Is Horizon Airlines safe?
Mar 24, 2015, 9:55 pm
#31
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 60
You'll be fine. The Q400 is perfectly safe.
Just avoid rows 7-9, in case the propeller decides to smash through the window:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/11...ssengers-skin/
Just avoid rows 7-9, in case the propeller decides to smash through the window:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/11...ssengers-skin/
Mar 24, 2015, 10:22 pm
#32
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Mar 24, 2015, 10:37 pm
#33
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Portland, OR
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Orbit82 the Q400 is designed and built by Bombardier in Montreal who has decades of experience building very durable planes for the tough conditions of Canada amongst other places. Add to that the horizon pilots who dozens of times a day land in marginal conditions that some pilots never get to see in other areas of the US. I have many, many miles on QX and always feel extremely safe and always will. I'm way more worried about some of the idiot drivers on 26/I-84/I-205 in Portland on my way to and from the airport.
Mar 24, 2015, 11:26 pm
#34
Join Date: May 2006
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QX and Skywest are two regionals I never think twice about flying. They are two of the better run operations around.
Those were called the flying pencil.
Mar 25, 2015, 7:06 am
#35
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The DC-3 is fine in good conditions; in turbulence, not so much. YMMV.
Mar 25, 2015, 9:40 am
#36
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Others have eloquently indicated how "safe" it is to fly Horizon, and mentioned the planes themselves, the crews and the beer/wine. Another thing I like about the Q-400s is being able to board front or rear (and deplane) and I like the ala carte for my carry-ons. (carry-on roller bags will not fit in the very tiny overheads, so you put your carry-on luggage on a cart just outside the aircraft prior to boarding, upon deplaning at your destination the crews will unload your bags to the cart again for you to access, it is very quick and easy)
Mar 25, 2015, 4:41 pm
#38
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
Does anyone still operate the Metroliner?
Know in AK we have the Saab 340 & beech 1900 among other props. Really want to get on a DC3 or DC6...
Does anyone still operate the Metroliner?
Know in AK we have the Saab 340 & beech 1900 among other props. Really want to get on a DC3 or DC6...
Mar 25, 2015, 7:01 pm
#40
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Mar 25, 2015, 11:05 pm
#41
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 734
I fly the Horizon Q400 quite often. The seats are narrow and uncomfortable. The overhead space is so limited that you can expect to gate check ("a la carte") anything you would have put in the overhead of a full size jet. And they are slower than jets. Having said that, none of these criticisms are safety related - I never worry about that on Horizon. I think there is a bigger danger from bacteria on the plane since the bathroom sinks have no running water for hand washing - just liquid hand cleaner. Ugh.
Mar 25, 2015, 11:10 pm
#42
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Someone once offered scenic flights on a Douglas Commercial prop in the past decade in ANC...but haven't seen that pop up recently.
Mar 26, 2015, 12:13 am
#43
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,830
I have to fly on Friday from Oakland to Portland on Horizon Air, which is part of Alaska. Both my flights are on old propeller planes! I've never flown in a propeller plane before and I've never flown Alaska before. Now I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this airline and plane? I think its the Dash or something. Sounds dangerous and old fashioned. 
Also to make matters worse that plane crash today is not helping my nerves. I mean...that was a big jet that crashed for no reason with experienced pilots, for an airline that was safe. I'm starting to get super nervous. I heard they put the least experienced/training pilots on the regionals and propeller planes.
Also to make matters worse that plane crash today is not helping my nerves. I mean...that was a big jet that crashed for no reason with experienced pilots, for an airline that was safe. I'm starting to get super nervous. I heard they put the least experienced/training pilots on the regionals and propeller planes.Let's address the highlighted things one at a time:
What makes you think Horizon's DHC8-400 (aka Q400s) are old ? It's actually a very new fleet by comparison to the mainline operators
Average age of their fleet:
- Horizon Air (all Q400s): 8.1 years
- Alaska Airlines: 9.7 years
- Southwest Airlines: 11.8 years
- American Airlines: 12.7 years
- United Airlines: 13.4 years
- Delta Airlines: 17.1 years
Fly on them regularly; no problems. If you didn't look out the window you wouldn't even really notice it's a propeller plane. As for safety record the DHC8-400 has a safety record similar to Boeing and Airbus jets. Of the 400+ Q400s built there has been a grand total of one fatal accident.
Horizon's pilots are the most senior 'regional' pilots in North America, and generally have a lot more total time as pilots than you might see on a discount jet carrier like Allegiant (or Germanwings). Mostly because Horizon pay them a fair bit more than most of the other regional carriers in North America.
Mar 26, 2015, 7:16 am
#44
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Mar 26, 2015, 8:31 am
#45
Join Date: Oct 2006
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