Originally Posted by
punkalouver
For the actual sounds of lever movement, I suspect not.
One would think that the pilots would have heard(and possibly felt) the engines feathering. It is certainly very noticeable on the ground, although I suppose it is starting from a different blade angle.
A CVR recording analysis normally won't be capable of discriminating a source of a lever motion, although some systems have very characteristic signature, such as the gear lever when it interacts with a lever lock. The lock is notable. For the condition lever, the lock release is not going to be audible on the tape, the sound of the lock going home may be, and that would be similar to the click of most flap levers.
The cabin video audio didn't cover the time that the condition levers were apparently moved, the primary acoustic signature was of the turbine, there was also another odd line that may have been a blade rate of the feathered propellers, it didn't tie in with an AC fan or blower or other obvious sound source.
I would suspect that the last few seconds, the RHS pilot may have comprehended that the engines had been feathered, and selected the condition levers to normal. The LHS Pilot, having already stated twice there was no power, had pushed the power levers to max TLA, at 57:11, and nothing happened apparently to the Nh at that time. A click was heard at 57:16 and 1 second latter, Nh on both engines increased from 73% flight idle (to avoid over torque) to 77%. 2 seconds later the LHS hands over to the RHS pilot, 57:18, at 57:20, the RHS pilot now flying states there is no power, and 4 seconds later the stick shaker goes off, at 57:24. 2 seconds later, at 57:26, another stick shaker sounds, and that is around the time that the aircraft has commenced a roll to the left that it never recovers from, at 57:32 it impacts well nose down, and inverted. At the point where the aircraft departed to the left, it became irrecoverable, whether thrust was applied or not. It sounds like there may be a chance that the condition levers are found in normal, the ECUs would presumably record the change of the commanded operating state, the FDR may not. There is a high probability that the simultaneous loss of torque on both engines, without an audible click when the flaps 30 config was commanded came from the condition levers being moved in error. Something else changed to both engines at 57:17, 1 second after a click sound in the cockpit, and 7 seconds before the stick shaker. How long does an ATRs prop take to come out of feather?