MSFS | Aerosoft CRJ Full Flight Tutorials - Episode 2 Taxi, Takeoff to Cruise! [CRJ700]

Episode 2 of my Microsoft Flight Simulator Aerosoft CRJ Tutorial Mini-Series follows straight after Episode 1. We take a look at Taxi, Take-Off, Climb and Cruise!
If you missed Episode 1 - CRJ Cold & Dark to Engine Start, then be sure to go back and check that out too before progressing onto this tutorial so you can make the most out of what is currently my favourite aircraft in MSFS currently... and I can't wait for the release of the CRJ900 and CRJ1000 from Aerosoft for MSFS either!
We'll focus on Taxiing in the Aerosoft CRJ and we will discuss some considerations for this too along with our Before Takeoff Checklist. Then, we'll line up on Runway 23R at Manchester before departing on the SANBA1R departure.
I'll show you how I work through the initial climb and talk you through all my thoughts and actions as I do them, all the way up to our Cruise Altitude.
Things to note here and to take away from my own errors... naughty me!
1. Don't forget to set the transponder correctly before pushback!
2. Don't forget to turn the Nosewheel Steering on before taxi!
3. Don't forget to turn Left & Right Probe Heat to On before departure!
I'll share a few hints and tips I've picked up along the way thanks to Matthew, one of our channel members and a professional CRJ pilot too (like setting N1 to target cruise speeds like a pro!)
Be sure to check out Episode 3 as well as we continue the flight from Manchester to Rotterdam, and in that video we'll configure for an ILS approach. Remember to click Like and Subscribe while you're here too!
Route if you want to try it for yourself:
SANB1R SANBA UN859 HON P155 SIVDA P137 REDFA REDF2R
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*Disclaimer: Copyright © 2021 Jeppesen All rights reserved. The charts are available to the flight simulation community via Navigraph. Head to Navigraph.com to sign up!
Timings
00:00 Intro
05:00 Takeoff and Initial Climb
08:00 Climb/SIDs
14:00 Approaching Cruise, Hints & Tips
17:36 Outro

[@Ashleigh_T]

A tip for anyone using the Thrustmaster TCA quadrant for throttle control with the CRJ: unscrew and remove the detents to make it a smooth linear throttle. Doing this will stop the throttle levers trying to "climb into" the detents when you're making minute adjustments in the cruise, so the levers stay exactly where you left them. With the detents still in, I've found the levers slowly creep to the detent, thus slowly increasing throttle and speed over time.

[@BritishAvgeek]

Great tip! I'm sure that'll help a lot of people!

[@Ashleigh_T]

@@BritishAvgeek It certainly helped me out last night. I already did this with the CJ4, but didn't think about it for the CRJ since it can use the detents. But when in cruise I always had issues of the throttle creeping back to climb setting though since there's not a large distance between cruise and climb positions. Last night, I removed the detents, set the throttle position once at cruise, and never needed to touch it again until TOD. It stuck to 300kias the entire way (low airways flight)

[@BritishAvgeek]

@@Ashleigh_T it's a shame the throttle system on the TCA seems so fiddly

[@Rhinozherous]

You are able to steer the aircraft without Nosewheel steering armed... thats the reason why I wait for the deeper simulated aircraft like PMDG and FsLabs. But your videos are very good made, thank you!

[@BritishAvgeek]

Indeed - I left it in the video because a) if nosewheel steering didn't work I'd have realised quickly and turned it on and b) as a learning point for others 😂 glad you like the videos!

[@riri-tu5oi]

Although not pmdg or fslabs if you are willing to pay attention to the aircraft and be involved in flying it this is actually a very fun plane to fly.

[@hellcapidan9772]

Man this play list is freakin excellent. Thanks for all your hard work for us total airliner noobies

[@TheFalconCrusader]

I love this game because this is basically like one of the only games that has the real sound of the CRJ

[@BritishAvgeek]

It's pretty nice!

[@jmizzonini]

Great concise tutorial. I made the exact mistake you mentioned on my first go with the crj, I was climbing too slowly and lost all energy and could not finish the climb. At first I thought it was some msfs icing performance thing, only to find out that it was all pilot error lol!

