Author’s note
Before this article begins, it is worth noting that the author will use the terms Dash 8-400 and Q400 interchangeably. One should note that the term Q400 was Bombardier’s attempt to rebrand the Dash 8-400 as a quiet aircraft, as will be explained below.
Logical evolution
The Dash 8-400 would be born in the mid-1980s. de Havilland of Canada was getting concerned about the ATR-72 and other potential competitors as airlines expressed interest in a 70+ seat turboprop.
Read more about the ATR-72
So the Dash 8 design would be stretched again ten years later as a logical continuation of the series with lower operating costs and fuel consumption. As Simple Flying covered in June 2020, the Dash 8 aircraft family history spans back to 1983 with continuous improvement.
Photo: De Haviland of Canada
On November 21, 1997 the first “Series 400” would be rolled out - and you can see some photos here. The aircraft had a first flight on January 31, 1998. But the marketing label for the aircraft would soon change.
Why the Q400 label?
The Dash 8-400 would be labeled the Q400 as a Bombardier marketing exercise. Namely, as turboprops are perceived to be louder than regional jets and as such, Bombardier added sound-proofing equipment such as an Active Noise and Vibration System (ANVS). ANVS works by analyzing the airframe noise and then playing the sounds back to cancel out the waves of aircraft noise. The Q400 also came with tuned vibration absorbers to dampen vibration entering the cabin making for a smooth ride.
Photo:Nathanael Wood
Today, the Dash 8-400 in de Havilland of Canada’s care has met U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Stage 5 standards and is certified by EASA as having met ICAO Chapter 14 standards. In an October 25, 2021 statement, de Havilland of Canada Vice President, Engineering and Quality, Robert Mobilio explained the Dash 8-400 was ahead of, “New regional jet designs that have been proposed to meet these same standards, are several years away from introduction into service”. Mobilio went on to say,
The Dash 8-400 noise emission approvals also offer increased opportunities for urban planners to minimize the impact of commercial aviation on communities while the industry works to develop next-generation propulsion technology such as the hybrid-electric propulsion technology being developed by Pratt & Whitney Canada in collaboration with De Havilland Canada.
Powerful engines and new Dowty R408 propellers
The Dash 8-400 comes with two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150A engines rated at 4,850 shp (3,620 kW) that can cruise the aircraft at 360 knots (667 km/h). The turboprop engines operate with a gas turbine engine turning the propeller.
The Q400/Dash 8-400 does not have the four-bladed propellers of previous members of the Dash 8 family. Rather for efficiency, the aircraft has two six-bladed Dowty R408 propellers connected to engines to provide 5,071 horsepower of thrust as pictured below.
Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying
Dowty is a British propeller manufacturing company that started in 1937 working on the Hawker Hunt bomber as Rotol Airscrews. Also during World War II, Rotol Airscrews would manufacture propellers for the Supermarine Spitfire plus the Hawker Hurricane fighters and also the Halifax plus Wellington bombers. Then in 1958, Bristol Aeroplane and Rolls-Royce would sell Rotol Airscrews to Dowty Group, hence the name Dowty.
Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying
According to Dowty’s history page in 1999,
The first full electric control system with a Pratt & Whitney engine and a single removable blade system is certified for the Bombardier Dash 8 Q-400 and our relationship with De Havilland of Canada begins.
The R408 propellers have a 13.5 foot (4.1 meter) diameter and were certified as safe on July 29th, 1999. The propellers have a cruise rpm of 850 revolutions a minute with a weight of 555 pounds.
Modern co*ckpit
The Dash 8-400 comes with a modern, mutli-function display co*ckpit. The co*ckpit comes with five modern displays, a flight computer and an autopilot. There is also an optional head’s up display meant to project basic flight information such as altitude, airspeed and heading onto the windscreen so the pilot can look ahead not down for basic flight information. For a propeller aircraft, it’s just as modern as say the Boeing 737-900 or the 737 MAX family.
However, the Dash 8-400 was supposed to have Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System (EICAS), which according to "Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing" by Peter Robison which shows, "The fuel level, oil temperature, and other important indicators in real time. If a fault was detected, a message popped up giving pilots more detail about how to handle it." But just like with the Boeing 737 MAX, a concern about additional training deterring potential customers held EICAS back from being installed into the aircraft. Oddly enough, the Embraer E175 has EICAS - an airframe many airlines such as Horizon Air have used to replace the Dash 8-400 with.
