Mid-cruise shutdown non-event
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Mid-cruise shutdown non-event
6/29/2016 SWA 2581 BUR to SJC.
We're in cruise, and I can see Paso Robles passing under the left wing. Pacific Ocean in the background, very pretty. Captain comes on and says something about being unhappy with an indication on the #1 motor. He's talked to his friends on the ground, and has decided to shut down the engine for the remaining 20 minutes of the flight. Reassures us the -700 can fly just fine on one engine, says we may need to divert to Oakland.
I do not fly well under any circumstances. I got 80 hours into my private ticket (I sucked at landings) before I gave up and accepted the fact that I have a severe fear of heights. To me flying consists of starting a stopwatch at TOGO and mentally breaking the flight into 15 minute segments hoping for only minor turbulence in cruise. Long flights are a nightmare.
I sit in abject terror for about a minute. Then for some reason I calm down, thinking that I might as well watch, listen, and maybe learn something. I figure I should be able hear the motor spool down and hope the FO is protecting the correct engine. I'm also thinking we're probably pretty close to our first step-down. It hasn't occurred to me yet that the captain has probably declared an emergency.
Sure enough both engines retard, and once the -700 decides it's ready we begin to gently descend. I just barely detect the #1 (which I'm sitting right over) continue to spool down, but nothing else happens--no discernible crab correction, no hunting in pitch or roll, nothing. We continue the descent over Salinas--looks like we're getting a straight-in--and it's breathtakingly pretty all the way down. We touch down without incident, the cabin applauds, reverse kicks in, and only now do we see the emergency equipment watching us. Off the active, we stop briefly as the fire crews make sure there isn't anything suspicious going on inside the nacelle, then we're off to the gate.
Just wanted to say thanks to that Southwest crew, the fire crew at SJC, Boeing, and all the professionals out there who constantly drill procedures to keep this piece of SLF safe. And I had zero idea that a mid-cruise engine shutdown is such a non-event.
Peter
We're in cruise, and I can see Paso Robles passing under the left wing. Pacific Ocean in the background, very pretty. Captain comes on and says something about being unhappy with an indication on the #1 motor. He's talked to his friends on the ground, and has decided to shut down the engine for the remaining 20 minutes of the flight. Reassures us the -700 can fly just fine on one engine, says we may need to divert to Oakland.
I do not fly well under any circumstances. I got 80 hours into my private ticket (I sucked at landings) before I gave up and accepted the fact that I have a severe fear of heights. To me flying consists of starting a stopwatch at TOGO and mentally breaking the flight into 15 minute segments hoping for only minor turbulence in cruise. Long flights are a nightmare.
I sit in abject terror for about a minute. Then for some reason I calm down, thinking that I might as well watch, listen, and maybe learn something. I figure I should be able hear the motor spool down and hope the FO is protecting the correct engine. I'm also thinking we're probably pretty close to our first step-down. It hasn't occurred to me yet that the captain has probably declared an emergency.
Sure enough both engines retard, and once the -700 decides it's ready we begin to gently descend. I just barely detect the #1 (which I'm sitting right over) continue to spool down, but nothing else happens--no discernible crab correction, no hunting in pitch or roll, nothing. We continue the descent over Salinas--looks like we're getting a straight-in--and it's breathtakingly pretty all the way down. We touch down without incident, the cabin applauds, reverse kicks in, and only now do we see the emergency equipment watching us. Off the active, we stop briefly as the fire crews make sure there isn't anything suspicious going on inside the nacelle, then we're off to the gate.
Just wanted to say thanks to that Southwest crew, the fire crew at SJC, Boeing, and all the professionals out there who constantly drill procedures to keep this piece of SLF safe. And I had zero idea that a mid-cruise engine shutdown is such a non-event.
Peter
Join Date: Jun 2007
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Tinnitus
Always used to be more of an event on a prop when it became very obvious when the engine had stopped for all to see. Once had a pipe and coolant drop out the bottom of the engine on a DC6 (circa 1965) which I alerted the stewardess to who said she would "tell the captain" who appeared at our seat muttered about coolant and returned to cockpit said engine then wind milled to a stop !! No fire and rescue on arrival but this was not uncommon back then, and also we did have 3 other ones running sweetly.
Regards
Mr Mac
Always used to be more of an event on a prop when it became very obvious when the engine had stopped for all to see. Once had a pipe and coolant drop out the bottom of the engine on a DC6 (circa 1965) which I alerted the stewardess to who said she would "tell the captain" who appeared at our seat muttered about coolant and returned to cockpit said engine then wind milled to a stop !! No fire and rescue on arrival but this was not uncommon back then, and also we did have 3 other ones running sweetly.
Regards
Mr Mac
