Pinnacle Emergency- Job Well Done!!

[liv'n_on_credit]

Striker, you're coming in too hot. Ease up on the throttle. Watch for that crosswind. Aim for the numbers, you'll have to dip your left wing. You're drifting, keep your eyes on the far end of the runway. You're too low dangit! Watch your stall speed. Ease her down, down. The brake . . . pull the red handle!

 

[GoingHot]

8 Jan 89; British Midland Airways ; near East Midlands Airport, UK

I think the point is that the crew had to be notified that they were having engine trouble. End of point.

If one of the PAX on this British flight had spoke up, they probably would have landed safely.

From accident report:

In the cabin, the passengers and the cabin attendants heard an unusual noise accompanied by moderate to severe vibration. Some passengers were also aware of what they described as smoke, but none could describe its colour or density. They described the smell of burning as 'rubber', 'oil' and 'hot metal'. Many saw signs of fire from the left engine, which they described variously as 'fire', 'torching' or 'sparks'. Several of the cabin attendants described the noise as a low, repetitive thudding, 'like a car backfiring', and one described how the shuddering shook the walls of the forward galley. The three flight attendants in the rear of the cabin saw evidence of fire from the No 1 engine, and two of them briefly saw light coloured smoke in the cabin. Soon after the No 2 engine was shut down the commander called the flight service manager (FSM) to the flight deck and asked him 'DID YOU GET SMOKE IN THE CABIN BACK THERE?', to which the FSM replied 'WE DID, YES.'. The commander then instructed the FSM to clear up the cabin and pack everything away. About one minute later the FSM returned to the flight deck and said 'SORRY TO TROUBLE YOU . . THE PASSENGERS ARE VERY VERY PANICKY'. The commander then broadcast to the passengers on the cabin address system that there was trouble with the right engine which had produced some smoke in the cabin, that the engine was now shut down and that they could expect to land at East Midlands Airport in about 10 minutes. The flight attendants who saw signs of fire on the left engine later stated that they had not heard the commander's reference to the right engine. However, many of the passengers who saw fire from the No 1 engine heard and were puzzled by the commander's reference to the right engine, but none brought the discrepancy to the attention of the cabin crew, even though several were aware of continuing vibration. The smell of smoke, however, had dissipated by the time the commander made this announcement.

 

[SSDD]

My problem is not with the crew, I mean you play the hand you're dealt. My problem is some of the people on this board, our expectations of ourselves have come way down.

An engine failure in an ALMOST centerline thrust jet is a non event! No prop to feather, no significant yaw, APR...what's next, praises for landing on centerline, for not landing at the wrong airport?

The crew did what was expected of them. They professionally handled a sitution. They did their job, nothing more, nothing less.

We need to behave like the professionals we claim to be.

 

[atrdriver]

I remember shutting down #1 on an ATR several years ago. The FA called up and asked if we knew the engine was shut down. I'm sure she told her friends that she was the one that alerted us to the problem. Passengers are, in general, idiots when it comes to what happens on an airplane. Chances are the pilots were already aware of any problem that they had, and the "pilot in back" that went to the cockpit to "alert" them was just a nuicance to them. They took care of the problem, and got it back on the ground with no further problems, I say good job.

 

[ultrarunner]

410 it dude!!!

like my spiked hair???

How prophetic, that a stupid comment from a couple of idiot pilots occurs right before they kill themselves....

That one will be around a long time....it's a classic.


Anyone seen it on a flight bag yet?

 

[ultrarunner]

delete

 

[FedEx1]

I agree with Detroitpilot. Of course the flying pilots knew they had a problem- it's an RJ crissakes, dontcha all think the thing was lit up like a christmas tree with alerts?? And the guy in the back was probably offering assistance.

And SSDD is right- though he didn't have to say it quite like that. It isn't a big deal because the pilots were well trained.

It's pretty crummy to bring up the 410 stuff.

 

[405]

How prophetic, that a stupid comment from a couple of idiot pilots occurs right before they kill themselves....

That one will be around a long time....it's a classic.


Anyone seen it on a flight bag yet?

You're funny, you spiked hair dude with a backpack.

You're tied with Gulfstream 200 and Tingoose1 now.

 

[OPECJet]

"Shut down the right engine??? No! That's EXACTLY what they'll be EXPECTING us to do!!!!!"

 

[difete]

I know the captain, we flew together in my last job. Good guy, nice to hear he did a job well done. I will be sending him a new pair of pants for christmas.

 

[Captain Overs]

Great job to the pinnacle crew: they saved the lives of 50 people. Perhaps the general public will begin to understand why they need two well paid, highly trained, professional flight crews there in case something happens.

I guess that says a lot for Pinnacle considering their past. Why are you giving kudos to the pilots for handling a routine emergency that we all train for all the time? Now if the tail split in half and the rudder fell off and they landed back at SBN then I'd be impressed.

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

I guess that says a lot for Pinnacle considering their past. Why are you giving kudos to the pilots for handling a routine emergency that we all train for all the time? Now if the tail split in half and the rudder fell off and they landed back at SBN then I'd be impressed.

How about just saying good job? How many times has anyone here actually shut down a turbojet engine in flight b/c it was about to chew itself apart? I bet you most havent.

Spent the day with my parents and some fam friends- 2 retired red-tail whale guys and 1 retired DAL guy. Only 2 of the three had ever shut one down, and each of those had only happened once.

The moral of the story- this is the kind of stuff that pilots will probably see only once in their lives. Kudos to a great job and doing it by the book.

 

[Captain Overs]

Everyone of us does it at least once a year in the sim. It's not that big a deal. The aircraft can fly on one engine. It can't fly on none.

 

[SkyBoy1981]

At my last job we had a similar situation while on approach. Noticed a very loud vibration. This was in a small corporate jet that we flew every day, so we knew when something wasn't right. We pulled each throttle back seperately to determine which engine it was coming from. Turned out to be the #2 engine, and the vibration was getting louder by the minute. We were on approach anyway, so we elected to shut it down. There were NO cockpit indications that anything was wrong, but after being inspected by mechanics it was determined that the starter/generator was actually coming apart inside of the engine. Had we not shut it down, it could have been ugly. The vibration was the only way that we knew there was something wrong...

 

[LowlyPropCapt]

Everyone of us does it at least once a year in the sim. It's not that big a deal. The aircraft can fly on one engine. It can't fly on none.

You sound like an ego tripping moron. If ANY engine failure doesn't at least quicken your pulse a tad, you don't have enough respect for the hazards of this job to be competant at doing it.

You are right, transport category airplanes can indeed fly on one engine just fine... PROVIDED nothing else is wrong. Many emergencies don't follow the same script your last PC did.

I have never lost an engine in multiengine equipement (at least not yet). What few emergencies I have experienced have all required some thought/action outside of the checklist and my previous training. At least give the PCL crew credit for not making a unusual situation worse by not following training or using poor judgement. Plenty of well qualified pilots have done far worse in much less demanding circumstances.