Last year, it was announced that Alaska Air Group would be retiring their fleet of Dash 8-400s by the end of January 2023.
These 76-seater turboprops have been flown by Horizon Air for Alaska Airlines since the early 2000s, connecting communities within the Pacific Northwest.
Sadly though, the type is being retired in favour of streamlining the Alaska and Horizon Air fleets, despite some of them being less than 10 years old.
Although there is no shortage of Dash 8s up here in Canada, it’ll be weird not seeing any more of these Alaska ones in Alberta and B.C.
So, I thought I would put together this compilation of Horizon Air Dash 8-400s from the past couple of years, including some footage from Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria, and some from a trip to Portland last summer.
Farewell Horizon Air Dash 8s, and I hope you enjoy the video.
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FLIGHT INFORMATION
00:00 – Intro
00:44 – N412QX departing Portland (PDX)
02:43 – N426QX arriving in Calgary (YYC)
03:37 – N405QX departing Vancouver (YVR)
04:04 – N436QX arriving in Portland (PDX)
04:40 – N426QX departing Calgary (YYC)
05:14 – N451QX departing Victoria (YYJ)
06:56 – N440QX arriving in Portland (PDX)
07:56 – N421QX departing Portland (PDX)
09:27 – N452QX arriving in Portland (PDX)
09:59 – N448QX arriving in Portland (PDX)
10:33 – N450QX arriving in Vancouver (YVR)
11:21 – N401QX arriving in Portland (PDX)
12:42 – N426QX departing Calgary (YYC)
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Outro song – “Take Flight” by Nyhtian: https://youtu.be/bCTTwQ_269c
© Alex Praglowski Aviation 2023
This video is the property of Alex Praglowski Aviation and may not be used for any purpose without prior permission. Contact me at the email in the “About” section of my channel for usage.
42 Comments
Living in Toronto I always loved the fact that they were made in TO. Honestly I’ve flown millions of miles and the roughest turbulence I ever went through was on a Dash-8 from Toronto to Moncton and I never felt unsafe as this plane was built like a tank. Sad to see them leave the fleet.
13:02 I'll miss the amazing Q400 on take offs
Interesting. Less than a month ago LOT Polish Airlines also retired it's Dash 8 fleet for the sake of streamlining, but unlike Canada this means they're completely gone from Poland (in fact there is no turboprop passenger service anywhere in Poland I think)
Alaska/Horizon is very special to me so I personally thank you for a very nice tribute! Take care and stay safe!
How can Alaska Airlines say they're replacing them with their Embraers? The Embraers are not similar aircraft at all. Sure it's a regional plane technically, but turboprops are much more economical on shorter routes. There's benefits of the Q400 Alaska is missing out on by retiring them. Especially in these times of increasing fuel prices. These Q400's are less than 10 years old, makes little sense to retire them when they're some of Alaska's most important aircraft.
I had the privilege of flying on AS's Q400 3 times. They were my first (and so far only) turboprop aircraft I have been on. I flew them exclusively between RDD and SEA. In fact, the flights to RDD were my first introduction to Alaska and how I fell in love with the airline. I flew on the Huskies special livery and also on two others. It was such a treat to see the landing gear come up and down during takeoff and landing. I will miss them, but first class on the E175 is a worthy trade-off
Been to Portland and Seattle on a Dash-8's over the years, from Edmonton usually.
It will be interesting to see if the younger Dash 8’s end up in other airline fleets. Connect, Flybe 2.0 and even Porter come to mind
At Washington State University, these are something of an icon, being the only airliners serving the community for the past few decades. Alaska even had a Cougars livery, which was always a treat to see. The E175s that have come to replace the Q400s are certainly nicer and preferred by the people here, but they just don’t have the charm. There’s nothing quite like a window seat where you can see both the landing gear and the turboprops at the same time.
I had the pleasure of leading the ground handler services at YVR (Vancouver) Airport in 2022.
I was the lead when the last Q4 departed YVR back in November 29th 2022. The flight was the AS2165. Departure at 06:14 and landed in SEA at 06:59.
Beautiful airplane, amazing crew and staff from Alaska/Horizon.
Any idea what Alaska is replacing them with ? Great plane; a pilot told me they were among the studiest and safest planes buile, and their avionics were second to none.
Why did they retire?
Definitely going to miss these flying out from YYJ to SEA. I still do wonder what aircraft they’re looking to replace the Dash 8 with, as Alaska has many regional routes that turboprops are quite efficient and handy to use instead of other aircraft. The Dash 8 will still be one of my favourite aircraft though.
I'm gutted by this, the Q400 was my favorite plane and a staple, nay, icon of Portland. Now they're gone.
