swimbody

Just curious about the airplane and the avionics, systems, backups, etc... Seems like a dependable good aircraft to start flying in. I could care less about the jets. Your opinions about the Q?

BoredwLife

I personally love the 400. It does have its quirks. Like I love when it leaks in the rain while sitting on the ramp. It does brake ALOT! That is a big issue with them, but the newer ones are doing better. The APU sucks when you need it in the cold it never seems to work.

They are a very fast and powerful turbo-prop. Normal 360 TAS cruise at 250. Ive seen groundspeeds in excess of 500 in cruise. The thing handels like a heavy jet rather than a smaler dash. I was once told by a very old time pilot that the feel system makes it feel just like the 777 he flew. Not sure since I havent flown a 777.

Avionics are nice not to many problems there that I have seen yet.

Oh the cooling and heating system is horrible. If your comfortable up front the people in the back are "normally" sitting around 82 degrees and complaining. Normal operation is flight crew is frozen and pax are comfortable. I think I have finally mastered the system and can "MacGyver" it in a way that it works.

Boots on a plane that moves that fast get tore up a lot. They should have hot wings but dont. There is a certificate for that but there is a problem with who owns the rights on it.

Theres more. Im just not thinks straight right now.

rickair7777

Standard issue bombardier.

G2TT

None of these are new problems with the Dash line, kind of thought they would have been worked out. Isn't it amazing that a mid-80's sedan can have an electronic thermostat, but a multi-million dollar airliner can't come up with a better system?

FlyerJosh

Here's a list of Q400 operators: http://www.q400.com/q400/en/operators.jsp

Jakob

I just talked to a guy who flew up front the other day with an SAS Dash8 Q400 from EDDH (Hamburg, Germany) to EKRK (Copenhagen, Denmark). The distance (direct, I don't know what routes there are to fly so it will probably be even more) is about 140nm. he said the aircraft didn't use more than 620kg (about 1,350lbs) of fuel. It seems to be pretty efficient for airlines to fly it compared to a jet.

BoredwLife

Its extrremely efficent. If I remember right break even for Horizon is 21 seats of 76 filled.

But still the canadians built an airplane that doesnt even like its own country!

QCappy

No. It's not that low. I do believe it is somewhere in the high 30s. But any breakeven depends on many factors including ticket price, fuel price for that leg, landing fees, etc.

BoredwLife

Yeah cappy I just remember sitting waiting for the damn ops shuttle every day and there is a big sign that says it. Im not retarded everybody knows it changes with maintence, fuel, etc...

Thanks captain obvious.

QCappy

Well if it's so obvious to you then why are you so far off. You should know the numbers. My point wasn't to educate you it was to make a point that is is a hard number to nail down that is constantly changing.