What's it like to fly the CRJ?
 

The only experience I have in a Canadair product was getting my SIC type in a CL-30 (Challenger 300 corporate jet.) That was a blast and a half...13,000 lbs of thrust powering a 32,000-lb airplane (MGW 39,000, but we were flying light.) We saw 5,500 fpm climbing through 15,000' and the CA told me that 6,500 fpm is doable.

I was just curious, for the CRJ drivers around here. What's that airplane like to fly? I've only ever ridden in the back of a CRJ-200 twice, and both times the airplane kinda seemed like it didn't really want to climb. I was surprised at the low deck angle on departure, even out of a sea-level airport on a standard day. How different are the -700s and -900s?

Just trying to learn, that's all.

The -700 has the most power to weight ratio of the CRJs. 1:2 empty. 1:3 at max takeoff weight. If you're doing a ferry at 50-54,000k you can go from sea level to 10000 in 2mins.

The -200 is underpowered and the -900 a little better but not by much.

Interesting. Purely out of curiosity, what kind of climb rates do you see on the -200 at MGW? Am I dreaming when I say that the deck angle on climbout seems real shallow compared to other turbofan A/C?

You're not dreaming. At MTOW (53,000) an initial pitch attitude of 10° - 12° is standard, followed by about 3000'/minute shallowing to 2000'/minute by 10,000ft. Where it really begins to struggle is FL200 and up. On a warm day at FL250, 500'-700'/minute is the norm up to FL310.

Yikes!

Thanks for the info. I was just curious. Explains why it seems that we barely made it to cruising altitude on our SFO-SLC route before it was time to descend again.

What do they call it again? Climb Restricted Jet?

I always called the -200 the ground loving slug.

I always called the 200 the Climb Restricted Jet.

Also keep in mind, we also do reduced thrust takeoffs to reduce engine wear and tear. Yet another reason why that initial climb after takeoff can seem agonizing. Coming out of SFO on a warm day, heavy, and with a little humidity it's not uncommon for us to use a frighting amount of 1L or 1R.

Y'know, that makes sense. On our departure from SFO we were full, and as we rolled down 1L past the 28L/28R intersections, I recall thinking "Somebody better pour on the gas!" Climb rate seemed...anemic, shall we say.

Compared to a biz jet, the CRJs are very disappointing climb wise. The 700 at least does ok, but a loaded 200 on a hot summer day is pretty anemic once past the teens. But they all handle well and are still fairly fun to fly.