[@BritishAvgeek]

Thanks! Episode 3 is about 45mins long and lacked with detail so grab the popcorn for that one 🤣 hopefully you found it useful 👍

[@oisinkenny1]

yep, I had that too! :) There is however still a bug which remains with the CRJ. Some phantom drag (flaps/spoilers/gear) occurs and slows the plane right down. This makes it impossible to climb above FL200 even with max power, this may be related to pausing the sim. It as happened to me, and some well known twitch streamers have had the same issue.

[@BritishAvgeek]

@@oisinkenny1 it is indeed pausing the sim. I can tell you now I've not had that problem once... The supercritical wing is very unforgiving so if you don't fly it quite right and lose energy on the climb then you'll have to descend a bit to get the energy back before trying again

[@nikolatr71]

This is excellently done video! It answers some of the questions I have about loosing climbing power or overstressing airframe causing CTD. It also answers by clear advice pushing hdg. button to avoid veering off the course esp. critical during climb phase. This is 101 of Flying CRJ course-- thank you such Luke ! :-)

[@BritishAvgeek]

No problem - glad you found it useful! ✈️

[@Knife_Eclectic]

I actually installed this addon and just tried to guess my way through a flight. Granted, between MS2020 and FSX I've got a ton of hours almost all in airliners so I do have a grasp on what I'm doing but the CRJ certainly has some quirks. I'm honestly proud of how well I did for going in blind, but the Critical Wing got me a couple of times and I thought it was my AP acting up. Also, didn't even see the switches to arm the reverse thrust and it never occurred to my Airbus/Boeing that I would need to 😅 Thanks for the videos man! super helpful!

[@BritishAvgeek]

Good to hear! The wing can be an unforgiving beast at times!

[@yams900]

Always like mate ! I’ll have a go soon with my new purchase. I always read up on user manuals and watch excellent tutorials like yours, before trying myself. This way saves me time and will feel comfortable much faster. Thank you for sharing, hopefully no missing words this time. I’ll look for check lists as well :)

[@BritishAvgeek]

Fantastic! I'll put something together for my flow though not sure it'll work on one page 🤣 I'll try!

[@yams900]

@@BritishAvgeek Dear Aviation friend ! Guess what ? I really liked your workflow, from cold & dark until ready for taxi. So what I did, I wrote down each step, from beginning to the end. That’s every step you took, every knob you turned, button you pressed…the whole lot ! It took me 4-5 hours ! But at the same time I learned heaps. I had an iPad with CRJ documentation open, had a good look at the pictures while writing. DayOne for journaling, easy to edit and add pictures later on. I’m proud of my achievement today, unfortunately CRJ still sitting at the gate…cold & dark, but might give it a go tonight. I should send you the transcript, because it’s complete, including missing squawk code :) I need to document Episode #2 as well, but not today. Good work mate, keep them coming ! Ronnie

[@BritishAvgeek]

@@yams900 incredible! I'd love to see it!

[@yams900]

@@BritishAvgeek Sure mate ! Where can I deliver it 📝 ? I should have a quick look first. At least I got APU going and all steps until Flight Plan. I’m crappy at entering a route by hand, need to practice a lot. All your steps made sense, except a couple. You didn’t mention reason for entering 46 and on screen in magenta it showed flx 85.9. Other thing is trim, you adjusted from your stick 🕹 didn’t mention what button to press or wheel to turn. If you give me email 📧 I’ll send to you

[@oisinkenny1]

Nice videos - thank you! If you could, we would appreciate them in 4k even more. This would make it easier to read the screens/dials.

[@BritishAvgeek]

I would love to but if I did my frames would drop considerably 😂 check your KZbin settings as mine on my phone have changed recently to include another Auto setting instead of Full HD so it kept automatically dropping the quality of the videos I was watching 😂

[@yams900]

Looks sooo much fun mate ! No wonder it’s your favourite, will be mine too. A32NX makes you lazy, as there’s so much automation and flies by itself.

[@BritishAvgeek]

Indeed - funnily enough in my PPL books they mention increased automation causing significant increase in complacency and it really is takeoff, push button, land by comparison to the CRJ! Love needing to think further ahead and you get a lot more out of managing it too - a good flight feels like a success

[@yams900]

Always useful mate, decided to fly CRJ again :) One flight behind me already, went really well ! Brushing up my skills

[@BritishAvgeek]

Nice! It's a great aircraft 🙂

[@yams900]

@@BritishAvgeek One of my favourites! One thing I forgot to ask, can you use Speed Mode for descending ? I’ve always used VS :)

[@MrGASLP]

Enjoying your series. Keep it up.

