Turboprop V Jet

[Big_Mooney]

Flying down to BHX on Sunday, with Flybe, and its just occured to me that i've never been on a Highwing Turboprop before. Flown all my life but never have I been on one of these A/C before. (Dash 8) What differences will I notice, if any?:confused:

[PAXboy]

That depends upon which row you are sitting in! ;)

I haven't been on one for about 18 months but the main thing about any turbo-prop is 'beating' from the props. The noise is much more distinctive than with a pure jet. If you are not in a mad hurry at your destination, ask for a seat right at the back. Although they might load front and back simultaneously. If noise worries you, buy those cheap yellow foam ear plugs.

Most of the noise is in line with the wings and the blurry things that hang off them. Pilots almost universally call them 'donkeys', or 'donks' for short.

That said, the Dash 8 is one of the newer generation and very quiet. The departure will be, obviously, a shorter run and the rotation much more marked - probably something to do with the shorter fuselage. The cruising altitiude is about 16,000 feet but I sit to be corrected on that (and all) points. So the view will be different from doing the sector on a pure jet.

Generally, I have enjoyed my flights on this type of machine. The only time that I was less than enthusiastic, was due to the winds across the Alps, when I went from Innsbruck to Zurich in a 19 seater. No reflection on the machine, just that the winds were large and it was small! If there was a 'smiley' for feeling green then I would place it here ...

[Ace Rimmer]

Actually on the BHX stuff they have Q400 Dash 8s this variant has a bunch of clever noise and vibration damping gizmos so noise levels are not really that much higher than a jet especially in a seat aft of the wing. As mentioned above you'll find accelleration quite a bit quicker than you might be used to. The Q400s are pretty quick so there won't be much difference in block times (only about 5 min different EDI-BHX or so I'm told).