Q/A With A Air Canada Q400 Pilot
Jack : Whats the furthest you’ve flow on the Q400? From what city to what city?
Andrew : The furthest I’ve flown a Q400 was from Halifax (YHZ) to Winnipeg (YWG) which took a little over four hours.
Jack : Whats the biggest difference between flying the Q400 vs the last plane you flew?
Andrew : Before the Q400, I flew the Beechcraft 1900D and the Hawker-Siddeley 748. The largest difference between the Q400 and the aircrafts I previously flew would definitely be the superior automation of the Q400. The 1900D and the 748 were great aircrafts, but their level of automation was quite outdated. They both were steam driven aircraft (no glass instruments in the cockpit) with older GPS systems and no autopilot, but please don’t get me wrong - a lot of fun to fly. The Q400 on the other hand, has a full glass cockpit with dual Flight Management Systems (FMS), and Heads-Up Guidance System (HGS). All these systems are very user friendly and significantly improve the pilots spatial awareness which really helps on challenging approaches.
Jack : Whats a fun fact about the Q400?
Andrew : A fun fact about the Q400 — the cockpit layout is designed to mimic the de Havilland Dash-8-100/300 models. Things such as the circuit break panel, overhead panel, cen- tre console, yoke and FMS are all designed and located in the same spot for each air- craft model. This is to maintain type-rating similarity, as in a pilot can transition from the Dash-8-100/300 to the Q400 with a differences course and not a full new type rating endorsement.
Jack : What’s your favourite city to fly into? And why?
Andrew : I was fortunate enough this past summer to do a lot of Canadian west coast flying and see many of the cities and communities in interior British Columbia. I would hands down say one of my favourite places to fly into would be Kelowna (YLW). The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and the approaches into the valley from either side always make for a great day.
Jack : What do you do on your layovers?
Andrew : I like to keep it quite simple on my layovers and usually try and get a bit of exercise. Most of the time our layovers are short and there’s barely enough time to unwind and hit the hotel gym, but sometimes you’ll have enough time and be lucky enough to go hiking and see some of the local scenery. Hiking up Signal Hill in St. John’s is one of my favourites.
Jack : Favourite route? Do you prefer long hauls, or a few short trips? And why?
Andrew : Our routes differ so often as the industry and demand is always changing, so usually on a month to month basis you’re never really sure what you’ll get. That being said, the under 20 minute flights like from Vancouver (YVR) to Victoria (YYJ) make for a high workload and a lot of fun. I prefer a nice mix of the quick 20 minute hops and the longer 2 hour flights which breaks up the day nicely.
Jack : How many flights a day do you fly ?
Andrew : I usually average around 3-4 flights a day but a lot of it depends on which base your operating out of or which day of the pairing you’re on. Theres been a couple of times where we’ve done up to 8 flights in one day.