Photo: Valdis Kļaviņš

The Q400 NextGen aircraft YL-BAE, aka the Tweeting Plane, has been a member of the airBaltic fleet since last spring. Since that time the plane has made almost 1,500 flights and transported 100,000 passengers. By now the Tweeting Plane has been joined by seven more brand new Q400s. Wingtips recently spoke with airBaltic’s chief engineer, Uldis Peļņa, about how the plane is doing. Peļņa also revealed why engineers would make excellent Twitter users, and even offered his own “guest tweet.” 

The newest plane in the airBaltic fleet is the Dash 8 Q400. What is new with the Dash 8? How well has the plane integrated into the fleet?

Very well. The Q400 is a great addition to the fleet: it is faster and more capacious than the Fokker 50 and smaller than the Boeings, fitting perfectly into its own niche. In that sense it has integrated very well. Last November we received five more brand new aircraft from the Bombardier factory in Canada, giving us a total of eight Q400 planes. Now it is much easier to use them, in terms of scheduling and passengers and routes.

From an engineering perspective, how is the Q400 different from other planes?

The plane has a very good technical maintenance program that gives the airline lots of possibilities for variation. This lets us organize tasks in a way that conforms to our own needs. We have onsite support from Bombardier, which also helps us a lot. It allows us to solve matters very quickly. What’s more, we are the first company in the Baltics to use their planes. So it is in Bombardier’s interest to make sure the introduction of their planes into the region goes as smoothly as possible. They are very supportive of us.

What does the Bombardier representative do in Riga?

He follows all the questions that arise, any possible problems. He helps speed up the delivery of parts from suppliers. He also helps coordinate any technical matters, so that the Bombardier office in Canada can answer as quickly as possible. And he knows quite a bit himself about the planes, so he can help us out here on site.

Is it easier to perform maintenance for the Q400 because it is new?

From a technical maintenance perspective, it isn’t any easier. The only thing is that the lighting in the plane is LED, so you don’t have to change the light bulbs as often. But from a maintenance perspective, things will get much easier in about a year, when we get fully aquainted with the plane and learn all its nuances. Then the technicians won’t have to do as much work on them, just the planned technical maintenance work—oil changes, service checks, replacement parts. Since the other planes arrived, things have become easier, too.  The more planes you have, the more often you get to perform regular maintenance work, the more experienced you get.

What does the introduction of the Q400 NextGen mean for the future of aviation?

The Q400 is a large turboprop plane. In terms of speed, it can compete with jet engine planes. I think that trend is going to continue: turboprop planes will get even larger and will be able to reach high speeds, with very good fuel consumption indicators. Jet engine planes are getting larger—as we see with the A380—and the same will happen with turboprop planes

What is the main difference between the Q400 and the Fokker 50, both of which are turboprop planes?

The main difference between the Q400 and the Fokker 50 is the power of the engine. The engine of the Q400 has more power, and this gives more speed. Also, the Fokker 50 was not designed for top speeds, as speed was not so crucial at the time of its design. The propellers on the Fokker 50 and Q400 come from the same manufacturer—Dowty—and structurally are very similar. But because of the more powerful engines and higher top speeds on the Q400, the propeller is bigger and the shape is a little bit different.

Is it easier for pilots to fly the Q400?

Yes. The planes are brand new, and the systems are optimized to meet the specific needs of our pilots. In the case of airBaltic, the Q400s were ordered specially for our airline, so they haven’t been used by any other companies. Everything is exactly as our pilots wanted and what they are used to. So it’s definitely easier for them to fly the Q400.

The Q400 is also airBaltic’s own Tweeting Plane. If you, the head engineer at the airline, could write a “guest tweet” for the Tweeting plane, what would you say?

(Laughs.) Engineers are used to expressing themselves very laconically, because time is of the essence for them. They need to express the maximum amount of information in the shortest amount of time, so that the other person can have 100 % clarity about what you have said. So engineers aren’t the type of people to sit around in a kitchen, drinking coffee and chatting for hours on end.

So you’re the ideal Twitter user!

Perhaps, but I don’t have the time. (Laughs.) But in regards to the Q400, I would say this: “If you get to fly in the Q400, enjoy every moment! The plane is brand new, has a new design, and is very quiet. It’s a true joy to fly!”

Tags: Dash Q400, Tweeting plane

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Aviation, Behind the Scenes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.