Last night I had a flight from KIAD to KCHO on United Express aboard a J41. Departure time was to have been at 6:05 P.M. Aircraft to have been used was from a flight that had arrived earlier and then turned around for the KCHO leg (with a return to KIAD later that evening - same PIC). I believe Captain Randazzo was the pilot flying the leg into KIAD, and he certainly was the PIC for the flight to KCHO.I knew something was amiss when at 6:05, there was no aircraft in the spot normally reserved at gate A9 for the KCHO J41. At about 6:10, gate crew announced that a/c inbound which was to be used for the KCHO flight was "broke" (too many deferrals stacked up). At about 6:25, a replacement a/c turns into normal spot for KCHO. Captain shuts down, deplanes and proceeds to the coffee shop. Meantime, baggage loaded, bags counted again, two (2!!!!) stewardess board, plus what appears to be a check pilot and gate crew gets ready to board.Captain returns to gate with Coffee Latte and the biggest ham and cheese something you will ever want to find and tells gate crew, "give me two minutes and then call boarding".Five minutes later gate crew announces boarding and we are off and loading. Yours truly ends up in seat 10B. If you have ever been aboard a J41, you will know that seat 10B is practically in the lap of the stewardess.Cabin crew announce flight status and that Captain Randazzo will be the pilot for the evening.I thought to myself.. Oh brother, am I going to give him a ration when we get to KCHO (late flight, he broke the previous a/c, etc. etc.), but wait!!! It gets better.We go wheels up at about 7:00. The flight to KCHO is just a tad bumpy, but nothing to get white knuckled about. What was a bit of concern though was the use of the rudders. Keep in mind seat 10B is at the back of the bird - the last row in fact, so any use of the rudder is felt big time by residents of those aft seats. I could have sworn that the guy on the rudders was a typical 5 to 10 hour student pilot still figuring out that shifting the rudder back and forth wasn't really necessary and wouldn't accomplish much more than slowing the a/c down - not to mention giving the paying passengers yaw induced motion sickness. :-lolAt about 7 minutes out from KCHO, it is obvious that we are going to do a straight in to runway 21. 21 is a backcourse approach for runway 3 on 111.70 (try it, you will enjoy the easy backcourse lesson.. :) ). Anyway, the a/c took a quick turn to the left to align with the backcourse. I said, aha!!! He had his OBS set to 031 and not 210 and he just figured it out! Newbie...That rudder is swinging to and fro... God, I think I am going to use the barf bag (for the first time in my life). :)I think to myself, ol Rob is going a tad fast for this approach. Cross wind? Nope.... hmmm... why the speed? Don't know, but 3,000 feet down the KCHO 6,000 foot runway, and Rob finally puts her down. Needless to say, the brakes and reverse pitch actuators got a heck of a work out. :)When we deplaned, Rob tried to blame it on the copilot (who is also an avid AVSIM reader!). Yeah, right. :)That's four flights on a J41 in two weeks to and fro between KCHO and KIAD, and needless to say, the most interesting. I just thought the PMDG users here (and I am sure Lefteris), would want to read a real account of flying with Captain Randazzo. Lefteris, when you finally come over and visit and he volunteers to take you up, run like hell!!!! :)Rob, keep those programming and design skills up to snuff buddy! :-lolOh, you owe me twice as many beers as you did at 6:05 p.m. last night. :)EDIT: I have forwarded the above to Captain Walsch at UAL Training. He responds that they threw out their J41 trainer years ago, but that he can give you RUDDER REFAM, Fundamentals of BC Approaches and NO CROSS WIND APPROACHES in a Link Trainer they have in the UAL Museum on the grounds. :-lol

>Five minutes later gate crew announces boarding and we are off>and loading. Yours truly ends up in seat 10B. If you have ever>been aboard a J41, you will know that seat 10B is practically>in the lap of the stewardess.That's not necessarily a bad place to be in my estimation ;-)

I always try to sit at the back row.....so that I can see the operation of the flaps and landing gear where possible....and I always end up having a nice conversation with a trolley dolly.Its a win-win situation in my opinion......But I do agree....the ride is rougher back there.

I wouldn't call them trolley dollies if i were you. Many are offended by it.

What on earth is a J41 ?? Is this like a CRJ or a Fairchild Turboprop?I'm just curious because I've never heard of such an aircraft..Regards,jack noullet

What on earth is a J41 ?? Is this like a CRJ or a Fairchild Turboprop?I'm just curious because I've never heard of such an aircraft..Regards,jack noullet

British Aerospace JetStream 41. Baby turboprop with a slightly odd pointy end. It has a little twin called the JS31 and a bigger twin called the BAe ATP (Advanced Turbo Prop) which is officially a JetStream but looks nothing like the other two! ;-)Ian P.:-halo

Oh Dear God How FUNNY!A LATTE???? Oh nosirreee! None for me thanks! Plain old drip coffee (to keep me awake for my line check...) and an Almond-Joy candy bar... (Poor tom...must be getting blind in his old age!)So can you all imagine my amusement when I discover that I am getting a line check- AND I have the esteemed AVSim Publisher on my flight all at the same time?(Tom gave his card to one of the girls- and she delivered it to the cockpit.... I think he intended her to keep it- not to give it to the captain....but that's just Tom, you see!)If only I had known Tom was coming along- i'd have kept the airplane we flew from Raliegh to IAD... Deferred yaw damper... Man-oh-man if he felt sick after having the yaw damp kicking him around- he'd have been wretching without one at all! Would have made great pictures for the next AVSim Conference!!!!! ("Folks- behind that barf bag is Tom Allensworth re-inspecting his lunch!" HAHAHAHAHAHA)Is there a B/C to 21 at CHO? I don't think i've ever flown it if there is... Just flown the ILS to 3 and the visual to 21 (which we did last night with delaying vectors to keep us off the tail of a USAir Dash-8...Those dashes are soooooooo slllloooooooow.)Tom is right about the speed, tho. We required 130knots on the approach because the stick shaker activates at 110... all that extra weight from carrying Tom's luggage! HAHAHAHAHAHAHTom it was good to have you on the airplane last night- even if my stews were complaining about "that guy in 10B that keeps grabbing our a$$es!"

"Tom it was good to have you on the airplane last night- even if my stews were complaining about "that guy in 10B that keeps grabbing our a$$es!":-eek :-lol[h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smithhttp://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/196432/winglets_lg.jpg

ROTFLMAO!Hey Tom, don't worry - if he offers to take me up flying with him, I'll pay him back with one of the same! I'll offer to take him up flying as well! ;-)(I can't tell who'll be more worried!!!)Cheers,

All of that rudder swim, AND a working yaw damper?Anyhow it's fery ncie to hear that Rob is still winding rubberbands :)Tim