NSEU
and, more seriously, the DC10 (or was it a Tristar?) which suffered an engine separation when pilots thought it might be a good idea to see what happens if you cycle a breaker for one of the engine speed sensors in flight. Can't recall if all were killed in that accident
Whooaa there boy!
It was a National Airlines DC-10-10 on Nov 3 1973. #3 engine fan disc exploded in cruise. Disc, blades, fan cowls and inlet cowls seperated as a result. One person killed due to being "sucked" out a hole in the fuselage caused by flying debris from the engine. Aircraft de-pressurised but subsequentely landed safely.
Failure of the number 3 engine caused by high vibration/tip rub. A known problem at the time (two previous failures in test cells) The failures were caused by fan tip rub and subsequent vibration with the onset being precipitated by a rapid fan acceleration.
In this incidence the flight crew had been "experimenting" with the autothrottle via repeated pulling/resetting of autothrottle CB's, movement of the throttle levers and adjustment of the autothrottle command speed bug and then seeing what response the engines made. All engines eventually accelerated hard with #3 going through 110% before the fan disc exploded.
The book "Air Disaster Volume 1" by Macarthur Job has a great story of this incident.
All important quote from this incident:-
"Regardless of the precise cause of the high fan speed at the time of its failure however, the investigators found that the flightcrew were in effect performing an un-tested failure analysis of the autothrottle system. Such an experiment, without the benefit of training or specific guidelines, should never be conducted during normal airline flying,the investigators commented. In concluding it's official report the NTSB stressed that aircraft operators and pilots-in-command should be fully cognizant of their operational responsibilities for conducting flights in a professional manner.They should never undertake experiments on aircraft systems for which they have not received specific training"
ChistiaanJ said:-
Thinking about and discussing what meager electrical resources are left is a valid exercise.
Starting to play with the CBs, on the basis of what may well be a wrong diagnosis in the first place, is more likely to aggravate the situation than anything else.
Agree 1000%!