Originally Posted by
megan
From the Southwest 1380 report where the engine failed climbing through FL320...As SLF when it comes to jets the lesson I take away is that an engine failure may not be that benign.
The SW B737 engines would have been in climb thrust, not cruise thrust. Thrust produced by the engines for the climb is greater than that required in cruise so loss of a higher level of thrust would certainly be noticeable to the crew and the airplane would respond more firmly to the assymetric thrust.
The report paragraph you quote states that the First Officer had the aircraft under control, returning the bank angle from 41° to 5° within 6 seconds. That was the point in my post - engine failure will cause yaw but in all ordinary, (uncomplicated) circumstances, is controllable whether on takeoff, climb, cruise, descent and approach. The event is practised in the simulator every six months or so.
The other event occurred on a B777 and with loss of thrust from the right engine, the aircraft responded to the yawing moment, (nose turning to the right in this case) and began to roll. The bank angle reached 45°. Control of the aircraft was handed to the captain, (normal decision depending upon circumstances in the moment), and the bank angle was reduced. The Incident Report does mention the challenge of control but the aircraft remained wings level.
There is no observable reason to compare either of the above events with the China Eastern accident. But, while rare, matters can get very complicated very, very quickly.
When the flight data becomes available, we will know better. Aviation has a way of making any one of us eat our own words, once in a while. I have dined at its table a number of times...