[@BritishAvgeek]

Thanks! 👍

[@Sharjoom]

I prefer to set radio freqs and transponder code using the fmc radio page.

[@BritishAvgeek]

Yep that's an additional way Aerosoft added in to the aircraft but the manual dials are the "proper way" if you want the added immersion

[@Belfran]

Thanks for the video again, you bring value with easy explanations re: supercritical

[@BritishAvgeek]

It's something that stumps a lot of people so always good to try explain things in a basic way to help everyone :)

[@mps_gaming1898]

Thank you very much for very nice tutorial :-)

[@yams900]

Have you flown CRJ since the update in July 2022 ? Maybe you could recap/revisit do a blast from the past...remind us how good CRJ really is !

[@BritishAvgeek]

I have indeed! kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3zZhXitpJidgKM

[@yams900]

Great N1 tip, going to make a note on that. And you set N1 by using the throttle, right ?

[@BritishAvgeek]

Yes exactly - calibration is therefore vital in this so you have a wider/bigger range for the throttle so in cruise you can make lots of very tiny adjustments

[@grando7280]

Hey man, when i get go fligth level 300 my crj start to climbe very slow any tips?

[@StrictlySports]

if you turn the app bleed off before the apu is shut down completely will it turn the airplane off? also every time i take off it goes really fast and over stresses the airplane.

[@BritishAvgeek]

Turn overstressing off, MSFS isn't great at that... And if you turn apu bleed off yeah you might lose some systems. And if you take off too quick, reduce the throttle a bit more in climb or set a flex

[@StrictlySports]

@@BritishAvgeek ofc yeah that’s why i kept togs power in even when climbing

[@paul123p]

Amazing video as always. Random Q. Is the VNAV button not used?

[@BritishAvgeek]

Thanks! Great question too. The CRJ550/700 never had a VNAV system on most of the aircraft and it was something more regularly seen in the CRJ900/1000 irl - something I learnt from one of our channel members who spent years flying the CRJ as a Captain and is now on twin-aisles. I personally don't use VNAV for descent and instead use verticle speed even in the crj900 - the ball gives a great indication of what your rate of descent needs to be and it's how a lot of CRJ pilots would fly it from what I've been told

[@yams900]

Sorry to bother, how to clear information in scratchpad of FMS ? I accidentally entered wrong flight level information. Now it says DELETE in scratchpad, pressing DEL or CLR won’t make any difference. I’ve tried a different angle, some users suggested. Nothing blocking the view. Going to a different page or menu, and try to clear information from there…doesn’t work. If I start typing say F400, it looks like DELETEF400…then I can press CLR a few times, becomes DELETE again. This happens in CRJ700, can you please compared to your aircraft and suggest me a solution. I’ll keep trying…Ronnie

[@BritishAvgeek]

Did you find a solution in the end? I'd have to take a look to figure it out myself but you should be able to overwrite any wrong cruise info like FL

[@yams900]

@@BritishAvgeek No solution my friend to scratchpad issue. If you have a chance, pls compare to your CRJ, check what model. If you say “final solution” you’ll be in big trouble in Australia:)

[@johnmaracle4158]

I've gone this far however the aircraft will just not climb Im missing something

[@BritishAvgeek]

Speed mode, and put the throttle into the Climb gate :)

[@johnmaracle4158]

@@BritishAvgeek back to redoing yet again haha

[@osamaedris8376]

What is XPDR

[@BritishAvgeek]

Transponder :)

[@Harry_Ng]

British Avgeek when u dont press heading select: >:(

[@BritishAvgeek]

At which bit? After takeoff? Because we were going straight into Nav mode

[@AndrewGrey22]

Mine just speeds out of control, FMS properly set, throttle to CLIMB, climbing airspeed blows right past 250kts to 375 redline. I'm sick of messing with this no auto throttle mess and poor systems design. This is why pilots quickly move to get out of this aircraft into a larger one in real life. No one wants to fly these things. I'm deleting mine once and for all. Not a big Aerosoft fan anyway.