Today, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) threw in the towel over the Dash 8 Q400, after a third landing gear collapse in their Q400 fleet.  An SAS flight made an emergency landing at Copenhagen Airport yesterday, having flown from Bergen in Norway.

Following two earlier landing gear collapses, SAS grounded their Q400 fleet while the manufacturer, Bombardier, investigated.  When Bombardier, along with the landing gear manufacturer Goodrich, found no systematic problem with the design, they gave the all clear for the fleet to return to service.  Although it has yet to be proven whether this latest incident was caused by the same problem as the earlier incidents, SAS have decided that passenger confidence in the Q400 is sufficiently low that they should withdraw their entire fleet - although what they will replace them with is another question.  Bombardier, for their part, deny there are safety problems with the Q400.

Flybe can't be entirely amused by this development.  They are the world's biggest Q400 operator, although only a small number of their fleet have had as many cycles as the SAS fleet.  No doubt they will be hoping that Bombardier and Goodrich can get to the bottom of the problem very quickly, in order that passenger confidence in the Flybe fleet is maintained.

This difficulty with the Q400 is the last thing Flybe need as they are currently phasing out another aircraft type, the BAe 146, which was this week accused of having substandard air quality, caused by oil fumes.

They must be really hoping their shiny new Embraer 195s prove less annoying! 

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Working (occasionally) in a lab means I get to look at Material Safety Data Sheets, or MSDSs, quite often.  These explain what safety precautions you have to take when working with a certain chemical, and what to do in the event of accidental exposure.  The instructions are usually quite functional: "remove to fresh air", "wash with water", "consult an undertaker", that sort of thing.

It therefore tickled me somewhat when I was consulting the manual for my Ducati motorbike the other day and came across the following advice for what to do in the event you accidentally drink battery acid:

Drink abundant milk or water.  After drinking milk, take magnesia, scrambled eggs or vegetable oil and seek medical advice without delay.

Typical Italians… you may be dying, but be sure to knock up a rudimentary meal to take to A&E with you :) 

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