Back In The Saddle
We jumped in to the sim today and it just felt right. Due to scheduling conflicts, we were assigned the CRJ-700 sim, which isn't what I will be flying initially.
The -700 has some nice features not found on the -200 such as FADEC, leading edge slats, one-touch switchover for 10th stage bleed air, single button ignition, better environmental controls and fire detection/suppression system. In addition, the CRJ-700 weighs about 20,000 pounds more than the -200.
With leading edge slats, the -700 has a slower Vref speed. It's a CAT C aircraft whereas the -200 is CAT D. They also land in completely different ways. After one "learning" landing, I managed to get the technique and grease the rest.
It was really a laid back session with a lot of hand flying, ILS approaches and not much else. No emergencies, no single engine approaches or V1 cuts. Two more sessions like today, with a few more challenges hopefully, and it will be time say goodbye to the sims for a few more weeks. Things are going well, very well.
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Tomorrow, my wife and I will be celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary...apart. After Sunday's sims, I have 5 days off and will be heading home to see the family. Being away from them is the most difficult part. This first year will be bittersweet. A dream finally realized mixed with the heartache of being absent from family so much. Next month, I will miss my daughter's 9th birthday and my younger son's 5th birthday. We won't talk about Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years right now.
Thankfully, my laptop has a built-in web cam and we get to have video conversations every few days. Isn't technology great?
2 comments:
Hi,
I am reading about your adventures with great interest, particularly because if I ever get to the point where I can work for a regional, yours is one of my first choices.
Can you possibly either write a post about or just briefly explain here the differences in how a CRJ 200 and 700 land? You mentioned they land differently and I'm really curious as to the details. I can imagine the 700 weighs more and has slats so it probably has more lift during landing and therefore the angle of attack is different?
Tom,
Your guess is on the right track, with a few more things to add. I don't want to get in to a bunch of technical stuff on the blog, so I'll be brief. If you have any specific questions, just email me.
The 200 has trailing link landing gear, which makes for a more forgiving touch down. With the additional forward weight on the 700, the nose needs to be gently flown to the ground. If not, it will slam.
The basic technique for the 700 is at 50' AGL, cut the thrust by 50%. At touch down, pull the thrust to idle and gently bring the nose wheel down, almost like a soft field landing.
The basic 200 technique is to bring the thrust to idle at 50' AGL, continue flying down and gently start pulling back at about 20'. The 200 lands basically flat, with no perceivable flare.
Disclaimer: This is the way I have been trained. Like many things, flying is full of different techniques.
By the way, are you in Covington? If so, you can't be more than 10 minutes away from me.
Mike
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