Q400 - have serious problems with the gear
See the story about Q-400 gear problems. Posted in the spring 2007 by a pilot with 3000 hrs on the Q400 for Scandinavian Airlines.
We have had an endless number of problems with the gear; I myself have had two occasions of the gear cycling itself multiple times, with the handle in the up and lock positions - Aparently caused by proximity sensors, as has been the case for many of my colleagues.
Looks kind of exiting with all the red, green and amber lights coming and going all the time, not to mention the actual feeling of doors and gear moving.
Fortunately, in my case, it never happend at 280 KIAS....I doubt the doors would remain attached.
In one case there was a problem with the actual uphook, very nearly causing one maingear to not extend....Crew extended it after trying alternate extension for about one hour and on a hot phoneline to Bombardier.
A few cases of trouble in the company too with nosegear extension - Don't remember the cause.
We still hear of problems on a regular basis with the prox sensors.
There has been, and contiue to be, problems with just about any system on this A/C....More interesting, we have had more than a few prop overspeeds in the last year - This results in shutting the engine down (in the case where you are able to regain some control with the propspeed) which is obviously not always a desirable thing to do in the Scandinavian winthers !
Very, very interesting aircraft indeed, and we are way beyond the "infant illness" period ....
Last edited by angustias; 10th Sep 2007 at 19:37.