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De Havilland Dash 8 / Q400
De Havilland Canada · First flight 1983 · in service since 1984
Seats
78–90 (Q400)
Range (nmi)
≈1,100 (Q400)
Cruise
360 kt (Q400) — nearly jet speed
Wingspan
28.4 m (Q400)
Length
32.8 m (Q400)
Engines
Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150A (Q400)
Variants
Dash 8-100/-200/-300, Q400
How to spot one
- ✓High straight wing over a long pencil fuselage, with a tall T-tail
- ✓Six-blade props that turn slowly and quietly compared to older turboprops
- ✓Main gear retracts into the engine nacelles, not the fuselage
- ✓The Q400 stretch looks almost too long for its wing — that's the one doing jet speeds
The turboprop that thinks it's a jet. The stretched Q400 cruises at 360 knots — fast enough to slot into jet traffic flows — while burning turboprop fuel quantities on sub-500-mile hops. The 'Q' stands for the active noise-and-vibration suppression that made its cabin genuinely quiet. Production wound down in 2022, but from the Pacific Northwest to Europe's islands it remains the backbone of serious short-haul flying.
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