Here is a very interesting and entertaining blog by a retired Airforce pilot, and current cargo pilot:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/8/1685667/-Know-your-airliners#comment_67385058

The comments are likewise entertaining, mostly being anecdotes of personal experiences on various aircraft.

Edited August 9, 20178 yr by n4gix
corrected text

Oh I need one of those

1 hour ago, Matthew Kane said:

Oh I need one of those

 

A great read! Thanks for that.

Thanks for the link, I really enjoyed reading this.  My last flight was on a 747-400 from London to Phoenix in June, will miss the 747 when it is retired.

John

Don't quite understand this statement ,  " A Dash-8 is noticeably shorter than a Q400."

Great article and comments.  Hadn't known about Major Kong.  Thanks much for sharing!

18 hours ago, Freo said:

Don't quite understand this statement ,  " A Dash-8 is noticeably shorter than a Q400."

Somewhat a case of semantics, nicknames and the renaming which goes on as airliner companies change names (or ownership), but also because of some design differences...

Back in 1972, deHavilland Canada (DHC), who were makers of the legendary DHC-2 Beaver and the DHC-6 Twin Otter, developed what was at the time quite an innovative airliner, and one which they figured would compete nicely with contemporary stuff like the Hawker Siddeley HS-748 and Fokker F-27.

DHC named their new aeroplane the DHC-7. It was designed to be a bit quieter than contemporary stuff such as the HS-748 and F-27, but mainly to have some STOL performance, so it was pretty much the first of a new generation of modern turboprops. Companies such as Hawker Siddeley (later British Aerospace) tried much the same thing by making their BAe Advanced Turboprop, commonly known as the ATP, but ending up being nicknamed the Wigwam, because it was, A Teepee. It was a flop too, because it was basically a tarted up HS-748 rather than a clean-sheet design (and it had other problems too, which I'm not supposed to tell people about, so I won't, but don't get on one unless you like flying on aeroplanes when they are on fire lol).

Anyway, since it was the first new deHavilland model since the DHC-6 Twin Otter, pilots called the new DHC-7 the Dash Seven in order to differentiate it from the DHC-6 Twin Otter (or Twotter as pilots call it). You might suppose the fact it was a different aeroplane would be enough to differentiate it, but since the Dash 7 was pretty much a big Twin Otter with four engines, Dash 7 was the name it got stuck with and that was probably a better nickname that Quad Otter lol. In 1980, DHC developed a twin engined variant of the Dash Seven which dropped the focus on STOL capabilities and instead had better cruise capability and economy, so they called it the DHC-8 and of course it became known as the Dash Eight among pilots.

In 1988, deHavilland Canada was bought by Boeing and then subsequently sold on to Bombardier (which despite many people saying it wrong, is pronounced bom-bard-ee-ay, not bombar-dear). The bit of deHavilland which made the Twin Otter was bought by Viking, who continue to make a newer version of the Twotter. So, the Dash Eight then became the Bombardier Aerospace Dash Eight, since the word Dash sounds cool and also makes it sound fast, so the marketing people liked that. But... as with most aeroplanes, they tend to get stretched versions developed later in life, and so it was with the Dash Eight, the initial variant being the Dash Eight 100, then a larger capacity 200 version, then a longer 300 version, then eventually a longer 400 version, by which time Bombardier were also refining the design to make it quieter (both outside for environmental concerns and noise abatement rules, and inside for passenger comfort) so to emphasise that it was quieter, they renamed it the Q-400. Thus officially, any Dash Eight delivered after 1997 is one with the quieter cabin and so is a Q model, and anything prior to that is a Dash Eight, so of course that means the majority of Dash Eight versions are indeed shorter (and noisier) than their Q400 sisters.

But the Dash Eight nickname has stuck, even though officially it is now a Q400, which makes sense because it is considerably quieter inside it than the rival ATR 42 and 72, even thought the ATRs are a bit prettier, or at least they are when the tail is not covered in ice and they are not plummeting out of the skies with the elevator jammed in the down position, when they become even louder, especially when they hit the ground lol. Don't panic if you fly on one though, they have better de-icing gear on the tail these days, but they are still very noisy in the cabin compared to a Q400.

 

Just really great info and insight in that article...  

3 hours ago, Chock said:

 

But the Dash Eight nickname has stuck, even though officially it is now a Q400, which makes sense because it is considerably quieter inside it than the rival ATR 42 and 72, even thought the ATRs are a bit prettier, or at least they are when the tail is not covered in ice and they are not plummeting out of the skies with the elevator jammed in the down position, when they become even louder, especially when they hit the ground lol. Don't panic if you fly on one though, they have better de-icing gear on the tail these days, but they are still very noisy in the cabin compared to a Q400.

 

Sucks when that happens.

Also the Q400 is fit for a Queen 

Hi Chock,

 

Thanks for the explanation.