No it's not the Dash 8 and I'd rather be flying the Dash mainly because of the larger FLT deck and the potential for Q400’s (which I think are the future of the regionals) down the road. But the E120's a great airplane and it was well beyond it's time when it was designed in the 70's. Two of its most amazing attributes is the fact that it can go fast (for a T-Prop, took over 20 years to build one that’s faster & as large or larger) and it’s extremely fuel efficient, burning around 800 lbs per hour TOTAL in cruise and an average of between 900 to 1000 lbs per hour when you include TO and CLB. It’s been the backbone of SKW as they’ve grown from a small piston operator in the early 70’s to what they are today. Without her we wouldn’t be who we are and I’m proud to fly her. The funny part is that most of us refer to the E120 as "her" but someone gave her the nickname, "Bro?"

On a side note, the 3 main T-Props out here on the west coast have been the Saab (Eagle), Dash 8 (Horizontal), and the E120 (SKW) for many decades. Now Horizontal has add the Q400's which doesn't fly the same routes as us so, even though it is still a T-Prop, is slightly outside the original 3's group because it fly’s more RJ like routes. I'm pointing this out because I'm going to miss our "West Coast Threesome" which is sadly coming to an end later this year. That is with AE pulling their Saabs and Horizontal dropping their Q2's. I'll miss buzzing up and down the west coast, from SEA to SAN with you guys. It also means that we are now the slowest 121 a/c on the west coast now, a distinction that was held by the Saab followed by the Dash 8.


ps. I don't count Mesa's Dash8's in PHX and DEN, that's technically not west "coast" flying and I know that Mesa fly's them to Carlsbad but that’s still not the same.