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"Q100" redirects here. For the radio station, see WWWQ. "Dash 8" redirects here. For the locomotive series, see List of GE locomotives. Dash 8 / Q Series A 78-seat Q400 operated by Flybe (British European) Role Turboprop Airliner Manufacturer de Havilland Canada Bombardier Aerospace First flight 20 June 1983 Introduced 1984 Piedmont Airlines Horizon Air Flybe Produced 1983-present Number built 858 (as of 30 April 2008)[1] Unit cost Q200 USD$13 million Q300 USD$17 million Q400 USD$27 million[2] Developed from de Havilland Canada Dash 7 The Bombardier Dash 8 (formerly the de Havilland Canada Dash 8, sometimes abbreviated as DHC-8) is a series of twin-engined, medium range, turboprop airliners. Introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984, they are now produced by Bombardier Aerospace. Since 1996, the aircraft have been known as the Q Series, for "quiet". Over 900 Dash 8s of all models have been built.[2] Bombardier forecasts a total production run of 1,192 units of all Dash8/QSeries variants through to the year 2016.[3] Contents [hide] 1 Design and development 2 Operational history 2.1 Regional jet competition 2.2 Landing gear issues 3 Variants 3.1 Series 100 3.2 Series 200 3.3 Series 300 3.4 Series 400 4 Operators 4.1 Series 100 operators 4.2 Series 200 operators 4.3 Series 300 operators 4.4 Series 400 operators 4.5 Coast guard and military operators 4.6 Other applications 5 Incidents and accidents 5.1 Notable accidents 5.2 Major landing gear incidents 6 Specifications 7 See also 8 References 8.1 Notes 8.2 Bibliography Design and development DHC-8-102 of Air Inuit In the 1970s, de Havilland Canada had invested heavily in their Dash 7 project, creating what was essentially a larger four-engine version of their Twin Otter, concentrating on excellent STOL (Short Takeoff And Landing) and short-field performance, their traditional area of expertise. Using four medium-power engines with large four-bladed propellers resulted in very low noise levels which, combined with its excellent STOL characteristics, made the Dash 7 suitable for operating from small in-city airports, a market DHC felt would be compelling. However, only a handful of air carriers employed the Dash 7, as most regional airlines were more interested in operational costs than short-field performance. In 1980, de Havilland responded by dropping the short-field performance requirement and adapting the basic Dash 7 layout to use only two, more powerful engines. Their favoured engine supplier, Pratt & Whitney Canada, developed the new PW100 series engines for the role, more than doubling the power from their PT6. Originally designated the PT7A-2R engine, it later became the PW120. When the Dash 8 rolled out on 19 April 1983, more than 3800 hours of testing had been accumulated over two years on five PW100 series test engines. Certification of the PW120 followed in late 1983.[4] Distinguishing features | ||||
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