Regional Jet Cycles
 

I always see 757s, A320s and 767s being retired in the desert probably due to their age and cycles. I can only imagine that CRJ's and ERJ's accumulate more cycles in a shorter amount of time due to their quick hops. Does anyone have a clear answer as to how many cycles a typical RJ is good for? Some of these aircraft are getting pretty hairy (I think I have seen grass growing in one of these things) and it's pretty surprising to me that we haven't had anything suffer some type of structural fatique. I know they are smaller aircraft in which can endure a higher PSID than the bigger cabins but there has to be a predetermined cycle number that the engineers have come up with.

There's a CRJ2 at comair that I think is holding the record for oldest RJ out there. Maybe one of them could give you more of an idea :)

Lets wait and get a for sure count. Midwest just bought all those E190s brand new, my guess is they will be putting mainline pilots out of jobs for many cycles to come.

40,000 hour limit on the CRJ series. Don't know about cycles, and any hour extensions approved by FAA.

SkyWest has at least one (can't remember if it's 403SW, ser# 28 and first CRJ for Skywest, or 405SW, ser#29) had 38,000 hours more than a year ago.

Note: 404SW is a Cessna 172, which probably explains why sequential serial numbers are two numbers apart on their registration numbers.

7004 29/10/1992 03/04/2009 D-ACLA To Jetlink Air
as 5Y-

7006 30/12/1992 01/05/2007 D-ACLC To ALMA de México
as XA-UHB

7007 23/05/1993 13/05/2006 D-ACLH To Cimber Air
as OY-RJD

7009 04/02/1993 30/04/2007 D-ACLD To Cimber Air
as OY-RJE

7015 01/05/1993 01/05/2006 D-ACLF To Cimber Air
as OY-RJC

7016 01/05/1993 26/02/2007 D-ACLG To ALMA de México
as XA-UGW

7019 17/07/1993 05/07/2007 D-ACLI To Cimber Air
as OY-RJF

7021 30/07/1993 07/02/2007 D-ACLJ To MWR Aviation
as N155MW

Yep good old ship 7011. That airplane is so worn out. I will see if I can find out how many hours and cycles it has. I haven't flown in it in awhile.

Rumor around Comair is that the smithsonian wants it for an exhibit in the future. It was the first RJ in the states.

I wonder how long it takes them to pay one of those things off. It's like a crappy car loan that goes upside down. It's not uncommon to see a ramp full of heavy jets and narrow bodys just taking a break for a half the day. It seems like you never see any relief on the RJ's. Just going all day long with 20-30 minute turns. I have started flights before 5AM and ended days after midnight, all scheduled. Since they aren't making any more 200's you would think they are going to start fading away. I know the pax don't really deserve anymore than a ratty ole' regional jet for the price they pay but man it's embarrasing with all the deferals sometimes. Both lavs defered, two pax seats, both coffee makers, an APU door open with the APU inop (limited to 220KIAS), and some auto pressurization deferal making the changes in alt pretty uncomfortable. I'm sure others have seen worse but that was beyond my level of comfort when it comes to deferals. I haven't been on too many mainline aircraft where that was the case and all they talk about is this seemless experience.

These planes need a break or they need to just give up the fight and put them to sleep.

7011 made it's last revenue airline flight on 9/24/09. It has 37,689.40 hours and has 34,842 cycles. 7011 was accepted by Comair on 4/30/1993!

That is just another rumor created by a Comair lifer.

Only 34,842 cycles eh? Aren't some NWA DC-9's close to the 100k mark. Guess they don't make planes like they used to.

pinnacles are the newest of the bunch i think and the most i have seen is 24000 cycles.

Aw i flew it on 9/22/08!

What about the E145 and the E-JET family? what's the limit on those??? out of curiosity..

and by the way, the douglas aircraft company has made the finest airplanes in the world. I don't think there's a limiter on the DC9 and DC8 family. Some people claim that the dc8 could fly for as long as you keep them maintaining them...

DC3 has no limits.

RJs are bush league. N906HA oldest flying Dash-8 in the world since 1985.

That is true, but I wouldn't count unpressurized airframes since they are in a different category.

A typical Beech Baron has no limit also, but the P-Baron is 10,000 hours. The all composite Beech Starship also had a relatively low hour limit.

They are arbitrary numbers (to begin with) that are the basis for how much testing (read money spent) to certify the airframe. Boeing has certainly had a few spectacular pressure vessel failures!

As to Douglas being the best, let me assure you (as a former employee) that they weren't "the best". Whatever limits they may not have probably have more to do with the cottage industry nature of the certification process.

nwa dc9s can go to around 104,000 cycles before the bulkhead has to get overhauled. the ones that are still flying have alot of cycles left. It was told to me by the fleet manager that they could go till around 2020. The limiting factor isnt the cycles but the nav capabilities since vor's are being decommissioned.

The DC9 is a beast and they definitely dont build them like the used to ;)

Northerners:rolleyes::D

Northwest just retired it's last 3 cockpit crewmember 747... 105,000 hours. Still flying charter until it gets chopped into little pieces in November.

I guess Boeing does ok, too.

Hate to shoot you down, but 906 is c/n 9. Not the oldest flying.

c/n 4 (VH-QQB), and c/n 8 (VH-QQC) are currently flying in Australia.

906 might have more cycles though.

I'm only 25 miles from Canada at the moment

RAH not YX.

Before they were retired USAir had some -9s with reportedly over 90,000hrs on them. And NW (ne Delta) has some -9s that are as old as the USAir birds and they are still flying albeit with new paint.

We were in the hangar when an -80 was going through a major check and it was down to the bare bones. Everyone wondered how in the hell they were going to get it back together. A week later it was plowing the skies.

Take off you hoser.

USAF has many 40+ year old tankers and bombers flying the friendly skys.... I would think all the c-5s are 30plus years old... plus lots of 130s as well.

850HK is the oldest E-145, and is owned by TSA. It started life as an E-135 I believe and was converted to an E-145. I heard rumors it was a test bed for Embraer.

If you do some research, you can find some photos of it when it was first off the press as a 135.

Thats an old worn out bird. Ferried it with the gear stuck down once, a turbine tower shaft busted on it in KEWR on one trip I flew, and I seem to recall we had an asymmetrical speed brake deployment on it one time, but that may have been another airplane.

It's all about time and cycles. I don't think the USAF pulls 3,000 hrs. per year on a C-5 or 130. Nonetheless... I'm still amazed at those B-52s. They were designed right after the B-47, at times when jet flying was still a crazy idea...

No RJ can touch the Diesel 9, it being unarguably a real airplane! And I could have sworn I've flown a -200 out of SLC with over 40K hrs. Somebody back me up here!

Yeah that DC9 is a tank alright. I'm amazed every time I see one of the NW birds. I think it's more awe actually. Everyone I talk to is like "Ugh, I'd NEVER want to fly that POS!"

Are you kidding me? I'd jump on that in a heartbeat!!!!

Most likely not, since once a CRJ reaches 40,000 hours it needs to have it's wing box replaced. There is no deviation from that unless it's being flown to Toronto to perform that task. Since the -100/200 are no longer manufactured, the wing boxes would have to be specially manufactured if someone wanted to comply with the wing box replacement. It's just too expensive and as to date not one wing box has been replaced. That's why ASA wrote off one or more of the aircraft involved in that mishap in BTR. It's just too expensive.

You might be surprised how many hours the c5s and some of the tankers have on them now considering the ops tempo the AF has been at for the past couple of decades.