Nothing beats an open-cockpit. Period. Stearman's, Experimental's, Ultralights, you get the picture.

Can't comment on the Turboprops, as I've never had the privilege to fly one (hopefully that will change, with an upgrade on the Brasilia on the horizon), but I have flown both the CRJ (all three variants) and the JungleJet. Although the CRJ is a much more solidly-built plane, and more of what a Jet should be, it flies like crap. The lousy artificial-feel makes me long for the EMB-145, with straight cables and pulleys to the tail. There is nothing like trimming the plane up and watching it, hands-off, fly a perfect ILS to the ground. I'll never be able to fly the CRJ like I could the ERJ...

That said, once I get over the lousy flying of the CRJ, I enjoy flying it more - it does so much more up front then the ERJ, with nice, crisp displays which makes instrument flying more fun. I also get much more variety with SkyWest...In two weeks I can see the entire country, from the Atlantic to the Midwest, to the Mountain flying in the Rockies, to the West Coast and Pacific Northwest. When all is said and done I'd rather get paid to do that than fly a prop in and out of some lousy airports LoL. Of course, the Brasilia will be the best of both worlds and I can't wait!

 

You know, you gotta love a high wing turbine prop, I personally loved the Shorts 3-60 as the funnest, the Brasilia was fast, but didn't like the 'Big wheel grip'. I loved flying it to Key West.

 

If you stay away from Mesa and Gojets, I don't think you can make a bad decision. I can tell you that my instrument skills were never sharper than when I was a Beech FO, since we had no AP.

 

It doesn't matter what you fly - keep those skills up! Use green-needles, kill the A/P and FD...a "heavy" is still an airplane like any other...

 

After about 2300 hours on the Emb 120 I am partial. It is fast and takes a long time to get comfortable with but It is a great way to learn how to fly a big airplane. It takes a lot of rudder trim to keep it flying straight and as anyone whos flown one can attest to, takes some manhandling during power changes. Having a pooper on board is a great thing too!

 

My skills are fine. I have no problem finding the ground in one piece. When you are flying back side of the clock it's often wiser to use the automation in conjunction with your stick and rudder skills and experience to fall back on. Works for me anyway.

 

Wasn't saying anything about your skills - I'd have no way of knowing - your first name could be Chuck ...Sorry if it came out that way...It was more venting than anything else

 

No worries.

 

Beech builds a great airplane, and the 1900D will always have a special place in my heart as my first airliner, but the Embraer 135/145 would have to be my favorite. Some of that I know comes from 530 hours on the 1900, compared to 4000 hours on the Embraer. However, I enjoyed the diversity of flying the Embraer did. Also, having a Flight Attendant, LAV, APU, and snacks sure added to the enjoyment.

 

Saab is definately a great plane all around to fly. Yes, the A models have no power and the B model could use more, and an APU would be nice! Most have good controls, but those Colgan mechanics really know how to f that one up!