by Brenda Branswell

MONTREAL - Montreal-based Bombardier defended its Q400 turboprop aircraft as safe and reliable Sunday after SAS, Scandinavia's biggest airline, said it would no longer fly the model because of shaken confidence in the plane.

"It's an absolutely safe aircraft to fly," said Bombardier spokesman Marc Duchesne.

The airline's announcement came after one of its Dash 8 Q400 planes was forced to crash-land in Copenhagen on Saturday because of a landing gear problem.

No one was seriously injured. But it came on the heels of two other incidents six weeks ago involving SAS's Q400 aircraft.

On Sept. 9 five passengers were injured when an SAS Q400 plane caught fire in Denmark after its landing gear failed. Then, on Sept. 12, part of the landing gear on an SAS Q400 plane collapsed when the aircraft landed in Lithuania.

"Confidence in the Q400 has diminished considerably and our customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft," Mats Jansson, chief executive of SAS, said in a statement explaining the airline's decision to remove the Dash 8 Q400 planes permanently from service.

"We're obviously disappointed" by SAS's decision, Duchesne said. But in Bombardier's assessment of the situation in consultation with Transport Canada, the civil aviation authorities in Canada, Duchesne said: "We did not identify a systemic landing gear issue."

"Based on this we advised all our other Q400 aircraft operators that they should continue with normal Q400 aircraft flight operations," Duchesne said.

The landing gear is safe, he said. "Absolutely. Look at other operators. They're not having any problems," Duchesne said. "They listen to what we're telling them. They apply what we are asking them in order to (do) proper maintenance and proper inspection. And everything is fine."

When asked if there was a belief SAS was not doing proper maintenance, Duchesne said: "I'm not saying that."

Bombardier also said it had completed a full review of the Q400 landing gear system with Goodrich, the system manufacturer. The results have "confirmed its safe design and operational integrity," Bombardier said in a statement.

Duchesne stressed that the landing gear problem that occurred in Saturday's emergency landing in Copenhagen is not related to other incidents in September with the SAS Q400 fleet where they found corrosion on the actuator arm - a metal piece that pushes out and retracts the landing gear.

All they know now about Saturday's incident, Duchesne said, is that the left landing gear extended perfectly but the right landing gear only extended half-way.

Duchesne said Bombardier's technical team is on site. Danish authorities will conduct an investigation and issue their final report in a few weeks, he said.

"This is a massive blow to Bombardier," said Daniel Solon, an independent aviation consultant and former American Airlines executive. "One of their important customers has displayed lack of confidence in their product and that's the worst thing that can happen to an aircraft-maker."

The Q400 model came into service in February 2000.

Demand has been rising for the aircraft, which is popular with regional carriers trying to pare costs amid this year's 45 per cent jump in jet-fuel prices. "There is certainly a risk orders will be cancelled," Solon said. "Whether that happens depends on how quickly Bombardier and the other operators can identify the problem," he said in an interview from Barcelona.

All Q400 aircraft around the world with more than 8,000 cycles - each time an aircraft lands and then takes off is considered as one cycle - underwent careful inspection of the landing gear by order from Transport Canada last month, Duchesne said.

Bombardier also called for a visual inspection of all Q400 planes. On Sept. 14 they sent detailed inspection procedures to all operators asking them to disassemble the retract actuator and look for any signs of corrosion, Duchesne said. In their maintenance manual, they tell operators to inspect and lubricate the actuator every 400 flight hours to prevent corrosion, he said.

The entire SAS Q400 fleet was grounded for a few weeks after the September incidents for proper inspection and maintenance of the landing gear, Duchesne said. "So it's a surprise for us to hear about another problem," because all the landing gear was carefully inspected by the SAS technical team, he said.

There are about 150 of the Q400 aircraft in use around the world at 22 different operators including Porter Airlines in Canada, which has new aircraft, Duchesne said. Air Canada said they do not have the model in their fleet. As of July 31 Bombardier had a backlog of 90 Q400 aircraft on order, Duchesne said.

John Dueholm, deputy CEO of SAS, said in a statement on the airline's website that the Dash 8 Q400, "has given rise to repeated quality-related problems" and does not match its passengers requirements for "punctuality and regularity."

Dueholm added there is a "risk that use of the Dash 8 Q400 could eventually damage the SAS brand."

Duchesne said airlines are still ordering the product "so let's wait for the final investigation report before pointing fingers at anyone."

"We're standing by our product," Duchesne said, noting Australian airline Qantas just confirmed it would order more Q400 aircraft.  It also has a firm order from a European airline, which doesn't want its name disclosed, he said.

 "Of course all these operators are aware there were incidents with SAS but... they believe in the quality of the product," Duchesne said. "That's why they are ordering it."

© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

Source |

http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=b26191d8-111b-40ab-b116-dbc07cc8f5ad