(Rockwell Collins Service Information Letter FMC-3000/4200/5000/6000-17-1 REVISION NO. 2)My company provides me with almost a dozen documents for the aircraft. These manuals are thousands of pages, information is duplicated between them, and there is the issue of applicability among variations in the fleet.
Here's a quick guide to get started in the right direction when looking something up, as well as some background on the purpose and applicability of the documents.
Use Case:
Description:
This document does not come from the manufacturer, but from my company. It's scope is far beyond just aircraft operations. My company has taken the manufacturer's procedures and limitations, and improved them in an easy to read document, and omitting excess information.
Use Case:
Description:
For Part 91 airplanes, the AFM is the only document provided by the manufacturer for how to operate the airplane. This used to be the case for transport category aircraft, but as they became more complex, manufacturers created additional documents such as the FCOM and QRH to keep the AFM from becoming unusably large.
Per AC 25.1581-1, the contents and format for the AFM is described in detail by the FAA. Generally begins with limitations, emergency procedures, normal procedures, performance and weight and balance charts, and supplements, etc...
Detailed system descriptions have been dropped from transport category AFMs and moved to FCOMs. In real world operation, emergencies and normal operations are handled via the QRH. I haven't dived in and compared, but these procedures should be the same between the AFM and QRH.
Normal procedures and checklists are also different. When the AFM was written, the Bombardier flight test team had only a few years of experience flying the aircraft. My company has decades of experience with thousands of flights a day.
Configuration Deviation List (CDL) is appendix 1.
Use Case:
Description:
This document is intended for flight crew reference, meaning it's descriptions are as quick as possible.
Use Case:
None
Description:
Vol. 2 contains limitations, emergency procedures, and normal procedures, but these topics are best reviewed in other documents; limitations and normal procedures in the SOPM, and emergency procedures in QRH Vol. 2.
These topics are also covered in the AFM, how do they differ? In most cases, they are a direct copy, however the FCOM Vol. 2 does add additional remarks in some places.
Use Case:
Studying systems
Description:
This document is intended for studying versus the FCOM Vol. 1 which is intended for operational use and reference. It has longer descriptions and explanations, but some information from FCOM Vol. 1 is omitted. Therefore, thoroughly studying a topic requires reading and comparing both documents.
Use Case:
Description:
In the flight deck, Vol. 1 is on the captains side, however it is most often used by the first officer during crossbleed starts. It contains supplementary procedures, limitations, and performance charts.
This document also seems to contain more performance charts than the AFM. The AFM is missing contaminated runway landing distances for instance.
Use Case:
Emergency and Abnormal procedures in flight
Description:
Vol. 2 is on the right side, but at my company is used by the captain. The first half contains emergency procedures and the second half contains the abnormal procedures. I find Vol. 2 to be a good thing to study. The FCOM is dry, but with some imagination, a QRH procedure can be treated as a short story. It shows how systems interconnect. Did you know if the radio altimeter fails, you might lose TCAS, GPWS, windshear detection and guidance, and ground lift dumping?
For almost all aircraft in my company's fleet, use FMS-4200.
My copy of the FMS 4200 has a copyright of 1999 and is the second edition. CRJ100/200 production lasted from 1991-2006, and CRJ700/900 production lasted from 1999-2021.
FMS v4.1 has a copyright of 2011 and states in it's introduction that the guide introduces SBAS and WAAS allowing GNSS precision and non precision approaches, and to use GNSS as an independent navigation system. The front page also says CRJ700/900/1000 series aircraft (CRJ200 not mentioned).
Probably, no CRJ200 or CRJ700/900 produced prior to 2011 will have FMS v4.1. Could an aircraft be retrofit? Will all aircraft produced 2011 or after have it? I don't really know. The only way to know for sure is to check on board the aircraft yourself.
Here is an FMS version matrix from Rockwell Collins:
(Rockwell Collins Service Information Letter FMC-3000/4200/5000/6000-17-1 REVISION NO. 2)
Press the INDEX button and then go to the STATUS page via LSK 1. The bottom data field will be labeled PROGRAM in cyan and have something like the following in white 'SCID 832-4119-016'. Looking this up in the table shows an equipment type of FMC-4200 and FMS version of 99. The FMS-4200 manual doesn't state what FMS version it is applicable for. I think its safe to say, unless the SCID is -030 or after, the most applicable manual is probably FMS-4200.
There are many differences between the two manuals. But the manuals rarely conflict, the differences are most often what is omitted in one and not the other. It could be this is a difference in the writing itself and not the software. For comprehensive study, considering both manuals simultaneously may yield the best understanding.