Looking back: A history of the Dash 8 Q400

While emergency crews descend on a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y., we learn more about the plane that crashed there late Thursday. It was a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, a twin-engine turboprop that’s almost as fast and quiet as a regional jet but has lower operating costs.

The plane’s history stretches back to 1984, when de Havilland Canada (DHC) introduced the Dash 8 to meet the needs of small, in-city airports.

Four years later, U.S.-based Boeing bought DHC, intending to improve production and compete for a lucrative Air Canada contract.

But Boeing lost that bid and sold de Havilland Canada to Bombardier, based in Montreal, in 1992.

To emphasize the quietness of Dash 8 planes, Bombardier began selling them as Q series planes (Q200, Q300 and Q400) with the “Q” representing quiet. The 400 series was introduced in 2000.

Today, dozens of regional airlines, including Toronto-based Porter Airlines, use the Q400.

Q400s have been involved in several mishaps over the years, most of which involve the aircraft’s landing gear. Here are the most noteworthy incidents:

Jan. 27, 2002, Germany: A Tyrolean Airways plane loses one of its wheels before taking off from Frankfurt Airport. Inspectors discover the problem after the plane lands at Salzburg Airport.

2004, Japan: An All Nippon Airways plane makes an emergency landing at an airport in Nankoku Japan when its landing gear fails.

Mar. 14, 2007: An All Nippon Airlines Q400 with 56 passengers and four crew aboard made a nose-up landing at Kochi Airport after the pilot unsuccessfully tried lowering the nosegear. Four days later the airline grounds its remaining 13 Q400s.

April 20, 2007, Bahamas: A Bahamasair flight suffers a landing gear collapse while landing at Governor’s Harbour Airport in the Bahamas.

Sept. 9, 2007, Denmark: A Scandinavian Airlines flight experiences a landing gear failure in Aalborg, Denmark.

Sept. 12, 2007, Lithuania: A Scandinavian Airlines flight experiences a landing gear failure in Vilnius, Lithuania. SAS responds by temporarily grounding its Q400s.

October 27, 2007, Denmark: A Scandinavian Airlines flight experiences a landing gear failure en route to Copenhagen, Denmark. A month later, the airline permanently removes all its Q400s from service.