W. Everlearn:
(It looks like you have) I jumpseated last month on the CRJ-my first time, and liked the c0ckpit. Remember comments that the plane has no autothrottles. On the EPR gauges, do they not always indicate with pointers which EPR is required in takeoff, climb, cruise, ga etc, as with the 757 and many others?
I felt it might be misunderstood to enquire about the accident while on the jumpseat: the guys who flew me were really tired, as always, and on the last leg of a long trip with about five legs per day, maybe more on some.
So, with the accident crew, should the EPR indicators have displayed higher power settings than the engines could produce for FL 410 etc? Or was there, generally speaking, a small, subtle message on the EICAS screen which warned about a minimum airspeed for such an extreme altitude, based on the ram air temp, assumed weight etc, or any other readable message displayed in either red or amber?
Maybe they should have glanced at a QRH or easy-to-read performance manual (it can be forgotten), as we do now and then, to know if a heavy plane can slow to 250-260 KIAS as requested by ATC?