Gaunty - as I recall the airline concerned who were chartering this aircraft consequently stopped all crew positioning on Perf C aircraft; indeed the task is now being performed by another Scottish based operator in a Perf A machine.
Parkfell -I wouldn't get in to the idea of looking at EGT guages to assist identifying failed engines, you'll open up a can of worms; stick to the rule book - identify with your feet, backed up AFTERWARDS by a look at the guages if you must; but remember! A failed engine will start to show increasing to near ambient manifold pressure, ie GREATER than that of the good engine! Trap!
411A - There are plenty of us who've flown 404s, including me, we all know Performance C types particularly of the piston variety can be awkward at MTOW; and it's not just limited to Cessna 400 series. I wouldn't say 404s were any trickier than other types.
I think what we need to take in to account the panic factor of an engine failure when it's unexpected. This wastes precious seconds of decision-making time, & it is only understandable for John Easson to perhaps have been led in to adrenaline-fuelled incorrect decision. I think we would all be likely to suffer from this. Yes; we're all aces during our Base / Line checks when we KNOW a failure is coming & have the drill anticipated in advance. No practice is given in the experience of surprise.
Though I haven't read the report in depth, I would suspect G-ILGW suffered such a hard impact because it went below VMCA whereafter control was lost, there is not much reference to this important parameter in the report, and I think it's an airspeed we should all be highly aware of.
[ 03 August 2001: Message edited by: Kiltie ]