Originally Posted by
unavaca
Clearly you haven't flown on the EM2's, which used to do SJC-SBA-LAX all the time. Even earplugs weren't sufficient to drown out the noise on those planes.
Apropos of nothing in this thread, but the EM2 is a heck of a ride over the mountains in the summer.
Originally Posted by
mduell
They're noisy and slow.
I don't think anyone disagrees about the noisy part. Even in row 1 of the Q400 it's incredibly loud.
You have to reverse your thinking with a prop. Try sitting behind the wing on the Q400 and you'll see how quiet it can be. The noise from a prop projects forward while a contained jet projects backward.
Originally Posted by
mduell
The Q400 is only 70 knots faster than the legacy Dash8s, relegating them still 100 knots slower than the CRJs. They'd be looking at ~1:27 on a 450 mi stage. COntrast that to some of the ridiculous claims made earlier in this thread:
That may be theoretically true, but for short stages no plane is going to fly anywhere near max cruise. Maybe there are a few cases where those figures are relevant but for most of the routes that have been switched from jest to Qs you're under ATC speed restrictions for most or all of the flight so it hardly matters.