Your Airplane

[chperplt]

Running #2 as your APU is done all the time. At idle, my huge PT6 burns about 200#s/hr. Not a whole lot of expense to make your pax a little more comfortable.

 

[SeaX]

Re: J41

The biggest drawback is that it's too f*****g LOUD. I mean those Garretts are pretty reliable, but there is not a better machine to convert kerosene to noise out there. Anyone who has been within 100 yards of a running Jetstream can attest to that.

Oh my God they're LOUD AS HELL! You can hear then over a running Saab from 75 yards away

 

[Palerider957]

The CRJ 700 is a great aircraft. It has a great cockpit, FMS, FADEC, the works. This makes it an electronsized monster which make for a lot of nuisance messages and misc. unexplaned things, but overall it's great.

Right now we're going through some engine problems (cracked blades in the N2), so we were restricted to .77M, but a new notice came out limiting our power setting, not mach #, this should help us get the premium back. Before the engine limits, with a typical pax load up at FL370, (and no crazy ISA deviation)the 700 would march right up to .84 Mach...very cool. A far stretch from the Brasilia, my previous steed.

I flew the 200 before the 700, and what an amazing improvement. The 700 has the engines and pack of the 900, but weighs 20,000lbs less! The 200 and 900 are dogs, and the 700 is a race horse. My only complaints about the 700 are the lack of space for crew bags (practically none for flight deck crew, although the FA's have there space), and it's a tricky plane to land well.

One of the most striking things is that the 700 is a comfortable airplane, unlike the Brasilia where you would sweat your BALLS off in the summer. The 700 heats and cools very nicely.

 

[jaybird]

My favorite I've flown so far is the Baron. It's has such a smooth feel to it, performs great at all weights, and just feels solid. The cockpit is a little tight, but I'm not that big.

 

[BankAccount=0$]

I've been flying a AeroCommander 520 for about a year now, and it's been a pretty good way to build multi time. It's a 1953 model, no autopilot, no GPS, no de-ice, and an avionics stack that was last updated during the Carter administration. She's never let me down, and even with the lack of modern goodies it always gets the job done. Probably the best thing about it is that it is slower than death, I'm building multi time so there's no need to fly fast. It also sports some cool bullet holes in the nose, (before the current owner bought it the plane spent some time running drugs down South and ended up in MIA at a auction). I can't think of a better way to gain experience than by hand flying an antique in all the weather the MidWest has to offer on a weekly basis. The only thing I don't like about the aircraft is that the owner might sell it with no replacement on the horizon, so here's to hoping I get a call to interview somewhere soon..............

 

[Frank Bama]

I love flying the ATR, It's big and fat. Very roomy and extremely easy to fly. And let's not forget the horn. It sounds like a 1970's Buick. I honk at the pretty ladies as the walk passed the nose.

 

[Dash8]

say what??

you have a horn???
get the h e l l outta here
that's awesome, I can't even count how many times I wished the dash had a horn on it...

 

[English]

The Saab has a horn...it's called the hydraulic pump in manual...not that I've ever used it to attract the attention of a good looking passenger walking in front of the plane...ah, those were the days!

 

[antney]

Actually that noise from the hydralic pump is not used for a horn, instead that is the Saabs mating call to other aircraft!!!!! That Saab has some sexual thinking going on!
Anthony

 

[4lowed]

The J41 was my first Captain gig, hell it was my first airline gig as well. So it occupies a certain part of my heart. However, let's be honest about this bird. The only place a Garrett belongs is in the tail of something larger. Reliable yes, bloody ear drums loud, definetly. Ever fly a J41 in a warm climate? No APU, and no ground air. The air cylce machine has two outlets in the cabin, and one in the cockpit. It does a nice job of dribbling cold air out the cabin door. The air conditioning vent in the cockpit is over the F/O's right shoulder. The Brits theorized that the cold air would blow over your sweaty F/O, wrap around the heated windshields, and deliver a refreshing blast of conditioned sird to the Captain. Also, that vent over the F/O shoulder would fill with condensation, and as soon as BETA was entered on landing, the F/O got a refreshing shower. Note to 41 drivers, do not leave performance data in the F/O cubbyhole. I will disagree with an earlier comment that it is hard to land. I always found the greaser to be the norm, and it wasn't only me.

4lowed