Originally Posted by
Ian W
IIRC the vibration gauges were placed one above the other instead of side by side. The side by side placement made it obvious which engine was vibrating the vertical placement not so.
AAIB Report on Kegworth Crash
That is not correct. It is unfortunate you saw fit to post (wrong) hypothesis given that you even took the trouble to post a link to the AAIB report, which says no such thing.
The quirk of the engine instruments on the 734 (and some others) was that the block of main engine instruments (in 2 columns, engine 1 on the left and engine 2 on the right) was positioned just to the left of the block of secondary engine instruments (again with 2 columns, engine 1 on the left and engine 2 on the right).
The problem was that looking only at the 2 central columns of instruments, ignoring the outer 2, you were seeing the main instruments for engine 2 (right engine) on the left, and the secondary instruments for engine 1 (left engine) to the right. So a very odd situation of engine sides apparently being reversed IF ONLY the 2 central instrument columns were examined.
In the Kegworth case, the high vibration indication of the number 1 (left) engine was positioned just to the right of the number 2 (right) engine N2 instrument. This might well have compounded confusion, appearing to confirm a right engine problem in a pressurised, high workload moment.