# Any of you who fly Bombardier Dash 8 Q400's should look at this



## Carolinian (Mar 8, 2011)

http://www.timesharetalk.co.uk/index.php?topic=14575.msg44704

A few years ago SAS Scandanavian airline removed all Dash 8 Q400's from its fleet due to repeated problems with landing gear and has not flown them since.  The manufacturer was supposed to have fixed the problem, but with these incidents that is doubtful.

Colgan Air flies a lot of this aircraft type for Continental (soon to be United) and they are adding more.  The last fatal commercial plane crash in the US, BTW, was a Colgan Q400.

I fly Continental as my carrier of choice, but I have always avoided the Q400's


----------



## Carl D (Mar 9, 2011)

I just read that, and I actually laughed out loud. It sounded somewhat un-factual, and full of panic and hysteria.

Now, if you said the Q400 had issues while flying in ice....


----------



## Carolinian (Mar 10, 2011)

Carl D said:


> I just read that, and I actually laughed out loud. It sounded somewhat un-factual, and full of panic and hysteria.
> 
> Now, if you said the Q400 had issues while flying in ice....



Did you watch this video, involving three Q400's, the first two, a wheel coming off on landing and a crash, being Colgan Q400's operated for CO?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezNyqIZPsNY

If you don't think Q400's have issues with landing gear, you might ask SAS Scandanavian Airlines, the legacy carrier of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.  After multiple landing gear incidents, SAS pemanently removed Q400s from their fleet.  They may be in northern latitudes but it was not ice that caused those incidents.  The third incident on the video looks to me like a SAS plane, and there is no ice or snow in sight.


----------



## Talent312 (Mar 10, 2011)

Aside from the fact that the plane appears unsafe to fly...
A better article would have included a quote or two from the pilot or someone in authority about how they dealt with the situation, and are trained to land in such situations. We often see planes with damaged or improperly deployed landing gear belly-land or land on one wheel, and the only one hurt is the plane itself.


----------



## Pila (Mar 10, 2011)

Alaska Airlines is planning to replace some of their flights in Alaska that currently use 737's with the Dash 8.  Horizon, Alaska's subsidiary, has used them for many years with good luck (Horizon is to be merged into Alaska with the Horizon name disappearing).  If you can fly a Dash 8 in Alaska, you can fly it anywhere.  Horizon is phasing out their CRJ-700's and will operate only the Dash 8-400.  It seems they have faith in the plane.


----------



## Carolinian (Mar 10, 2011)

Pila said:


> Alaska Airlines is planning to replace some of their flights in Alaska that currently use 737's with the Dash 8.  Horizon, Alaska's subsidiary, has used them for many years with good luck (Horizon is to be merged into Alaska with the Horizon name disappearing).  If you can fly a Dash 8 in Alaska, you can fly it anywhere.  Horizon is phasing out their CRJ-700's and will operate only the Dash 8-400.  It seems they have faith in the plane.



Mainline jets downgraded to Q400 props?  That is a heck of a downgrade in service.


----------



## Ken555 (Mar 12, 2011)

I just flew on a Horizon Q400, and frankly it feels safer than the prop planes American Air flies (ATR?) and I go out of my way to avoid the regional jets. No aircraft is perfectly safe, unfortunately.


----------



## Carl D (Mar 25, 2011)

Carolinian said:


> http://www.timesharetalk.co.uk/index.php?topic=14575.msg44704
> 
> A few years ago SAS Scandanavian airline removed all Dash 8 Q400's from its fleet due to repeated problems with landing gear and has not flown them since.  The manufacturer was supposed to have fixed the problem, but with these incidents that is doubtful.
> 
> ...


I finally got back to this thread..
I agree, it does look as though there are issues with the Q400 gear. That said, the first link you posted didn't make that point.

As an aside, the information that I read concerning the Colgan Buffalo crash pointed directly at pilot error.


----------



## Carl D (Mar 25, 2011)

Ken555 said:


> I just flew on a Horizon Q400, and frankly it feels safer than the prop planes American Air flies (ATR?) and I go out of my way to avoid the regional jets. No aircraft is perfectly safe, unfortunately.


Often (not always), the sad truth is the lack of pilot experience at regional airline level. That is especially true at certain lower quality airlines that pay very poorly. 
Not sure about the past couple of years, but at one time the airline mentioned previously was the laughing stock of the industry. They would hire anybody willing to work for $5/hour.


----------

