My all time favorite succession of aircraft has been the linage from the Beaver to the Dash 8 and everything in between, I would love to see a future Dash 9 or some sort of Dash 8 reboot as speculated in this article:

https://www.flightglobal.com/airframers/de-havilland-eyes-2025-decision-for-possible-dash-8-production-reboot/159313.article

Edited July 25, 20241 yr by Matthew Kane

I hope this happens.  The Dash 8-400 is one of my favorite aircraft.  It can carry up to 90pax, fly at 350kts for 1,000 miles, and is very fuel efficient.

Dave

I prefer the ATR to the Dash 8 Q400 to be honest. From a passenger perspective, more leg room. In terms of in-flight not much difference, typical turbo prop. 

15 hours ago, martin-w said:

I prefer the ATR to the Dash 8 Q400 to be honest. From a passenger perspective, more leg room. In terms of in-flight not much difference, typical turbo prop. 

I don't see a rivalry, the Dash 8 was designed for arctic operations, that is the reason for the 'Stork' style landing gear, it can land on gravel strips in the most remote regions of the world, the ATR landing gear is very close the the fuselage, therefore limited to hard surface landings only, the ATR has a market but is limited to a regional aircraft, the Dash 8 like all its predecessors is a turbo prop bush plane airliner for which the ATR can never be.

Edited July 25, 20241 yr by Matthew Kane

15 hours ago, martin-w said:

In terms of in-flight not much difference, typical turbo prop. 

The Dash8-400 can carry more passengers, is considerably faster, and has a longer range than the ATR72.

Dave

1 hour ago, Matthew Kane said:

the ATR landing gear is very close the the fuselage, therefore limited to hard surface landings only, 

Calm Air now operates ATR exclusively, and they fly to places like Arviat or Gillam, which have gravel strips.

( https://www.calmair.com/our-fleet )

Peter

Wikipedia

ATR 72 -600 takeoff 4,196 ft   landing 3,002 ft

Dash 8 Q400 takeoff 4,675 ft  landing 4,230 ft

Short runway is possible with ATR

49 minutes ago, Fielder said:

Wikipedia

ATR 72 -600 takeoff 4,196 ft   landing 3,002 ft

Dash 8 Q400 takeoff 4,675 ft  landing 4,230 ft

Short runway is possible with ATR

Its not about the landing distance, it is that the Dash 8 is designed to land on gravel as I have already clearly stated, I never mentioned STOL. as the Dash 8 is a Canadian design that was important for Canada, the ATR being France they don't have an arctic therefore not a feature

Edit: The Dash 8 Launch Customer was NorOntair, which operated on remote airports in Northern Ontario including gravel strips, for STOL they also operated the Twin Otter also made in the same factory as the Dash 8, but that was the concept the customer focus was Canadian Operators and at that time DeHaviland could sell both Dash 8 and Twin Otters to meet the needs of Canadian Operators and of course with Canadian Government Subsidies 

Edited July 26, 20241 yr by Matthew Kane

7 hours ago, dave2013 said:

The Dash8-400 can carry more passengers, is considerably faster, and has a longer range than the ATR72.

Dave

 

True, except for passenger numbers.

 

Q-400 is 78 passengers

ATR 72-500 standard config is 72 to 78 passengers. Hence why the 72 was originally in it's name. 

ATR-72-600 is up to 78 passengers.

Depends on the operator, of course.

 

Q-400 is up to 360 knots. Impressive! Normal cruise speed is 271 knots, though. 

ATR 72-600 has a high speed cruise of 275 knots.

 

Q-400 range is 1362 nautical miles. Impressive!

ATR 72-600 is 740 nautical miles.

ATR 72-600 is the most fuel efficient regional aircraft, though.

Having flown in both, multiple times, the only thing I've noticed as a passenger is more legroom in the ATR. I've flown in the Flybe Q-400's and Aurigny ATR's. Aurigny have ATR 72-600's with the ClearVision Enhanced Vision System. 

 

 

Edited July 26, 20241 yr by martin-w

7 hours ago, Matthew Kane said:

I don't see a rivalry

 

Nope, both great aircraft. The Flybe aircraft I flew on though were old. You could barely see out of the scratched windows. 😃 And of course, when they went bust I got stranded.

Luckily a Blue Islands rescue flight was made available. Now that was fun, there was just me and a handful of others onboard. Can't tell you how many because every seat around me was empty. It was like I had become a celebrity all of a sudden and was flying in my private aircraft. 👍

22 hours ago, qqwertz said:

Calm Air now operates ATR exclusively, and they fly to places like Arviat or Gillam, which have gravel strips.

( https://www.calmair.com/our-fleet )

Peter

That's fine but not ideal, the Dash 8 is heavily used in gravel but if some ATRs are landing on gravel on occasion you could, but the ATR would be a mess for the mechanics 

ATR very little clearance:

Dash 8 was designed with a lot of clearance:

 

Edited July 26, 20241 yr by Matthew Kane

true that, cant wait to see what a dash 9 would look like!!