De Havilland Canada Dash 8

Barometric altitude 5,400 feet doing 165 knots due north.

And there's a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 400 that is currently in the area as well.

Barometric altitude 5,900 feet.

Ground speed doing 182 knots bearing north.

There's an Avro RGA85 barometric altitude, 2,800 feet, ground speed, 140 knots.

Nearby, just under 4,000 feet, there's a DeHavilland Canada Dash 8 400 Series doing 153 knots due north.

and also there's another de Havilland Canada Dash 8 400 series, barometric altitude 4,300 feet, ground speed 176 knots.

For comparison, a commercial airliner that would be in this location, like the one that went by a short time ago on its way to San Francisco, would be at an altitude closer to 32,000 feet with a ground speed closer to 400 knots.

I am, yes.

I fly both the Dash 800 and the Dash 8 or the MAX 8, whatever you would like to call it.

I, in general, prefer flying the MAX 8 out of the two.

That's interesting.

And the good stuff, the unexpected runway reunion between a father and his daughter.

One ride via Kilo to follow the Dash 8, United 108.

Pops?

And good evening.

United Airlines pilot Kent Katnick was at Dulles International Airport earlier this month when it happened.

Just moments before takeoff from Munich, Germany, he checks in with the tower, and then this happens.

One right via Kilo to follow the Dash 8, United 108.

Pops? Hello.

The Hart

X-1, and it's the largest fully electric airplane, and it's designed to basically be a replacement for like an ATR or a Dash 8 turboprop that would be in use with the small regional airlines.

Right.

Yeah, it's impressive.

routes that big jets couldn't justify, but where you still needed a real airplane, not a bush plane.

Think of the role the Dash 8 or the ATR plays in connecting smaller communities to larger hubs.

That was the IL-114's mission from the beginning.

The 300 variant is the modernized version, New engines, specifically the Klimov TV 7117 ST01 turboprop, updated avionics, a pressurized cabin seating around 68 passengers.

The policy support exists.

The question is which turboprop? And that is where this gets interesting.

The dominant players in the Western turboprop market for this size class are ATR, which is the consortium between Airbus and Leonardo and de Havilland Canada with the Dash 8.

Both are proven aircraft with large global fleets, extensive parts networks, and established maintenance ecosystems.

Look, look, the dad and the daughter had a moment, and they wanted it to be over in two seconds, see?

Now, 108 Heavy, follow the Dash 8, or one right after the Aquila.

One right via Aquila to follow the Dash 8, United 108.

Pops? Hello.

Where are you at? Just part one right, safe travels.

It's still quite fast.

The Dash 8, I know all about this now.

Were you searching this on the plane? Is there Wi-Fi on a propeller plane?

No, no wifi on the propeller plane.

Not because ATC treats GA pilots unfairly, they don't, but because commercial operations carry schedule pressure, passenger responsibilities, and operational complexity that naturally affects how traffic gets sequenced during peak times.

A Dash 8 or a regional jet inbound on an ILS with 80 passengers aboard and a tight connection at the hub is going to factor into the traffic picture in a way that a Piper Cherokee doing pattern work does not.

That's not an insult to GA operations.

It's just physics and logistics.