Originally Posted by
Splanky
I would think the Q400 might be able to. In ground school they mentioned the base engine can produce 8,000+ horsepower. In this application they are using a little over 4,000 for normal operations. I would think there would some extra here. Though with the Q400 I wonder what it would do to common type rating to change the system. The plane could have probably been made better had the common type not been such a huge concern (ironic considering I don't know of any U.S. carriers that have pilots fly the Q400 and another type of Dash 8).
The mighty Herk is rated at 3755 shp per engine with max torque of 19,600 inch pounds for all 4 engines--18,000 max continuous, with bleed air coming off the 5th and 10th stage bleed air from the compressor, 600 degrees F at 250 psi. If the Q can crank out 8K hp then there should be enough to work out something. But design limitations could be a deciding factor also.