Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 80
Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Aircraft
We were operating ZZZ-ZZZ1. Our APU was INOP. We took off climbing out of around 7;000 ft. we got a Gen 1 Off caution message followed by a IDG Disc status. I was flying so I had the Captain run the QRH for the Gen 1 caution. The QRH called for the APU to be turned on; ours was INOP. We [advised] with ZZZ Center then talked about our next step; we looked at different airports and most airports on the east coast were 300 ft. or less overcast; with thunderstorms to the west.  We messaged Dispatch and Maintenance about what was going on; they told us to air return to ZZZ. The Captain made the announcement with the flight attendants and passengers and kept them informed. We made a normal ILS landing into ZZZ and switched airplanes and made it to ZZZ1 2 hours later.[The cause was] Gen 1 failure; APU INOP; only working off one generator. Communication between pilots; passengers; ATC; dispatch and Maintenance Control was very good; we were all on the same page.
CRJ-900 First Officer reported No. 1 engine generator drive failure during departure climb. Flight crew requested ATC priority handling for air return followed by a safe landing.