This will be my very first post on Airliners.net so please do not brutally flame me! As a current employee of Frontier Airlines at OMA with aspirations to become a dispatcher for F9 eventually, I recently took great interest in the Q400/Lynx Aviation development for F9. (New Regional carrier = job opportunities for entry level dispatchers ) When F9 brought the Q400 into DEN for the press conference a few weeks back myself and a co-worker hopped the AM flight to DEN and found our way to Signature Flight Support where the Q400 was waiting. We took a grand tour of the aircraft, but eventually wound up near the nose of the aircraft where the ramp trainer for F9 was peering at the GPU outlet for the aircraft. Being inquisitive in nature I asked what had caught his eye. It seems that the Q400, as with most turboprops, is equipped to receive 28V DC power from GPUs. Meanwhile the RJ and Airbus fleet for F9 only receives 400Hz AC power from GPUs. So currently F9 would be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, so to speak.

See these URLs for pics of the different plugs:

400Hz AC plugs

28V DC plugs

With the rising fuel costs for the airline industry as a whole, deplaning and enplaning 70-74 Pax with the APU running is not going to be a great option. Looks like that RFP from those cities looking for this new service had better include a willingness to buy a GPU for the aircraft.

Can't wait for Mariner to read this. It'll be an honor to have him tear apart my post!