Got the link thanks...
I read AC25-13...thank for taking the time to post this.
And your point...that Reduced thrust 'may' increase engine life and reliability?
Look I will throw you guys a bone..if I had a 40,000 hr engine, a million cycles on the bearings, a lake of burning lava at the end, and a ten hour trip over the Polar Ice cap to do for the next year, in this plane...no money for engines, airline was broke, we had to do the trip,..yeah I would baby those engines like you wouldn't believe..flex, reduced cruise, watch the temps like a Hawk, stay away from FOD and birds, no runups on the dirty ramps...you name it...anything to save those engines....
But is that a safe operation? If you guys can't afford to overhaul your engines at the same intervals as the rest of us...maybe it's not so safe...and it's forcing you to take chances...
If Flex is so integral to extending engine overhaul times based on boroscopes...maybe we should talk about just how far out you guys are taking these engines..and what you will do to keep from having to pay to fix you engines...and your planes...
Let me bore you with a story...in younger years, as a flight instructor in twins, one of our Cessna 310s had a gear problem, nose gear wouldn't come down...so the pilot landed the plane..didn't feather any engines, let the nose come down, trashed two props and two engines...as per the book.. Someone else got to pay the fix.
If it had been my plane, I would have shut down one engine, feathered a prop, bumped the starter to flatten the two blades...assured my landing on our 8000 ft field, then shut down my last good engine, bumped the blades around...nose hits..no blades or engine tear downs...costs me a little skin and paint....
Now which is safer...using power to the end, or being a cowboy to save a buck? If I worked for you guys, there is a little cowboy in me that likes pushing it sometimes,, but I might see passenger after passenger load up and rethink that...
Trust me, I get Flex..but I don't have to pay the bills, I can afford to be safe, my boss isn't cheap, he can afford the engines, and has...we don't need to take chances to save a buck...it's not worth it..
Last edited by ssg; 20th May 2008 at 05:41.