There was a lot of EMB-120 bashing earlier, glad it calmed down a little. I guess I have a few screws loose, because I also miss flying the 120. I spent 6000+ hours in it, loved almost all of it. Last week was a year since my last flight in the 120.
It's a great airplane...yeah the systems are a tad complicated, but the type rating was straightforward. The elect. system requires some study, but it makes sense when you see what the designers were aiming for. The AC inverters always confused me...I could never remember which bus transferred automatically if one inverter failed. The constant use of rudder trim with every power change was annoying, but it became second nature...your hands automatically went from the power levers to the trim wheel without even thinking. The EECs failed occasionally, but they reset fine 99% of the time. Sometimes the packs were a little weak, but our maint. guys did a pretty good job of keeping the ACM compressors clean and the ducts in good shape. And we were flying them out of PSP, LAS, YUM, PHX, etc.... just wonderful in the summer! Ok, so the Brasilia does have a few faults.
But it sure was fun to fly. Heavy on the controls, but very honest...plenty of feedback. It climbed well unless you were grossed-out at 100 degrees. Love the APU, a big help on the ramp on a warm day...and of course on climbout we'd keep the bleeds closed for more torque and run the packs on NORM. I can't imagine doing bleeds-closed takeoffs on the Saab or ATR. A bit sweaty, I'd think. It has a good autopilot, very easy to use and very smooth...just don't use the NAV mode to track a radial. Landings were unpredictable...sometimes I'd pound every one for a week, and then I'd have a week of greasers. Every now and then we'd get one where you couldn't tell we'd landed. Each ship was different. I liked #288, always got good landings in that one. I remember two months where we had an F/A that would flash us for every smooth landing. Ahhh, those were the days! Visual approaches were a blast, almost impossible to be too high in the 120. Gear down, flaps 45, levers to max...incredible sink rates. Good short-field performance too...I've landed on 25R at LAX when light, made the C-3 turnoff, 1500' down. Man, I should have my head examined...but I really do miss the old beast.
The CRJ is fun, but it doesn't have as much character. It looks good, it's fast if you can ever get to cruise alt. and accelerate, the packs put out a good amount of cold air, and the EFIS/EICAS/FMS is cool, quite user-friendly. But there's no control feedback, harder to tell exactly what the plane is doing...climb rates suck, it shoots its wad in the low 20s in summer...after that, 500fpm. The temp control sucks, always fiddling to keep the pax/FA happy. But it is nice to see different parts of the country after all these years.
Why hasn't anyone mentioned the good old BE-58 Baron? There's a great airplane. I flew freight in those for three years...loved that airplane. Looks really good, climbs great, fast, rugged, comfortable, fantastic Beechcraft flying qualities. Sometimes the heater didn't work in the winter, vac pumps failed a few times, crankshaft threw a counterweight once and broke the crankcase during cruise, but hey....every airplane has its faults, hehehe.
Geez, I should shut up...I type too much. And how did the thread get so wide on the screen?
