BAe 146

BAe 146
Air Berlin BAe 146 on a gate at Dortmund airport, Germany
Description
Role	Regional airliner
First flight	September 3 1981
Entered Service	1983
Manufacturer	BAE Systems
Dimensions
Wing area	832 ft²	77.295 m²
Performance
Maximum speed	345 mph	555 km/h

The BAe 146 (also known as the Avro RJ) is a medium-sized commercial aircraft manufactured by BAE Systems. It carries its four jet engines on a high wing above the fuselage; not below, or at mid-fuselage, as on most conventional civilian aircraft. The aircraft has STOL capabilities and very quiet operation, so is widely used at small city-based airports. Its primary role is as a regional jet, short-haul airliner or feederliner. The freight carrying version is called QT ("quiet trader").

The original design was created by Hawker Siddeley Aviation in 1973 with the designation HS146, but was soon cancelled as a result of the world economic downturn resulting from the oil crisis. Low key development proceeded however and in 1978 the project was relaunched, by the then British Aerospace.

Production began in 1983 with the series 100, carrying 70 - 84 passengers, and ended during the 2001 world slump in the aviation market.

Special performance

The BAe 146 comes in -100, -200 and -300 models. The -300 model includes a glass cockpit and is widely used among European airlines, such as Aer Lingus, Air Berlin, Lufthansa and Aegean Airlines.

The BAe 146 is the only commercial jet with 4 turbofan jet engines, and wings mounted on top of the fuselage. The 146 is also equipped with a T-tail. Having extremely large flaps and spoilers, the plane does not need reverse thrust at landing. Consequently, the four engines from the U.S. manufacturer Lycoming do not have this facility. The plane can takeoff and land on extremely short runways, such as Mönchengladbach, and the runway at London City Airport, a converted dock.

The type name Avro RJ superseded BAe 146 in 1993 in a new joint venture. The Avro RJ is available in three sizes for 70, 85 and 100 passengers. The cockpit, engines and operations are the same with all three aircraft. The engines have been replaced with turbofan engines of Honeywell Inc. and are housed in newly designed nacelles. Production of this aircraft has now ended. Many airlines will replace the Avro/BAe with the Boeing 717, Airbus A318, Bombardier CRJ 700, or EMBRAER models such as the EMBRAER 170 and EMBRAER 190.

Models

• 146-100 and RJ70
  First flight of the -100 occurred in September 1981, with deliveries commencing in 1983. Early customers included Dan-Air and the RAF's Royal Flight. The -100 was last to be developed to the Avro RJ standard, with first deliveries of the RJ70 beginning in late 1993. The RJ70 differed from the 146-100 in having FADEC LF 507 engines and digital avionics. The RJ70 seats 70 passengers, 82 six abreast or 94 in high-density configuration.
• 146-200 and RJ85
  The 146-200 features a 2.41 m (7 ft 11 in) fuselage extension and reduced seat-distance costs. The -200 first flew in August 1982 and entered service in six months later. The RJ85 was the first RJ development of the BAe 146 family and features an improved cabin and the more efficient LF 507 s. Deliveries of the RJ85 began in April 1993. The RJ85 seats up to 112 passengers.
• 146-300 and RJ100
  The final development of the 146 product line the -300 was initially proposed with a 3.2 m extension to the fuselage of the -200, more powerful engines and winglets. However due to the requirements of airlines for higher efficiency rather than capacity the 146-300 was produced as a 2.44 m stretch of the -200, without winglets or the proposed ALF 502R-7. Deliveries began in December 1988. The Avro version of the 146-300 was the second such development of the 146 product line and became the RJ100. Again it shared the fuselage of the 146 version but with interior, engine and avionics improvements. The most common configuration in the RJ100 seats 100 passengers. The RJ115 seats 116 as standard or up to a maximum of 128 in a high density layout.
• Avro RJX Series
  The RJX-70, RJX-85 and RJX-100 aircraft were advanced variants of the Avro RJ Series. The RJX used Honeywell AS977 turbofans which are more efficient (15% less fuel burn, 17% increased range), quieter and cost 20% less to maintain. Druk Air of Bhutan placed orders for two RJX-85s, while British European placed orders for 12 RJX-100s. However, the project was terminated in December 2001, with only three aircraft having been completed and flown - a prototype each of the RJX-85 and RJX-100, and a production RJX-100 for British European. The termination of the RJX project marked the end of commercial airliner production in the UK.

General characteristics

• Cruise speed: 750 km/h
• Propulsion
  • 146 models: four Textron Lycoming (now Honeywell) ALF 502R-5 turbofan engines, rated at 6,970 pounds (31 kN) thrust each
  • Avro models: Four AlliedSignal (now Honeywell) LF 507 turbofan engines, rated at 7,000 lbf (31.1 kN)
• Wing span: 26.34 m
• Length: 26.16 m (100), 28.55 m (200), 30.1 m (300)
• Height: 8.61 m
• Passengers: 70-82 (100), 85-100 (200), 100-112 (300)
• Crew: 2
• Empty weight: 31100 kg (100), 33300 kg (200), 35600 kg (300)
• Maximum weight: 38100 kg (100), 42200 kg (200), 43100 kg (300)
• Range: 1500 km (100), 2,075 km with 11.3 tonnes payload (200)
• Ceiling: 9,500 m

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