How lucky can you get? Last year at the Paris Airshow we met a Bombardier pilot who ferried their Q400 to the show. Here we are, nearly a year later, and we get to ride her plane from Montreal to Mirabel.
Thoughts on the Q400 – it is a remarkably quiet airplane. As a demo Bombardier turned off their active noise suppressing system and we were surprised at how effective the system is in reducing noise and vibration associated with turboprops. Although we cruised at 360 knots, another demonstration was cutting the speed to 280 knots to experience typical cruise speed. The cabin was very quiet at that speed. Bombardier effectively offers the speed of a regional jet in this aircraft, at much lower costs.
The airplane we flew is due to be delivered to India’ SpiceJet. Even at 31 inch pitch the seating was comfortable.
A nice aircraft. It seems Bombardier is remarketing it aggresively after ATR swept the markets. The Q400 is way faster, climbs better can replace a jet, gives shorter travel time uses way more fuel and is much more expensive.