Long live Flybe and Westjet Encore!
Wow. Sad to see these leaving the fleet this early, the Dash 8 is such a great aircraft! In addition, the Alaska livery looks epic on the Dash 8-400! I wonder what airline these ones will go to next, as they probably won't just scrap them. I actually saw one parked at YYC recently, and wondered what it was doing there.
Thanks Alex… lot's of memories working at Sea-Tac with these all over the airport. Nice tribute !!
Great compilation, and nice footage from YYJ! Its sad to see them go, these were always my favourite Dash 8-400s.
Beautiful videos!
I was fortunate to see many of these whenever I do some plane spotting in Seattle. My mom even flew on one and she send me pictures of the aircraft.
I wish I flew on one, but hopefully I can do so with WestJet or Air Canada.
Long live the Horizon Qs, they had an amazing career with Alaska 🫡
Definitely my favorite plane to fly on I will miss it. The 757 follows behind it.
My very first Dash 8 experience was from Horizon Airlines! (That was back in 2011 😮 ) It was a flight to Seattle to catch another flight to LAX. It was a unique experience, and I didn't realize at the time how common Dash 8s were, heh.
My current wife flew me from YYC down to Seattle see her when we’re were dating on her Alaska points in those -400s! 😊
There was a man
His heart was warm and rich
Yet he was broken and tired
He needed to scratch an itch
He yearned for freedom
So he took to the skys
Untouchable in the clouds the sky was his kingdom
People looked on with jealousy
From their shackles on the grounds
How can a man be so free
No rules to tie him down
There was a man
His heart was warm and rich
He experienced something I can only imagine
He was able to scratch that itch For a short while he was in control with wind beneath his wings
One man escaped his shackles
That is why he is Sky King.
RIP Sky King. We are all a little broken inside
I saw them every day at RDM. Strange not hearing those props as they approached the terminal. We get mainline AS now so not too heartbroken.
I think Horizon Air/Alaska air made a big mistake to retire Dash 8 too early.
Alaska is our home, and preferred airline and these will be missed. A least we'll be able to get our fix of the -8 on the SEA-YVR run on Air Canada. But I do love me an E-175…
Just got home from #AS2400. That was a magical time. I'm gonna miss the free drinks onboard.
years ago (2004ish), I was gliding with the Air Cadets at CYSN. The factory demonstrator Q400 came in. CYSN doesn't get many planes that size so all of us were quite excited. Lunch time I ran into the flight crew at the Wendy's up the road. I got to chatting with them and had a billion questions about their plane. They were great guys that patiently spent their lunch answering some random, over caffeinated, kid's questions. When I asked about takeoff/climb performance the Captain got this devilish grin and said "You won't believe it unless you see it. We'll do a short field takeoff for you when we leave, we're really light too so it'll be really short."
Sure enough, after lunch, they fired up that Q400, backtracked on runway 24 (5000' long) and poured the coals to it. They were airborne well before taxiway Bravo. I'm just guessing here, they probably used less than 2000' of runway and they looked to be about 2000' or more up by the time they passed the Skyway.
He was right. I would not have believed that performance if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
If either of those guys reads this, thanks for a heck of a show!
goodbye old friend
What’s replacing them? Don’t say 737s 😮
Bittersweet, used to work with these planes on the ramp in orange county
What will replace them?
Genuinely curious if anyone knows who owns the pair of two dash 8 in YXE that are all white with no logos on them, they don’t stay in Saskatoon they always seem to head south according to flightradar. These flights seem to be quite recent, like with the last month.
Goodbye My Old Friend I Will Miss You 😢 Forever Good Luck 🍀
Love you content bro keep it coming 🙌🏼🙌🏼🔥🔥👍🏼👍🏼💪🏼💪🏼
RIP to these absolute Kings of the Sky.
8:59 bonus Thunderbirds!
Very nice compilation and tribute. 🙂
Long Live The Bombadier Dash 8-400's Turboprops fleet for Alaska Airlines & Horizon Airlines is too bad they can't operate in The Caribbean Islands though but who knows when it might happen Alex nuff respect to all your Videos on Aviation and Travel keep going and Dream Big on Aviation 100%
I worked on these aircraft in the pdx hangar the last 4 years. They where definitely a lot more work to maintain than the jets but it made up for it in just how mechanically interesting it was. The e175s seemed dull to work on by comparison and working on this plane taught you a lot more techniques and skills because there was more to do.
sad to see them go
Always flew in the Q500 from YVR to SEA. But have to admit the Embraer is way more comfortable.
Great tribute and farewell to Horizon Airs Dash 8 400s! Had a blast flying this a while back.