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Old 11th Jun 2020, 14:21
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delboy1964
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
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This was a training flight as the aircraft was pretty new in service. The Captain was Jim if I remember correctly. Following a roller landing the aircraft became airborne but then had an auto-feather of one engine. The auto-feather system was pretty unusual on 2 engine transport aircraft of the time and was armed when the throttle was well forward (demanding power) and if a torque sensor measuring power output fell below a preset figure (ie engine failing) the auto feather system turned off the fuel, stopped the engine and feathered the big propellers to reduce drag.

Previous 2 engine transports (DC3, Valletta) were of the non group A performance types which had insufficient power to climb on one engine unless light weight so were normally relanded if any runway was available. The STOL Andover had extra power and would climb better on 1 engine than say a Valletta on 2. Sadly the auto-feather was due to a fault in the torque measuring system I understand and a nearly new fully serviceable engine and aircraft was lost. Hey Ho.
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