I had the pleasure to fly on SP-EQG yesterday. That's the one that crashed, yes, it was a crash, I don't care what PR office says for the general public an aircraft landing without forward LG and scuttling down the runway is a crash.
Anyway, as AVHerald shows as recently as 20th August, this Dash is a very sick bird. We were all ready to go when our Purser Beata can't get the door closed, she is pulling at it with her high heels on and it's just not happening. She summoned our Insta Captain, Aleksandra Bednorz (No breach of FT policy when she gives media interviews as sole LOT female captain) and she is trying to no avail too. Ola heads back to the flight deck to call an Engineer from her iPhone 5S and he arrives within 5 mins (!).
Now I don't speak good Polish but our LS Technics "Leading Solutions" wasn't in the best of moods. He deploys his toolbox and what I suspect was a hammer because I heard a lot of banging and then the sound of metal on the floor. By this point several LO flight crew are having a good look and a laugh with Captain Ola. I was getting nervous at this point as I had separate tix. If it were BA Maureen, she would have marched to the flight desk and told Nigel she wasn't flying on this heap of junk. Anyway, Beata tries the door again and it is almost closing. A bit more clunking and our engineer passes Captain Ola two metal poles that she stores on the flight deck. The technical guide is perused "Dash Q400 with Pratt & Whitney (Rzeszow issue) engines". Again, no Polish on my part but Captain Ola probably explains to Purser Beata she is checking if its on the MEL. Alas, it seems not.
Doors closed and off we go!
So, three incidents since she has come out of service that I know of, two with LG and now one with the door not closing. When we got to WAW there was a lot of fuss over those removed metal bars and according to FR24 this bird hasn't flown since yesterday. I noticed the plastic was cracked at the bottom of the window frame on 1A, never noticed that before.