Originally Posted by
Boogie711
I'm at an industry conference this weekend and met a gentleman who happens to be a pilot for United Express.
I asked him some questions about 'being on the inside.' One of which was "Just how much range do those things have, anyway?"
"Oh, we can go coast to coast."
"No, really? You must be weight limited then."
"Oh no. We'll do a charter for a NASCAR team or whatever. Load them all up and we'll go. We can take up to 25,000 pounds, and we take real weights, not calculated weights for a charter, so that helps."
So - next time you're complaining about your 45 minute ride on a regional jet, thank your lucky stars you're not on a NASCAR team. Because here's the kicker: he flies an Embraer 145.
Ugh.
I'm not quite sure that adds up.
Maximum payload is about 13,000 lbs.
Maximum range is about 2,300 miles in the standard configuration, which is almost long enough for transcon, except that regulations require a fuel reserve, which means the effective maximum range would be slightly below 2,000 miles, too short for any transcon.
Of course, less payload would mean longer range, and although I'm no expert on NASCAR, I would be surprised if they flew with 50 people. So it could be possible to fly an ERJ-145 transcon with a lighter payload.