American Airlines deHavilland Canada (Bombardier) DHC-8 Dash 8

            The deHavilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter was a success by anyone's standards, as it combined bush-pilot ruggedness with the ability to operate from virtually anywhere, thanks to its excellent low-speed handling and short-field takeoff ability.  It was limited to only 20 passengers, however, and it did not have particularly long range.  To rectify the problem, deHavilland introduced a brand new regional aircraft, the DHC-7 Dash 7 in 1978.  The Dash 7 had nearly the same short-field capability as the Twin Otter, but could carry 30-40 passengers.  deHavilland expected the Dash 7 to sell well, but to their surprise, sales were poor.  There was nothing wrong with the Dash 7 as an aircraft--but with four engines, it was hard for regional airlines to afford maintenance costs.  The short-field landing capability was nice to have, but not necessary for most of the Dash 7's potential customers.

With that in mind, deHavilland redesigned the Dash 7 with only two, more powerful engines, and billed it as the DHC-8 Dash 8.  It first flew in 1983, and sales immediately improved over the Dash 7.  The Dash 8 was less maintenance intensive, quieter, and cheaper to operate.  Moreover, deHavilland had great timing: when the Dash 8 came out, American deregulation of the airlines had caused an explosion of startups; at the same time, the commuter airliners developed during the 1960s, such as the Fokker F.27 Friendship, were starting to hit the end of their service lives.  Very quickly, demand exceeded supply.

In 1992, deHavilland Canada was bought by Bombardier, though production of the Dash 8 continued.  One complaint passengers did have was that turboprops were louder than jets, and less comfortable due to propeller vibration.  Bombardier then offered the Q (Quiet) series, rebranding the stretched DHC-8-300/400 as the Q300 and Q400.  The latter was particularly successful.  For awhile, the CRJ regional jet series looked to displace the Q400, but this trend may have reversed itself, as the Q400's operating costs remain lower than the CRJs.  Though the Q400 remains in production, earlier versions of the Dash 8 are not; the operating and production licenses for earlier versions were sold to the Longview Corporation in 2018.

As older Dash 8s are withdrawn from service, AvMax of Great Falls, Montana has become a leading company in refurbishing both Dash 8s and older CRJ models for resale.  As a result, there are quite a few of these aircraft sitting on AvMax's ramp or in the fields around Great Falls International Airport.  Most are inaccessible to spotters, but I was able to get this picture of N839EX on a cold March morning, thanks to a friend working the ramp that day.  (Note the snow--that was an improvement over a month previously, when Great Falls had nearly five feet of snow on the ground.)  

N839EX was delivered to USAir Express in 1990, and remained with the airline as it switched brands to USAirways Express, then American Eagle after USAirways was acquired by American Airlines. It was withdrawn from service in July 2018, and has been parked at AvMax awaiting a buyer ever since, still wearing the remnants of American's new livery.

Taken on: March 30, 2019

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