First flight on a Dash 8 Q-400 - great plane

[Guest cw1011]

I took Horizon yesterday from Portland to Spokane and back. First time in a Q-400. Quite the impressive airplane. Full glass cockpit, at 70 people, almost twice the seating capacity of the Q-200. More headroom than Horizon's CRjs. Almost as fast. But what really got my attention were the monster 6-bladed curved propellers - boy, talk about getting down to business! This plane looks downright mean head on. We were off the ground, fully loaded in less than 3,000 feet of runway, a steep climb out for noise reasons that felt effortless and a really fast flight. The plane just motors. And, a nice foot massage along the way from the vibrations from those monster turboprops. Anyway, it's not too often that I'm impressed by a prop plane - but I think DH/Bombardier got this one right!

[Guest]

Is the Dash noisy?I've never been on one but saw a few when I was 'spotting' the other day... they're really long and thin, it's hard to tell what it is in the distance cos it looks massive as it's so long!Some pics i took of the Dashes:http://www.planespotter.org/?app=aircraft&...cessor&model=27The foot massage sounds nice! LOL.

[Mats_J]

Hi gents>Is the Dash noisy?Well. I actually think Bombardier engineers took as much noise from the outside due to noise pollution issues, and stuffed it inside the cabin! :DOn that topic. I would just like to add my experience in the SAAB 2000 a/c. They have a sound suppression system in the cabin that is being turned on after the climb phase of flight. It's like someone put cotton in your ears! A really weird feeling. :-) I guess the reason why they don't turn it on until after the climb is safety issues. The pilots want to hear the undistorted/unsuppressed engine sounds during the critical phases of flight. Regards

[Guest cw1011]

Actually, the plane is very quiet. It is equiped with an active noise and vibration reduction system. I think it is a quiet neighbor because it can get off the ground in the first third of the runway and point its monster turbo props at the airport for its initial climb-out, before settling into a normal climb. Colin

[Guest cw1011]

Nice pictures Chris. Up close it looks like a whole new plane - faster and more agressive with the long thin fuesalage and the new horizontal stabilizer. Very business like.