The engineers are not purely QLink they work for Cobham. Their job requires them to work on both 717's and Dash 8's and up until reccent times Islanders and any other type that was required. There are three times as many Dash 8's in Cairns as 717's. The Cairns base is not a maintenance base for 717's it certainly is for Dash 8's. guess what that means, lots of Dash 8 work, with the odd 17 turn around. You need to get out of the galley a bit more and find out what goes on in your own base!