De Havilland Canada Dash 7

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The correct title of this article is de Havilland Canada Dash 7. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
A Dash-7 at Stanley
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A Dash-7 at Stanley

The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with STOL capabilities. It first flew in 1975 and remained in production until 1988 when the parent company, de Havilland Canada, was purchased by Boeing.

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[edit] Design and development

In the 1960s, de Havilland Canada was already well known throughout the world for their series of high-performance STOL aircraft, notably the very popular Twin Otter. However these aircraft were generally fairly small and served outlying routes, as opposed to the main feederliner routes which were already well served by larger, higher-performance aircraft such as the Handley Page Jetstream and Fokker F27.

The de Havilland Canada company felt they could compete with these designs in a roundabout way. With their excellent STOL performance, their designs could fly into smaller airports more centrally located in city centers, with runways that the other aircraft could not easily use. The original specification called for a 40-passenger aircraft with a fairly short range of 200 statute miles, operating from runways only 2,000 ft long.

With new noise restrictions coming into effect throughout the 1970s, an aircraft tailored for this role would have to be very quiet. To meet this restriction, the new design used oversized propellers geared to spin at a slower speed than normal; much of the sound from a propeller is generated at the tips which are spinning near the speed of sound, and therefore, by reducing the number of RPM this noise goes away. The Dash 7 often landed with only 900 RPM, and took off at only 1,200.

In other respects, the new DHC-7 was essentially a four-engine version of the Twin Otter. The general layout remained similar, with a large T-tail intended to keep the elevator clear of the propwash during takeoff, a high aspect ratio high-mounted wing, and most details of the cockpit and nose profile. Changes included the addition of cabin pressurization which required a switch to a fuselage with a circular cross-section, and landing gear that folded rearward into the inner engine nacelles.

Most of the rear wing was spanned by a complex double Fowler flap arrangement for high low-speed lift. The Twin Otter also included "flapperons" that drooped the airlerons as part of the flaps, but these were removed due to safety concerns. Instead the airlerons were reduced in size to allow more flap area, and were so small that they had to be aided by spoilers. On touchdown, hydraulic pressure was automatically reduced in the flaps, allowing them to "blow back" to the 25% position and thus "drop" the aircraft to the runway for better braking performance. The four-engine layout aided lift at low speeds due to the wide span of the propellers blowing air over the wing. When the engines were reversed on landing the props "stole" airflow from the wing, further decreasing lift and increasing the effectiveness of the brakes. More importantly, if an engine failed the asymmetric thrust was much less than on a twin-engine layout, thereby increasing safety and allowing for a lower minimum control speed with an engine inoperative (Vmc). The engines could actually produce drag in flight at idle speed, allowing fine control of the glide slope.

[edit] Production

Development started in 1972 and the prototype first flew on March 27th, 1975. Testing went smoothly, and the first delivery took place to Rocky Mountain Airways on February 3rd, 1978. One hundred were delivered by 1984, when the production line was put on hold in favour of the Dash 8. Another 13 were delivered between 1984 and 1988, when the production lines were removed when Boeing bought the company.

The original Series 100 represents the vast majority of the aircraft delivered, and came in two models; the -102 passenger version and -103 combi with an enlarged cargo door. These were followed by the Series 110 which met British CAA requirements, including the -110 and -111, and finally the Series 150 which included additional fuel tankage and an improved interior in the -150 and -151. There were plans for a Series 200 with the new PT6A-50/7 engines which improved hot-and-high power, but these plans were shelved when Boeing ended production of the design.

The mixture of features on the Dash 7 met with limited commercial success. Most turboprop operators used them as feederliners into large airports, where the STOL performance wasn't considered important. In comparison to other feederliners, the Dash 7's four engines required twice the maintenance of a twin-engine model, thereby driving up operational costs. Finally, those airports that did require a high performance STOL operation were generally small and well served by the Twin Otters; had the airport needed a larger plane to serve its customer base, they would have built larger runways.

The U.S. Army operates several Dash 7 aircraft as surveillance platforms with the designation, RC-7B, under the Airborne Reconnaissance Low program.

[edit] Civilian Operators

In August 2006 a total of 71 Dash 7 aircraft (all variants) remain in airline service. Major operators include: Petroleum Air Services (5), Arkia Israel Airlines (9), Asian Spirit (6), Berjaya Air (4), Pelita Air Service (6), Air Greenland (6), Travira Air (5) and Voyageur Airways (8). Some 10 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the aircraft.[1]

[edit] Military Operators

[edit] End of the line

Executives at de Havilland had simply misread the market. The production line eventually delivered 113, of which four have been lost and one scrapped. Many of the rest remain in service.

Learning from their mistakes, de Havilland started the design of a much more "conventional" twin-engine design in 1978, the extremely popular Dash 8.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

The de Havilland Canada DHC-7 has been involved in six accidents with a total of 68 fatalities.[2]

[edit] Trivia

Dash 7 is a song about the airplane by Wilco on their album A.M.

[edit] Specifications (DHC-7 Dash 7)

General characteristics

Performance

[edit] References

  1. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006
  2. ^ Aviation Safety Network Database - de Havilland Canada DHC-7

[edit] Related content

Related development

Comparable aircraft

Designation sequence

Related lists

See also

v • d • e
De Havilland Canada aircraft models

Gipsy Moth • Tiger Moth • Fox Moth • Mosquito • DHC-1 Chipmunk • DHC-2 Beaver • DHC-3 Otter • DHC-4 Caribou • DHC-5 Buffalo • DHC-6 Twin Otter • DHC-7 Dash 7 • DHC-8 Dash 8

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Air forces • Aircraft weapons • Missiles • Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) • Experimental aircraft
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