraulic elevator.

I strongly prefer the wing clearance vs. the CRJ in a crosswind landing. I think the mustache yoke is good for all but 30kt crosswinds where that stupid thing jams into your knee when you step on some rudder in the flare... it can actually be flat-out dangerous in a high crosswind/light airplane scenario!

The radar flat-out sucks. Follow other traffic or ask ATC what they see on their scopes.

The plane is pretty loud. I do like that it can just about always get up to FL370 under almost any conditions... but the 145 is something of a dog in the climb when hot and heavy.

Zero Fuel Weight issues and Max Landing Weight issues can bite you in the winter more often than one would hope.

Good plane overall though.

 

[millhouse21]

I know you guys in the ERJ dont do much of this..But what about when it comes to hand flying?? how does it handle??

Sluggish.....Like a wet sponge.

 

[detwilers]

Duuuuude! Maybe next time you screw around you can take it up to 410, dude!

I think the CA did say something like "lets 410 it"
but then he remembered it was wrong direction for flight:beer:

 

[aewanabe]

That's interesting. That's all I do now is Flaps 22 landings. Of course 45 still have a time and place occasionally.
You can do a real nice high speed approach with 22.
250 to the marker - Power to idle - Flaps 9, Gear down, Spoilers open - Then at about 190kts and 1000 agl - Spoilers closed Flaps 22, Landing Checklist - On speed by 500 agl.

Sigh... I've written a couple ASAP reports where I've had the yoke full to the stop at touchdown with flaps 45. Company won't buy flaps 22 perf. data from our current vendor, we keep hearing that the new performance vendor will have customized data for each runway AND multiple flap settings. Sure enough the latest GOM revision shows a new performance vendor, FOR THE CRJ, we're still muddling along with APG on this bird.

Pluses: automated systems, lots of electrical backup, more capable APU then CRJ (we can start our assisted re-lights at FL250), crew closet, Fadec Lite, and I can open the windows for a breeze during spring/summer/fall.

Minuses: CRJ systems, though requiring more pilot workload, appear more big-airplane robust, I've never heard of CRJ leaving bags behind because of ZFW or max cargo compartment limitations, LOUD cockpit, LOUD cockpit, LOUD cockpit, and flaps 45 landings....

 

[Flyin4Free]

I was going to ask about that. I'm guessing having wing mounted engines makes it look like one of the big boys.
Are there any companies in the U.S. that have new Embraers other than Shuttle America and JetBlue?

shuttle/republic and jetblue that's all i know of. ya, wing mounted engines make it "appear" as one of the big boys until i look at my little boy paycheck. the room's nice but it's no different than anything else. the only reason i'm flying it instead of anything else is because they were the first to call and offer me a job.

 

[time builder]

shuttle/republic and jetblue that's all i know of. ya, wing mounted engines make it "appear" as one of the big boys until i look at my little boy paycheck. the room's nice but it's no different than anything else. the only reason i'm flying it instead of anything else is because they were the first to call and offer me a job.

I did a little research, and it looks like US Airways mainline is looking to operate the 190s, while Shuttle took over the Mid-atlantic 170 operation for US Airways express. I haven't seen any in the LAS or PHX hubs, they're probably all back east.

airlinepilotcentral.com shows some pretty good rates for the mainliners running the 190, but I'll agree that shuttle FO's get shafted after the second year on the payscale.