Dash 8-400 Retired from SAS
Yes, back in October 28th, 2007 Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced its intentions to retire its entire fleet of Dash 8-400s (Q400s). Scandinavian Airlines had several landing gear failures that made SAS lose confidence in the fleet.
Photo: Simon Butler via Flickr
Furthermore, Bombardier called for Q400s with more than 10,000 flights at the time to be grounded until the landing gear could be certified as safe for flight. This impacted around 60 of the 160 turboprops in service at the time worldwide.
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Eventually, SAS and Bombardier would come to solutions. First, the landing gear failures came about due to corrosion and as per De Havilland Canada: Beaver to Dash 8 by Christopher Buckley, “A misplaced o-ring that had blocked a hydraulic restrictor valve.” Furthermore, SAS would at discount replace the Dash 8-400s with another Bombardier product – namely the CRJ-900.
Dash 8-400 Future
The future of the Dash 8-400 may appear to be one of decline, especially with the May 2021 Austrian Airlines retirement plus none other than airBaltic, Horizon Air and LOT Polish retiring the turboprop from their fleets in January 2023 plus the bankruptcy of the FlyBe reboot – but in actuality, the Dash 8-400 will live on in many ways. Especially as according to a de Havilland of Canada spokeswoman, Dash 8-400 aircraft are in the fleets of more than 75 owners and operators such as Qantas which operates all marks of Dash 8 and also Porter Airlines pictured below.
Furthermore, Porter Airlines which first placed orders in 2006 is creating new routes for her Dash 8-400s. Also some of airBaltic's Dash 8-400s are flying for other airlines like AM - Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique and Widerøe. Furthermore, de Havilland of Canada is building a new factory in Alberta with the explicit intention to restart Dash 8-400 production later this decade.
Photo: De Haviland of Canada
A spokesperson for WestJet also said;
WestJet is the world's largest operator of the Q400 and these aircraft have been instrumental in our ability to provide regional connectivity across Canada. As our fleet grows, we are always evaluating our aircraft based on age, operational requirements and efficiencies to best support our operations and network schedule.
There is also a growing new role for Dash 8-400s as aerial firefighters. Some of the first were Conair purchases from Flybe. With Flybe going bankrupt again and the airBaltic + Horizon Air + LOT Polish fleet retirements; the pool for more such conversions just dramatically grew. Furthermore, there is the option to have conversions such that the aerial firefighters can also be capable of a quick reconfiguration for use in air tanker, cargo, passenger, combi-transport, or medical evacuation missions. Enjoy the below video from Conair for details:
As if this wasn't versitaile enough, the Dash 8-400 can now be converted to an air freighter. According to a July 18, 2022 statement by De Havilland of Canada, the Dash 8-400 can be converted to a "Quick Change" model that can go back and forth between air freight and passenger seats, a package freighter focused on packages versus pallatized cargo and finally a Freighter With A Large Cargo Door". As Jean-Philippe Côté, Vice President Programs, De Havilland Canada explained,
“Several built-in attributes of the Dash 8-400 aircraft, including its outstanding airfield accessibility, hot-and-high performance, range up to 1,640 nm and long structural life, position it very well for cargo operations, and its low noise and CO2 emissions mean that it’s also an environmentally responsible choice.”
With 620+ Dash 8-400s built in the hands of more than 75 owners/operators and again plans to build more; the Dash 8-400 will live on as an efficient airliner, an aerial firefighter and possibly as a cargo transport. Plus De Havilland of Canada is offering cabin enhancements like new seats, wireless in-flight entertainment and satellite Wi-Fi for the passenger propliners still in service. Finally De Havilland of Canada also offers an increase, "of up to 3,000 lb (1,360 kg) in payload (maximum zero fuel weight) and an increase of up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) to the maximum take-off weight of the Dash 8-400 aircraft" according to a manufacturer July 19, 2022 statement.
In short, the Dash 8-400 is being recovered and refined 25 years flying strong. For an aircraft marketed to be quiet as the Q400 for part of its history; the De Havilland of Canada Dash 8-400 continues to make its presence felt.
Do you feel this article answered your questions about the Dash 8-400? Please share in the comments if it did or if you have further questions?
Sources: De Havilland Canada: Beaver to Dash 8 by Christopher Buckley, De Havilland of Canada, Dowty Propellers, “Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing” by Peter Robison,
