Bombardier Q Series Dash 8 Serves United Nation Peacekeepers	July 2006

For the last 50 years, rugged and reliable aircraft built at the Bombardier Aerospace factory at Downsview in Toronto have supported challenging United Nations Peacekeeping missions throughout the globe.

The latest milestone occurred recently when the UN --- for the first time --- contracted a pair of Bombardier Q Series Dash 8 aircraft to support peacekeeping missions in Africa.

The first Dash 8 entered service in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2005, and another started flying in support of the UN in Sudan earlier this year.

The United Nations had a requirement for a fast, reliable and comfortable 50-seat passenger aircraft that could serve modern airports with paved runways, and remote UN missions with gravel air strips.  With the Bombardier Q Series Dash 8, the UN got the best of both worlds.”

The two Canadian-built turboprops are among the most modern airliners assigned to peacekeeping support operations in Africa.

The United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) was established in 1999 and has more than 15,000 personnel. The aviation operation is the largest United Nations air operation today and employs 86 aircraft (24 fixed-wing and 62 helicopters) serving 60 airports and 160 landing sites throughout a vast remote and undeveloped region.

The United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) was established in 2005 after a treaty ended a longstanding conflict between northern and Southern Sudan, clearing the way for the deployment of 10,000 uniformed and civilian UN personnel in the region.

In general, the Q Series Dash 8s are play an important role in large a ‘hub and spoke’ air operation in both countries, where larger jets to the serve major airports, and the Canadian-built turboprops provide feeder services between the airports and the remote air strips where many UN military, humanitarian and administrative personnel are stationed.

The Q Series Dash 8 has a stellar history of serving remote gravel airstrips around the world with Bombardier’s long-standing airline, corporate, and government customers. The aircraft’s high wing design and wide-track landing gear are ideal for such air strips, and the aircraft has excellent short field performance.

Elsewhere in Africa, the World Food Program (WFP) recently contracted with a commercial company to support the agency’s humanitarian relief activities in east Africa with other Q Series Dash 8 aircraft.

The UN’s “Blue and White” Air Force

The close association between Bombardier’s Downsview plant in Toronto and United Nations dates back to 1956.

That’s when the First United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF I) deployed to the Sinai Peninsula with a fleet of  white-painted DHC-3 Otter aircraft flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) for logistics support.

Since that time, the United Nations’ distinct white and blue livery has appeared on every propeller aircraft developed at Downsview over the last 50 years.

Single-engine DHC-2 Beavers flew with the UN in the Congo and the DHC-4 Caribou in Sinai in the 1960s; the DHC-5 Buffalo in Lebanon, the Golan Heights and Africa; and over the last decade, the Dash 7 has supported UN missions in Haiti, Papua New Guinea, and several countries in Africa.

None of these activities can, however, compare to the legendary DHC-6 Twin Otter which has served countless peacekeeping and humanitarian relief missions around the globe for the last 40 years.

The Bombardier Q Series Dash 8 is the latest aircraft to carry on this proud Canadian tradition.