dtuuri
Final Approach
Meh. Looks just the opposite to me. Speed in identifying and securing the engine would have been better due to it being a partial power loss. By reducing power on both engines there was no asymmetrical yaw. Give me "Dead foot, dead engine", but that means both thrust levers full forward to tell. This is from the report https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/103407/pdf :There’s no rush to secure the engine, and more than adequate time to identify a failed/failing engine.
This seems to be a rush at getting a checklist and rush to shut down the engine.
The captain subsequently stated, “let’s see what is the problem...which one...what's going on with the gauges,” and “who has the E-G-T [exhaust gas temperature]?” The first officer stated that the left engine was “gone” and “so we have number two” (the right engine), thus misidentifying the affected engine. The captain accepted the first officer’s assessment and did not take action to verify the information. Afterward, the EPR level on the right engine began to increase in response to the captain advancing the right thrust lever so that the airplane could maintain airspeed and altitude. Right EPR increased and decreased several times during the rest of the flight (coinciding with crew comments regarding the EGT on the right engine and low airspeed) while the left EPR remained near flight idle.
The left engine was never shut down even though they mistakenly thought it was the failed one. Running both levers all the way forward would have told the story both with their feet and eyes on the EGTs. They were so consumed with trying to run checklists and follow company procedures and were confused by the high EGT on the engine they mistakenly thought was the good one that they couldn't even get through the steps to shut down the wrong engine before they hit the water. There are times to throw the book out the window, in the middle of this mess was one of them, imo.
EDIT: @DaveInPA, @Mongoose Aviator and @midwestpa24 : This being a transport category airplane, there is no "blue line". Consequently, they ditched with the stick shaker actuating instead of chasing a blue line into the water. Same kind of problem (partial power loss) can arise in a light twin with the loss of a turbo-charger.
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