Royal Spa

Continuing trouble with Dash-8 planes

james t kirk

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2001
24,069
4,004
113
I wasn't aware of any "continuing problems" with the Dash 8. (The Boeing 737 and it's rudder motor yes, but not the Dash 8)

The Dash 8 in your video came down minus the right landing gear and it still landed safely and did not burst into flames. As bad landings go, that's not that bad.

More likely than not, it was not properly maintained by the owners of the plane - which frankly is usually the case.

According to the link below, the Dash 8 was introducted to service in 1984.

There have been 9 incidents of note in 23 years during which time only 4 people have died.

Strangely however, there have been a spate of landing gear problems starting in September 2007 and even more strangely, they are ALL involving Scandinavian airlines. Most likely, your viking cousins don't know how to fix these aircraft and I would suggest that they start returning them to Downsview for future service. There's no shame in incompetence, only shame in denying one's incompetence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_Dash_8#Notable_incidents_and_accidents
 

danmand

Well-known member
Nov 28, 2003
47,010
5,602
113
james t kirk said:
Strangely however, there have been a spate of landing gear problems starting in September 2007 and even more strangely, they are ALL involving Scandinavian airlines. Most likely, your viking cousins don't know how to fix these aircraft and I would suggest that they start returning them to Downsview for future service. There's no shame in incompetence, only shame in denying one's incompetence.
It is honourable that you are defending Bombardier. I have no compulsion to defend SAS, but there have been a lot of articles that seem to indicate that SAS maintained the aircraft according to the manufacturers guidelines. SAS is, incidentally, suing Bombardier for damages.

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Preliminary_report_sheds_light_on_SAS_landing_gear_incident
 

james t kirk

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2001
24,069
4,004
113
Sue Schmoo. Take a number. Everyone is suing everyone these days for everything.

It's just a question of something is very strange when the Dash 8 is used all over the world, and only Scandinavian Airlines has a problem.

In fact, they have like 5 problems - all landing gear related, all in 2 months.

If there was a design defect, other airlines would be having the same problem. Since that does not appear to be the case, it is logical to conclude that the issue is with maintenance.

Passenger Aircraft have very rigourous maitenance regimes that must be followed to the letter - as was seen in the Air Transat catastrophy where their technicians changed out an engine, but were lacking a clip for the new engine, so they re-used an old one which was in fact not compatible with the new engine.

The result was that the fuel line rubbed on the improper clip, burst, and drained the aircraft of all fuel (after the pilots screwed up and transfered fuel from one tank to another when they didn't trust their instruments.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236

I find it higly suspect that one and only one airline would suffer 5 identical mishaps with one type of aircraft in 2 months and no other airlines would.

I'm looking to our viking friends screwing up somewhere down the line.
 

danmand

Well-known member
Nov 28, 2003
47,010
5,602
113
james t kirk said:
Sue Schmoo. Take a number. Everyone is suing everyone these days for everything.

It's just a question of something is very strange when the Dash 8 is used all over the world, and only Scandinavian Airlines has a problem.

In fact, they have like 5 problems - all landing gear related, all in 2 months.

If there was a design defect, other airlines would be having the same problem. Since that does not appear to be the case, it is logical to conclude that the issue is with maintenance.

Passenger Aircraft have very rigourous maitenance regimes that must be followed to the letter - as was seen in the Air Transat catastrophy where their technicians changed out an engine, but were lacking a clip for the new engine, so they re-used an old one which was in fact not compatible with the new engine.

The result was that the fuel line rubbed on the improper clip, burst, and drained the aircraft of all fuel (after the pilots screwed up and transfered fuel from one tank to another when they didn't trust their instruments.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236

I find it higly suspect that one and only one airline would suffer 5 identical mishaps with one type of aircraft in 2 months and no other airlines would.

I'm looking to our viking friends screwing up somewhere down the line.
I am glad that it is not Bombardiers fault, as I have a substantial (for me) investment in Bombardier.

However, it does seem to be the consensus by the experts, that the landing gear malfunctions are caused by a faulty maintenance manual.
 

Why Not?

Member
Aug 24, 2001
909
1
18
Did any of you guys do even the slightest research on this before responding? What is all this about only SAS having trouble and nobody having heard about. There was a nose gear collapse and a second failure-to-extend incident in Japan a number of years ago. And blaming SAS maintenace for the trouble? Come on!

By the way it is not specifically the DASH 8. It is a very large, stretch variant called the Q400 that is having all the troubles.

Do a google search on the words Q400, landing, gear and problem. You will get pages and pages of hits including numerous articles where Bombardier itself and the landing gear manufacturer recomended the grounding of all aircraft that had performed more than 10,000 landings (not much for a short haul aircraft that may do 3 to 5 a day). Later all aircraft were recommended for grounding.

These problems have caused the cancellation of plane orders so how can you imply that no one has heard of it or it is SAS's fault.
 

CALLMEBOND

Member
Dec 3, 2002
114
0
16
Northern Ontario
Another factor in this will be the type of runway terrain they are landing on as well and the climate. 10,000 cycles even with a high level of maintenance may be too high for one climate and low for another. Remember the apache's when they went to the gulf the first time the blades were being put together with duct tape because someone forgot about how abrasive sand was, oops!
 

danmand

Well-known member
Nov 28, 2003
47,010
5,602
113
The problem this time may very well be different from the earlier cases, where the landing gear collapsed shortly after touchdown. In this video it
appears that the right landing gear has failed to deploy.
 

CALLMEBOND

Member
Dec 3, 2002
114
0
16
Northern Ontario
I guess they can't perform a supermarine solution like the spitfire, passengers would tend to get upset when the pilot rolled the plane on its back to unlock the gear and then violently jinxed the plane up and down to lock the gear LOL. : )
 
Toronto Escorts