Think about it!
Control
Power (Check Speed)
Identify
Confirm! when you retard the throttle the aircraft will swing, so you don't shut the engine down - you investigate further. Thats why you start with the throttle.
Again, it's a fair point, Blueline. But for me the issue is as much that it's
confirm or
verify rather than
investigate. I think, in the light of my training experiences, the mindset developed is that the engine will be shut down.
In the event of a genuine engine problem, verification is a touch more problematic than in the drill. What would be your criterion for the decision to shut down immediately rather than investigate further? Would you shut down only if there were absolutely
no yaw on closing the throttle? That would be a very unusual event, as most realistic failure modes leave some power being developed, or at least a fluctuating power situation. How long do you take to make the decision?