The CDL is basically an MEL that involves items on the aircraft that if missing or deferred could cause a performance penalty. Things like gear doors missing, flap fairings missing, that kind of thing. You will find the performance penalty in the description of the CDL. For instance, if a gear door is missing, it might say reduce climb weight by 3000 pounds or increase cruise fuel burn by 2%. Usually this is advisory as the dispatcher has already taken these numbers into account.

Are you going through school right now?

 

If on the CRJ7/9, don't bother studying before hand it's all automated, 10 days of system class is more than enough. Everything is either AUTO or abnormal. You literally have to pull the QRH out if you have to touch anything on the systems panel.

 

Ummmm, it may be automated but I hardly doubt its dramatically more advanced than the CRJ200. Aside from some minor changes to electrical, fire detection and slats its still a CRJ. While easy once learned, IMO, the automation made that a tough airplane. Also, if its your first transport category plane a lot of things are new - fire loops, bleed air, AC and DC electrical systems, etc. Personally the easiest planes I ever learned were the 757/767. The APU section is 3 pages long. However, I seem to recall the CRJ was like 40 pages long.

 

Well they have to beat the pi55 and vinegar out of us somehow right? better to do it when you are new to the business...

 

Funny how that works isn't it. My first transport plane, the Saab 340, I had about 2 inches worth of flashcards on the systems. The CRJ about the same. What made them challenging was the ridiculous amount of trivial information the check airman thought you should know. Pressures to open or close valves, power ratings on the generators, batteries, the type of valves on the packs, etc. Now its straight forward. Not that learning the 757-200, 757ER, 767-300 and 767ER which all have different systems even though their similar, in five days before the oral wasn't challenging. It just seems like Boeing had planes (757/767) where space wasn't an issue so they could design a system to be straight forward.

Also, the check airmen at Delta presume you to be innocent until proven guilty whereas the check airmen at the regionals are the opposite. Now in their defense they are dealing with pilots who have no airline history whereas at DAL you've probably been flying for at least 10-15 years. But pound for pound, the regional training program is the most demanding I've ever seen. It's all downhill from here.

 

DAL4EVER, I can't believe how much you have remembered from your old regional days! That's pretty impressive as far as I'm concerned! Nice job! I also thought the electrical system was the most complicated and painstaking system to learn while in my systems class. The diagrams did nothing but confuse me more. The nice thing about the RJ's synoptic pages is the electrical system pages. I can visualize exactly what bus is being powered by where, and it's easy to work with in flight. I've yet to have any electrical issue come up except for an AC BUS1 fail that was intermittent in flight.


As far as the OP is concerned, there is a great book out there called "CRJ Systems." Go search for it on Amazon, I bought it, and it really helped out. It's all question and answer format, and is a great interview or oral exam guide. I found it VERY useful, and it wasn't very expensive... maybe 15 or 20 bucks.

The CRJ2 website by the Mesa sim guy was a great tool. He also published hard card study materials that highlighted the major points of all the systems, and he was not just a sim guy but a check airman who gave orals. Most of his questions came from his study material.