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Aviation History
2000
2000-1 - 2148.PDF
FLIGHT TEST The flight deck has six multifunction displays, with standby instruments between the centre screens Fin, rudder and tailplane are larger shaker onset. When clean, the shaker activates at 146kt and an AoA of 15°. With flap and undercarriage set for landing, stick shake occurs at 109kt and 22° AoA. There is also some aerodynamic buffeting just before stick shake in this configuration. Roll control remains good throughout with no tendency to drop a wing. The CRJ700 is reassuringly safe to fly near the stall and has good natural and artificial stall warning. UNUSALLY POWERFUL RUDDER Next, still at 15,000ft and 200kt, the right engine was shut down. Speed was reduced to V, for take-off flap and undercarriage up. Here the unusually powerful rudder is evident. The rud der limiter is automatically de-activated when there is only one engine operating. Although 15,000ft is too high for assessing asymmetric handling, the rudder authority is so great that there is no doubt as to die ease with which the CRJ700 could be kept straight, wings level, if an engine should fail on take-off. I find the fopt force difficult to trim out because it is light and the rudder trimmer pow erful, but the aircraft can still be flown easily with the pilot sustaining the foot load. We flew briefly a coupled approach to the instrument landing system (ILS) at Wichita Mid Continent to assess the electronic flight instrument system and the autopilot. The Pro Line W is well known and widely used. In die CRJ700 it has the standard six dis plays: two for each pilot, the primary flight dis play and die multifunction display, with the two central CRTs are for EICAS. It is an excellent system. Later versions such as the large-format (200mm x 250mm) flat- panel liquid crystal display Pro Line 21 are better, however. The larger format allows die primary and multifunction displays to be combined, vertically, on one screen and presen tation is less cluttered and crisper. There is often insufficient room to incorporate the larger pan- The wing has been increased in area, with leading edge slats to enhance field performance els in existing cockpits and there is also the need to maintain commonality widi earlier models. The CRJ700's EICAS, FMS and autopilot perform well. Airspeed is controlled by manual use of me thrust levers and rudder trim has to be adjusted by die pilot to compensate for power and speed changes. Altitude, heading, localiser and glide slope capture are smooth and accurate. Three roller (touch and go) and three full-stop landings were made. AS EASY TO LAND AS TO FLY The CRJ is easy to fly manually on the approach, into die flare and onto die runway, diough die main undercarriage is uncommonly stiff and unforgiving. Even good touchdowns are greeted with a minor thump. Ellis says this is more noticeable in die cockpit dian in die pas senger cabin because of the gear's geometry. Doubdess, when landing performance is not critical, power can be retained until after touch down, and an acquired technique would help. The main undercarriage legs are, incidentally, longer dian die CRJ200, while die nose leg remains shorter, so that die tiireshold of die forward cabin door remains below the regula tion height requiring an escape slide. Consequendy die CRJ700 has a rakish nose- down, wedge-shaped profile on the ground. A feature of the CF34-8C1 engine is control of engine idle speed by die FADEC. On die approach, the idle speed (defined as a corrected N2 core speed) is kept high to allow the engine to accelerate to "go-around" thrust in an accept able time. So die CRJ700 is limited to approach slopes of about 3.5°, and cannot cope widi steep approaches such as at London City airport. Despite this, die CRJ700 seems set to enjoy a similar success to die CRJ200. A bonus for air line crews will be the aircraft's handling quali ties, which are head and shoulders above many earlier generations of regional airliners. J 44 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 December 2000
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