50 seat RJ question
 

How do the CRJ 200 and ERJ 145 compare? I’m not interested in who is the best or worst airline, just the actual machines. How do they compare in fuel efficiency, maintenance reliability, load limited issues, age of the fleet, operating cost, etc?

Flew both at expressjet. I prefer the145–more reliable, more automated.

Main downside is the loud flight deck.

The Embraer is waaay better for summer ops. The Air conditioning system is much better.
you’ll bake like a fricking lobster in the CRJ-200 cockpit

ERJ 145 is more capable for sure.

reliability and age is very much a function of the fleet. Overall, I would expect the 145 to outlast the 200.

Wow! I’ve never flown the 200 but I find I absolutely bake in the 145 cockpit in the summer. But that’s largely due to the fact the APU (which drives the packs soooo much better than the engines) are often MELd in the summer.

the CRJ200 cockpit, even with the APU on and feeding the packs, still is like an oven in the summer time.

Never flew a CRJ but in the 145 you can easily get the air conditioning to shoot out ice pellets in the summer.

Correct.

the airplane was designed and built in the jungle.

That would make sense.

Interesting enough, the CRJ despite being built in the great white north was prone to bad gremlins if cold-soaked anywhere near zero F.

Well, yeah, if the APU is working. But the APU seems to fail a lot in the summer... or maybe I’m thinking of APU bleed leaks. In any case, I think I have a working APU for packs about half the time in July and August. There are pilots at my airline that change the way they bid in the summer because of it. There are mechanics at my airline that change the way they bid to reduce their exposure to the 145 because of it. Nobody wants the 145 in the summer. That said, my airline doesn’t fly the 200 so not saying the 200 is worse. If it is, man, that sucks.

I don't have a ton of experience but I've flown both and I'd choose the 145 hands down.

I've flown both. The 145 was better to hand fly.. the CRJ is more sturdy... Bet the CRJ is cheaper and parts are a plenty, and cheap. It will last longer... Based off the engines are more widely used..

I remember racing my friend ORD-BUF he was a ACA CRJ200. Me a Eagle 145. We took off 22L, 2 mins before him. He landed 10 mins sooner was 2k feet below us and burned 400lbs less fuel.. Very unscientific but was interesting..

On the 145,
Take your time after takeoff and wait to shut down the Apu until after the Apu bleed is actually closed. Check the Apu bleed button that the OPEN inscription is extinguished. Going too fast has often led to Apu Bleed Fail and Apu Fail caution messages, which leads to an unnecessary write up in the maintenance log. Seen it too many times. Mx will often times just MEL it instead of diagnosing it. Then you get a plane with no apu for a couple of days...
Also, note if there is adequate airflow from the vents. There is no indication of recirculation fan failure other than poor airflow. If the airflow with both packs on is poor, write it up! We were not trained to recognize this and it often goes unnoticed as a problem.

Good stuff. Good info. Doesn’t really help of you are given an airplane with APU MELd.

I really do do everything I can and know how to do to keep the APU/APU bleed out of the AML. But it sucks when I am given an airplane with an obvious careless writeup.

Excellent. YOU are not part of the problem then. Unfortunately, systems knowledge is spotty with some.

I'm a big fella, 145 cockpit is way more comfortable!. I'll take CRJ avionics though, a bunch of info on that MFD compared to the 145, but screens look nicer on the 145.

How do they compare from a bean counter perspective? If they were able to buy new ones, or in the future when it is time to retire them, what would they pick for a replacement, or which ones go first?

The 145 will do a good job keeping you cool in the summer -IF- everything is in good working order. When you find that golden goose of an airplane, you pray to the dispatch gods to not swap you out of it.

Just like the 120... works great if all of the cardboard ductwork in the walls is still intact and connected. Once it falls apart, then the space between the fuselage and cabin walls gets very well air conditioned... crew and pax, not so much.

So basically little 737. It’s a workhorse, but not the best place to work once the new car smell is gone. To be honest, I don’t know how those things have held up as well as they have. They’ve been through a bunch of cycles. Thanks for the info on comparison from everyone. I’ve never flown an rj and was curious.

Yep. And on a related note, one of the things that the youngsters aren't taught to keep an eye out for during the summer walk around is the telltale patch of condensation on the aircraft skin where the cold air duct has come loose or is leaking. It's easy to overlook, but when you spot it, you can suddenly be the hero of the day for getting the cold air fixed on a plane.

You know how many times I've had to explain to our mechanics why there is condensation on the skin..