It's cockpit is quite spacious with lots of room for the J/S.

I loved the Dash 8's landing abilities. Land and taxi-off with out touching the brakes in under 2000' at half flaps (15 degrees)!

It could slow down like no other, however, I hated the insanely low gear and flap speeds, it made it very uncomfortable to slow down (158 VLO, I believe). Forget flaps 35, you'll hang in your harness, the NW is lower than the mains till about 95 kts (making the first taxiway in 1500' is like shooting fish in barrel.) The ATR, on the other hand had a lot higher flap and gear speed and made it a lot more comfortable to slow down. The ATR had pretty respectable short field performance as well. We routinely brought her into 3400' strips in the Caribbean, not bad for a 48,000 lb beast.

I think the Dash 7 outdoes, just about everything for short field performance, I spoke with a Fed that used to fly 'em for Rocky Mountain Airways. With a twinkle in his eye, he spoke of many tales... ref at MLW (50 pax?) with full flaps was somewhere in the low 80's. 8 degree MLS approaches into Steamboat Springs were of no concern.

The ERJ will come down like a meteor at flaps 45 and FI.

I can't speak for the mighty 1900, but if it's similar to the B200's I've flown, it is hands down one of the best flying/handling airframes out there. 1900 has some pretty high ref speeds for a T-prop though. At least it'll out-run a DHC8 and keep up with an ATR 72.

Anyone with Brazilia, or Saab stories?

I would give my left nut for a crack at a Q400.