What Prop RPM range do the condition levers regulate on the Q400? I know from the -100/-200/-300 series, MIN is 900 RPM and MAX is 1200 RPM. I thought I remember reading that MIN in a Q400 will come back to 850 RPM or so.

I thought the Q400 has a FADEC type system, rather than the ECU/HMU on the earlier Dash models. So what Prop RPM can you get out of Q400 and the P&W 150 with the condition levers at MAX? Can you get MAX Prop RPM even when the power levers are at an approach setting? Or does it take a torque setting near TOGA to really get the rubber bands wound up and send those blades cutting thru the air?

I just find it unusual in the NTSB animation of the Colgan crash, that the CA calls for "gear down", and the next thing you know the gear is coming down and the condition levers have gone to MAX. The CA never called for the condition levers to MAX, the airspeed has bled off by a good 40 kts, and yet the power levers haven't moved much at all. Is it possible that the CA himself (as PF) moved the condition levers to MAX?

On all the other Dash 8 models, when the condition levers go to MAX, the PF better be ready to match it with the application of some torque. Otherwise, you've got two 13 foot diameter discs of drag out there, as the prop blades drive towards fine pitch because the prop governor is trying to achieve 1200 RPM. Or on the Q400, is it as I suggested above, where the prop RPM will not accelerate with the condition levers moved to MAX, unless there is a corresponding amount of torque applied?