The Northwest Jetlink CRJ-200 (POSKY)

By Ryan Butterworth (15 October 2002)

Zipping through the stratosphere at .81 Mach, the CRJ-200 is a great alternative for your average business traveler. With a maximum range (for the LR model) of 2005 nm, and a fifty passenger load, the CRJ will get you where you need to go when you need to be there. Armed with the Collins Pro Line 4 six-tube EFIS, a two-screen EICAS, the dual attitude heading reference systems (AHRS), a Collins digital weather radar, and a TCAS, the CRJ can fly through virtually any kind of weather, while maintaining a tolerant level of safety. I'm going to be picky here, but according to the specs sheet from Canadair, the CRJ's takeoff roll at sea level is 5800 feet. I could hop into the air with only 4000 feet of concrete with flaps in the TO position in the simulated model. I was also surprised that I did not overstress the aircraft at FL410, the maximum operating altitude for the CRJ-200. I guess we'll have to give those engineers credit for their 15 percent safety margin. POSKY was just about right on with the maximum fuel load. The flight simulator model from POSKY may not be perfectly aligned with Canadair's CRJ, but it comes pretty darn close.

Installation of the aircraft was easy; simply read the readme's. As a student at the University of North Dakota, I usually like to perform my test flights at KGFK, Grand Forks Int'l. Situated on the Alfa ramp at GFK, POSKY's Northwest Jetlink CRJ-200 looks stable, especially with those superb visual effects. Gary Hayes, the painter of this particular model, initially painted it with Canadian registration, just like brand new CRJ's look like when they're ready for purchasing by airlines. A Northwest junkie myself, I couldn't stand the Canadian reg numbers! (No offense to Canadians...). Luckily, Gary made a few texture fixes for this model. Now, the CRJ is N8605A, and she has her special Northwest logos on the inside winglets. Thanks Gary!

While I'm on the subject of the exterior, I would like to ramble off a few features which I think deserve a huge high-five! Here they are: opening stairway, gear structure detail, thrust reversers, pitot tubes on nose/side, pilot textures, windows/open/closed, passengers, and many more! Of course every other control surface is animated with extreme precision. Although the elevator does have a visual problem when I pull back on the joystick (yoke), it doesn't affect flight. At night, the logo lights on the tail really stand out, as well as the interior cabin lighting. I downloaded rnlev2.zip, to enhance my night lighting even further.

For my CRJ, I downloaded a panel originally by David Durst, but enhanced by Dan Walloch for FS2002. Before I start, I will mention that the POSKY model comes with a wonderful virtual cockpit, and works well with the default Learjet panel. However, I would highly recommend crj20pnl.zip, because I think it looks closer to the real CRJ flight deck than any other panel out there right now. With Dan's panel, you get a GPWS, FDPA callouts, stall/warning horns, V-speeds on the EFIS, a decent NAV radio stack, procedure checklists directly on the EFIS, and other neat features. The only problems I noticed with this panel is that when you pick this aircraft, the nasty 3rd party gauge warning pops up. I know how to get rid of 3rd party .dll warnings, but I don't know how to make these .gau warnings go away. That was only a minor hindrance. Sometimes, while on final, the GPWS would go off stating that I was "too low," or that I needed to "pull-up," even in the landing configuration. I guess you can just override the system by pressing the GPWS LED on the dash, to turn off the vocal warning. Unfortunately, a major disadvantage that I found relating to the autopilot on this panel is the fact that the alt hold does not work. Every other AP switch works fine, except alt. Hmm....this must be one of those bugs because this panel was originally an FS2000 panel. Finally, there were a few minor visual discrepancies with the altimeter around FL395-FL400. Overall, I feel just like I am in the real cockpit when I fly with Dan's panel!

If you have ever gone to your local airport and seen an A320, you know the engine whine that reverberates into your ears when that beast leaves the Earth. The CRJ's GE turbofans produce a similar effect on your ears, giving you one of the most pleasing aircraft sounds ever. Aaron Swindle has done it again! His sounds for the CRJ are great, no, they are nearly perfect! I couldn't find his stand-alone sounds, so I downloaded the Southern Winds CRJ package, which included Swindle's awesome sounds (crj200sw.zip). From startup to shutdown, these sounds are fantastic. I did notice that when I started up an engine, the wav file would start, and then restart about 2 or 3 times before finally kicking in and starting the engine. The AP engage click procedure sounds realistic, as well as the flaps and gear retraction/extension sounds. This is certainly another solid package from Mr. Aaron R. Swindle.

Finally, for added realism, be sure to grab Warren C. Daniel's POSKY CRJ-200 operator's manual. This manual tells you all the specs straight from Canadair as well as checklists, V-speeds, weights, and everything else you need to fly a successful flight in your brand new CRJ. There is also an FAQ section in the CRJ manual where most of your questions can be answered.

If you just finished reading this, and so still do not have the POSKY CRJ-200, you had better get it NOW, or else...

Thanks for reading!

Specific files I use for my CRJ-200:

Aircraft: oscrj_nw.zip, texture/reg fixes: nwafix_2.zip and nwaregfx.zip
Panel: crj20pnl.zip
Sounds: from crj200sw.zip
Manual: crjopsv1.zip
Misc: fsuipc.zip

My test system: 1.2 GHz PIII-m (Gateway laptop), 256 MB SDRAM, Intel i830m chipset, FS2002 Pro, Windows XP Pro, and FSUIPC installed.

Ryan Butterworth
ryanb@aero.und.edu