Head-2-Head Feature XI: A Turboprop Versus Two Regional Jets

By Ron Blehm (August 29, 2012)

Today, we set about to challenge some 70-seaters to a 900 mile "milk-run." After a couple of our past turboprop challenges I heard back from real-world pilot Dave Reed, who has flown some of these things himself. One of Dave's comments (which I've heard before) was that the Dash-8 is so fast that some companies opt to purchase Dashes over RJs. In this series we discovered (unrealistically or not) that the B-17 burns less gas than the B-52 even though it's a slug. We've also pitted the Dreamwings Dash-8 against an ATR-72 and found that the Dash-8 performed realistically well.

Our challenge this time is an island-hopping adventure in the scenic Philippine Islands. I loaded 12,000 pounds (that's 60 people-and-bag combinations averaging 200 pounds apiece). Then I topped off the tanks with gas and set in a flight plan from the gates at Manila. The plan was to cruise at 8,000 feet (that's a 250-knot max speed zone). We'd land at several "remote" islands and roll to the far end where we'd shut down. Then, we'd immediately restart, turn around, and depart again. I hoped that the landings and stoppings and shut-downs and restarts and ... well, "cycles", would challenge the performance of each aircraft in a somewhat realistic manner.

Again, we take the total time and then add 2 seconds for every gallon of gas burned to get an efficiency score.

First up: the default CRJ-700 by Microsoft:

Pushback Manila = 05:43
Depart from Naga = 06:25
Depart from Roxas = 07:04
Depart from Dumague = 07:46
Depart from Princessa = 08:48
Arrive Manila = 10:02
Time + Fuel Burn = 14hr : 40mins

Next up: the EMB-170 by Dreamwings: (one of my favs.)

Pushback Manila = 05:43
Depart from Naga = 06:24
Depart from Roxas = 06:57
Depart from Dumague = 07:41
Depart from Princessa = 08:43
Arrive Manila = 09:56
Time + Fuel Burn = 11hr : 00min

Finally: the Dreamwings Dash-8 Q400:

Pushback Manila = 05:43
Depart from Naga = 06:23
Depart from Roxas = 07:00
Depart from Dumague = 07:44
Depart from Princessa = 08:46
Arrive Manila = 10:05
Time + Fuel Burn = 8hr : 37min

So, according to these models anyway, the Dash-8 is a slightly slower but burned less gas so wins in the end. Now, the fair question is: Longer flight? Faster Cruise? We'll look at that next.

Ron Blehm
pretendpilot@yahoo.com