The British Aerospace 146 or BAe 146 is a regional jet aircraft designed for short sectors. The original assembly line was at Hatfield in England, the same place where the world’s first passenger airliner, the de Havilland Comet 1, was produced.

First flying on 3 September 1981, the aircraft entered service with Dan-Air on the London Gatwick to Berne route on 23 May 1983. Unusually for a short-haul aircraft, it features a high wing and is powered by four engines, the Lycoming ALF 502 turbofan.

British Aerospace 146 Video

Following on from last week’s video about the Inflatoplane, this week we head to the United Kingdom to look at the BAe 146. This promotional video was made around 1990, runs for just over two minutes and is called “146 – The Quiet Profit-maker”.

Unfortunately it is not the entire presentation, but it does give a good flavour for the aircraft. It was known for its rough field performance, ability to get in an out of small airports, and for how quiet it is. In fact, it was one of the few aircraft allowed to operate during the night under stringent noise restrictions at certain airports.

How About A Longer Presentation?

For those wanting to go in depth, there is an excellent video running for 55 minutes right here. It’s called “The British Aerospace 146 – The Making of an Airliner” from the BBC’s Nationwide programme.

It begins with a short history of British civil aircraft such as the Vickers Viscount and the de Havilland Comet. From there it looks at the production of the BAe 146 all the way through to the first flight.

Overall Thoughts

There were 221 British Aerospace 146 aircraft produced through to 1993. After this an upgraded version with more modern systems and engines came about. Interestingly, it was given a new name, the Avro RJ and there are many in service today.

Plans were afoot for further upgrades at the turn of the century, but the Avro RJX programme was terminated in 2001. You can find one RJX at the Runway Visitor Park next to Manchester Airport, which is also where you can find a British Airways Concorde, as well as a Hawker Siddeley Trident.

Have you ever flown on board a British Aerospace 146 or an Avro RJ? I’ve been on the RJ with CityJet and Brussels Airlines and found it to be quite comfortable. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Michael F. Mehnert via Wikimedia Commons.