Don't confuse BAE (Or Hawker Sydley) press releases to the industry and advertisement claims against real reasons.
Budget. Budget. Budget.
When the aircraft was fist designed in the late 60's - 70's, the choice of engines that had been through the (lengthy and expensive) certification process was limited.
The Texxtron/Lycoming (then) engine variant had been in helios in vietnam and was based on a older core engine from a tank (although Honeywell think it was a completely different engine).
I don't know why people are mentioning "Hot and High", the ALF 502 is very asthmatic with limited turbine margin on a good day and the later 507 on the RJ is not much better.
I've worked on 146's/Rj's on and off for 12 years and the above is just stuff I've picked up on various courses over the years.
The RJX should have been designed with 2 larger motors IMO, 4 Donkeys on a regional jet did scare people who were awaiting the Embraer 170/190 family coming off the drawing board.
Last edited by Vortechs Jenerator; 16th Jun 2008 at 10:10.