What can one say. I gave a good many years of my working life to the BAe146/RJ project and to see the latest reincarnation of that fine aircraft end its days as an exhibition at Manchester was just to painful to watch. Why the BAE Systems board wouldnt or couldnt find the miniscule amount of capital to keep the project and production line going bewilders me. It was months away from certification and it seems they just lost there nerve. (Could the departure of John Weston be a critical factor. Is Sir Dick Evans who is a military man through and through had undue influence in the decision making process. With all of its competitors falling by the wayside it seems that the BAE systems board have lost another golden opportunity to sell this fine aircraft. As the test pilot Al Foster said in an interview for BBC look Northwest " this country has lost the ability to build civil aircraft and that is very sad". It seems the board of BAE Systems want to be nothing but subcontractors and assemblers of Military aircraft. "No risk" should be their motto.
As for the uninformed people who are quick to criticise this aircraft all I can say is in all the time I was involved with this project with many quality airlines overseas and at home, its technical reliability was no worse than the many aircraft from Boeing and McDonnel Douglas that I was involved with. I would say to the knockers dont be blinkered by the Boeing propaganda machine. The BAe146/RJ is a fine aircraft.