It is a rough week for Canadian plane maker Bombardier. Two deadly accidents involving its Challenger 604 jet and commercial Q400 turboprop took place within a day, on March 11 and 12, 2018. As investigations on both accidents just commenced, the manufacturer released a statement, offering condolences to Q400 crash victims, but defending the reliability of the model.

On March 10, 2018, a private jet - Bombardier Challenger 604 – crashed into Zagros Mountains (Iran), killing all 11 people onboard – eight passengers and three crew members. The victims were identified as Mina Basaran, a Turkish bride-to-be, and her bachelorette party.

Just a day later – on March 11, 2018, – Bombardier suffered another blow, this time – on its commercial aircraft front. Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, belonging to Bangladeshi company US-Bangla Airlines, crashed in Kathmandu (Nepal). The latest reports indicate that accident death poll has already reached 49: 40 people died in the crash and nine after being transported to the hospital. 22 survivors are still being treated in local hospitals.

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Data recorders from Nepal crash retrieved
Authorities managed to salvage both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder from the US-Bangla flight that crashed in Kathmandu airport on March 12, 2018.
 

Following the latter incident, Bombardier issued a statement on March 12, 2018, claiming its Air Safety Investigation Office is in contact with the authorities, and will provide assistance as needed. The manufacturer also claims the Q400 was “designed to comply or exceed all airworthiness certification requirements”. The turboprop entered service in 2000 and there are approximately 500 aircraft in service today, while its global fleet dispatch reliability was “consistently over” 99.5% over the past year.

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FlyBe diverts plane due to emergency
On February 26, 2018, UK regional airline FlyBe’s flight from Edinburgh to London City airport had to be diverted to Manchester Airport and performed an emergency landing. The Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 carrying 63 passengers is thought to have suffered a technical issue after crossing the Scotland border.