Boys, boys - CALM DOWN!
Let's not get too heated up over this.....
It's simple. Jet boys like their 146 and think the Q400 is a pile of poo, and Q400 boys happen to like their toy and thoroughly enjoy flying it, and see the 146 as rather antiquated.
Smooth landings on the Q400 are not rare - actually those of us that fly the thing every day manage to get some nice greasers out of the thing, and at least we can put that down to skill as opposed to the 146 doing it all for you!
>>I used to position on them a lot, and I used to find my "outside" foot would go numb with the constant buzzing vibration coming from the cabin side mouldings<<
I'm guessing that might be a slight exaggeration otherwise we'd have all sorts of complaints from the passengers - and quite simply we don't!
>>Then there were the days when we would push back, only to be told that everything was about to go "dark", as all the electrics had to be turned off to reset some errant computer. Wonderful stuff.<<
The first five words of the above statement says it all - yes it used to be a regular occurence, but such incidences are decreasing as we get all the problems sorted.
We do actually have to pull the throttles back in the cruise to avoid it overspeeding - I do it every day!
Flight time wise - on the JER-LGW route we actually have the same flight time as the 146.
Noise wise - positioning quite a lot on both the 146 and 400, the jet actually seems to be noisier on most occasions....
Let's face it - the majortity of guys moving from the 146 to the Dash fall into two categories -
1) 'Older' Captains who actually have no intention of leaving the company, therefore the last a/c type on their CV is of no use to anyone. They seem to be enjoying the Dash, and certainly have made no complaints about keeping their jet salary and earning more than other Dash Captains.
2) First Officers from the 146 who have been offered a command on the Dash. In a lot of cases they have the required 1500jet hrs to move to a company that would offer long haul (i.e. Virgin), but are taking the opportunity to get time in the LHS which also is 'eye-catching' on the CV.
146 and Q400 drivers will never agree on which a/c is best, and that's what makes all this banter amusing. There is only one thing to realise - the Q400 is more difficult to fly therefore we should be paid more!
