23 minutes ago, Matthew Kane said:

Perhaps your operator removed it or didn't order it. They do have heating on them. I've been on Dash 8's in temperatures way below minus 40 degrees in Canada many times and they were well heated.
Also the first Dash 8 Customer was NorOntair which is a Canadian operator not a Caribbean one 

What? How would it be possible to remove the complete heating duct and why should one don't want any cockpit heating?  I never wrote that there isn't any heating. 

Maybe they improved the heating on  later ones but the Dash7 and the -8 100 were really bad.  Did you fly the 100?

I'm not aware of any aircraft company which designs aircraft only for a certain area. Thought it was obvious that this was a tongue-in-cheek comment.

Edited January 8, 20206 yr by FDEdev

27 minutes ago, FDEdev said:

I'm not aware of any aircraft company which designs aircraft only for a certain area. Thought it was obvious that this was a tongue-in-cheek comment.

de Havilland Canada designed most of its aircraft for Canada's north. The Beaver, Otter and Twin Otter were designed exclusively for Canada's north.

Jumping forward to the Dash 8, yes it was designed to operate in Canada's north, its first customer that I just mentioned was NorOntair, which was owned by Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, which is a Crown Corporation of the Government of Ontario. Therefore its delivery customer was a Canadian Provincial Government and they required it to land on snow, ice and gravel, reason why it was designed that way. I suggest you read this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NorOntair

Like always any aircraft developed in Canada is heavily funded by Canadian Government and the Dash 8 had requirements to meet so it could operate in Canada's Environment, and NorOntair which took delivery of the first Dash 8 was flying it in and out of very remote places with lots of snow, ice and gravel

 

Edited January 8, 20206 yr by Matthew Kane

Looks like you still don't understand my tongue-in-cheek comment.  We simply never understood how it is possible that a Canadian company isn't capable of designing a good heating system, especially considering that Toronto isn't in the Caribbean nor the main  -7 and -8 operators are located there. 

It's not normal having to wear skiing underwear in a cockpit of a 'modern' airliner.

3 minutes ago, FDEdev said:

Looks like you still don't understand my tongue-in-cheek comment.  We simply never understood how it is possible that a Canadian company isn't capable of designing a good heating system, especially considering that Toronto isn't in the Caribbean nor the main  -7 and -8 operators are located there. 

It's not normal having to wear skiing underwear in a cockpit of a 'modern' airliner.

I get it now, that is the problem with this internet stuff, if we were having a beer together we would develop rapport very quickly, but the Internet is like tunnel vision so you can miss that sort of interaction. 
Yes you would expect a Canadian product to keep you warm 😎

Edited January 8, 20206 yr by Matthew Kane

Concerning your experience at -40°C and below, it's no problem to keep the passengers warm, the problem is that at the same time fern frost starts building on various screws inside the cockpit!

Edited January 8, 20206 yr by FDEdev

14 minutes ago, FDEdev said:

Concerning your experience at -40°C and below, it's no problem to keep the passengers warm, the problem is that at the same time fern frost starts building on various screws inside the cockpit!

I've never been up front in a Dash 8 just the back and countless times so I've not experienced that, only been in the front of the Beaver and Otter, I've never flown the Beaver went along for the ride but I got to fly the single Otter once.
I'm surprised to hear it's cold up there but yea if they are operating it up in the arctic they must be doing something to increase the heat. Also many US Carriers and Scandinavia were operating it in the winters as well so not sure what they did about it. 
I've been to the factory a number of times over the years as I used to live a few kilometers from it. Amazing to see they are still making them after 37 years now, it will probably close shop in two or three years as the lease will be up on the factory, but hopefully they keep production if the orders still come in. If they close it in 3 years that would make this aircraft a 40 year production run which is impressive.  

Edited January 8, 20206 yr by Matthew Kane

14 hours ago, Mace said:

A Cessna?  Does Textron/Cessna also own the De Havilland Canada brand now?   The Dash8 is closer to a jumbo jet than any Cessna aircraft (?) that I can think of.

That was a tongue-in-cheek comment mocking the media's propensity to see all aircraft as either a Cessna or jumbo jet...

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2020 at 2:05 AM, Matthew Kane said:

The four you found also have nothing to do with the grounding and re certification of the locking mechanism. But like I said look at the statistics and clearly you are not doing that because you are still looking at the media for examples 😫

There are many planes with the same design as the Dash 8. In the last 20 years, how many Fokker 50's or Fokker 27's have had as many landing gear problems? Same goes for the Antonov AN-24, 26,30 and AN-32. I'm sure there's probably some I've missed aswell. They all have the same gear folding into the engine design. How often do you see the same problems occurring again and again with any of those types? Have a look through all Dash 8 entries in Aviation Safety Database yourself, many are landing gear related. I'm not saying something happens every week, just more than most. The fact it can be used in arctic conditions and unprepared strips is irrelevant. Antonov AN-26's and AN-32's are both widely used in Africa flying into some of the worst runways in the world without half as many landing issues.      

As for the fact i quoted media articles. Weather it's a story by CNN or an official safety report, the incidences still happened. The media aren't likely to make these stories up. If they did, i'm pretty sure they'd have lawsuit coming their way from the airline.     

Edited January 9, 20206 yr by n4gix
REMOVED EXCESSIVE QUOTE!!! Please don't quote the entire post you are replying to!

1 hour ago, james42 said:

There are many planes with the same design as the Dash 8. In the last 20 years, how many Fokker 50's or Fokker 27's have had as many landing gear problems? Same goes for the Antonov AN-24, 26,30 and AN-32. I'm sure there's probably some I've missed aswell. They all have the same gear folding into the engine design. How often do you see the same problems occurring again and again with any of those types? Have a look through all Dash 8 entries in Aviation Safety Database yourself, many are landing gear related. I'm not saying something happens every week, just more than most. The fact it can be used in arctic conditions and unprepared strips is irrelevant. Antonov AN-26's and AN-32's are both widely used in Africa flying into some of the worst runways in the world without half as many landing issues.      

As for the fact i quoted media articles. Weather it's a story by CNN or an official safety report, the incidences still happened. The media aren't likely to make these stories up. If they did, i'm pretty sure they'd have lawsuit coming their way from the airline.     

If the landing gear issue is an issue for you I suggest you never get on an airplane ever, If they are safe enough for the Queen of England, they are safe enough for me 🤣

 

Edited January 8, 20206 yr by Matthew Kane

2 hours ago, n4gix said:

That was a tongue-in-cheek comment mocking the media's propensity to see all aircraft as either a Cessna or jumbo jet...

Yes I missed it the first time, it was clever 😀

I wonder how many main gear failure related accidents the Britten Norman Islander has had over the years. The gear is fixed, and the aircraft can use unpaved strips, but it is on long "spindly" struts..

Anyway..

Go Russian if you like robust landing gear..