Originally Posted by
H46Bubba
The main problem for the Q400 is ATC in the Northeast corridor sees it as a turboprop and keeps it on the low routes. My buddy is a Q400 captain at Colgan and that's the problem there having right now. With them operating below 18,000, you're not getting that fuel savings profile. Of course most of our operations now days is up in the northeast. Basically all it would take is to get with local atcs and Tracons to explain that the Q400 is not the tp of yesterday, but operates more like an RJ andrequires higher routing to get the required performance.
Problem is though in the FL's it acts like a turboprop and is being passed at over 100 knots by jets, thus getting in the way of ATC. Keep em low, keep em outta the way!