Follow
Back in England Southampton was my home airport. It's really quite small. For the longest time FlyBe ran these BAE-146 'jumbolinos' that were pretty quiet (for their time...) but they were inefficient by the time of this photo in 2006. That year they'd be replaced with the much bigger Embraer 190.
The ERJs were supposed to come in 2006 but we didn't see them until the following year. Flew on them a couple of times down to Malaga, they were very nice. 2+2 seating which seems so civilized compared to the sardine can of most low-cost carriers. Embraer came up with some special configurations to allow them to fit into Southampton's fairly small runway.
And the windows are big.
The 146 used to wake me at 7am most mornings on the way to Malaga. The flap made this very distinctive whistle, like a loud moan when it retracted, caused by the air rushing between the slots.