RJ85/100 FO here with some suggestions
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@rj2489
I was hoping to get some insight from a pilot who has flown this plane, thank you very much.
I watched an old video of a 146 flight and noticed that pilot descended from cruise in IAS mode. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you descend and what type of ‘gates’ did you use in regards to altitudes, airspeeds and distances.
Thanks again -
@lancealotg So I'm not sure how it is done on the 146 because on the RJ we have a TRP and autothrottle instead of the TMS. However on the RJ the descent procedure is Seatbelts ON > Taxi Lights ON > LVL CHG engage. We descend at 270 kts, so if you are cruising at ECON cruise M 0.67 you change over to kts. If you are at an altitude where your .67 < 270 kts then you should descend with mach until your current mach is equal to 270 kts. At 12,000 ft reduce your speed to 250 kts to not bust the 10,000 ft speed limit, and if you are in an airspace with no such limit, then reduce your speed at 10,000 so you don't bust your 8000 ft windscreen bird strike limitation. As far as calculating descents a general rule of thumb is difference in altitude times three.
Example: Cruising at 25,000 you wish to descend to be over the VOR at 5000 ft, you take 25-5=20 -> 20*3=60
So you descend at 60 miles from the VOR. This is a very general and lazy way to do it, if the airplane is heavy it will glide further and you can add 5 miles, if it's light it will dive and you can subtract 5 miles. From hot to cold you can subtract another 5 miles. You can also add 5 miles for the distance it takes to reduce your speed to 200 kts before reaching the IAF.I hope this helps.
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@rj2489
Excellent information, thanks a lot
I really appreciate -
Awesome feedback rj2489 - as a fellow 146/Avro RJ mech out in Canada-land myself you already touched on a lot of the small systems issues I was going to sit down and articulate into a post myself.
Now, my outfit hasn't operated the 146 for some time - but did stick with the Avro's - so I did get a taste of the differences when working on them.
The DC Pump stuff you described is correct. You don't see pressure rise on the Yellow system indication. It's tied to the Brake (and if equipped - Stair accumulator), as well as the emergency main gear extension actuator.
One thing different with the 146 vs. Avro RJ is the "AUTO" SOP of the AC Hyd pump. I can't remember the specifics but I believe it was because the 146 doesn't have a white advisory AC PUMP ON indication (well, our -200 didn't) while the RJ does. Because a spurious hydraulic load could trigger the AC Pump on (ie: gear selected up simultaneously with flap retraction) - on the 146 the AC pump could then be triggered to run forever the whole flight without the crew knowing - unless they look up. So the SOP on our (now retired) 146 was AC Pump (& PTU) selected ON prior to take-off and landing. Off of course for cruise.
I believe the AUTO AC PUMP triggering was improved a bit too to be inhibited with a hodge-podge of relays during certain events as well on the Avro RJ. Don't quote me on that though.
There are three pressurization system controllers available for the 146/RJ. 146 Standard, Avro RJ "Semi-Automatic" and Avro RJ "Digital". The later S/N 146's had provisioning to accept the Avro RJ Semi-Automatic ones, along with being an option on the Avro RJ for fleet commonality - which many operators chose.
I've only worked with the standard one that was normal on the 146 - and the fully digital one on the RJ - but can't remember how the gauge face moved on the old one.One thing that JustFlight improved on the P3D version with my guidance but hasn't seem to have translated into MSFS yet is the engine bleed air handling. Basically, seeing the ENG AIR faults and eng air valve indications when the engines are not outputting sufficient flow. I intend to type up an explainer separately for this forum later.
Would also be nice to see a TGT change and such with Eng Anti-Ice and Airframe stuff selected on. On our 146 in icing conditions - the spring/fall especially - it could be a real dog to keep engine power nominal - especially with a loaded airplane. Never fun for our guys trying to climb out of some coastal muck with a full airplane at <1000ft/min some times. The 146 could be a strange animal when it came to performance. Sure you can take off in <3500 ft no problem but then the subsequent climb would be a groaner at maybe 1000-1500 ft/min. -
@rj2489
We depend in MACH hold mode from our CRZ SPD which is usually about 0.64/0.62M, once this coincides with 280IAS, we switch tiIAS hold. Thrust is adjusted to keep on vertical profile. Usually a ballpark figure of 80% N2 initially and reduce to 70%N2 at IAS change over. Typically 3x distance is a good vertical profile at about 2000fpm.Our RJs are flown with the same speeds in mind (other than 0.66M minimum ABV FL310) and use LVLCNG.
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@plhought That's awesome! I do recall one of our Avros going to Canada a few years ago for a D check I think.
I did forget that the DC pump is indeed also tied to the emergency gear extension.
We have the AC pump ON light in the CSP on only one of our RJs, the other's don't. In our SOPs we set it to auto and leave it like that for the rest of the flight which has caused some disagreement within the company for the same reasons you've mentioned. I think the standard in the RJ is to turn AC pump off and PTU off during the system check at 10,000/18,000 ft, I do recall seeing some faded checklist like that on the yoke but we don't use that, we may have copied our way from Swiss but I can't confirm. Regardless thanks for the clarification on the 146.I also second the ENG AIR faults! The MWS will constantly annoy the hell out of us during taxi as engines idle. We have to train ourselves to not just instinctively cancel the attention getter because of nuisance alarms. The one time you don't look up at an Air Supply/Air Cond it ends up being a PACK HI TEMP.
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@rj2489 said in RJ85/100 FO here with some suggestions:
@plhought That's awesome! I do recall one of our Avros going to Canada a few years ago for a D check I think.
I did forget that the DC pump is indeed also tied to the emergency gear extension.
We have the AC pump ON light in the CSP on only one of our RJs, the other's don't. In our SOPs we set it to auto and leave it like that for the rest of the flight which has caused some disagreement within the company for the same reasons you've mentioned. I think the standard in the RJ is to turn AC pump off and PTU off during the system check at 10,000/18,000 ft, I do recall seeing some faded checklist like that on the yoke but we don't use that, we may have copied our way from Swiss but I can't confirm. Regardless thanks for the clarification on the 146.I also second the ENG AIR faults! The MWS will constantly annoy the hell out of us during taxi as engines idle. We have to train ourselves to not just instinctively cancel the attention getter because of nuisance alarms. The one time you don't look up at an Air Supply/Air Cond it ends up being a PACK HI TEMP.
I feel your pain with regards to nuisance cautions..
Funny how SOPs can vary so much. We select auto on the AC pump when we line up on the RWY, off during the after take-off scans. Then AUTO again for approach, and finally, the FO will no doubt forget to turn it off after landing :-)
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@peterhemm It's the Ignighters which start the combustion process.
