Discussion from a few slots earlier:
"... any accidents caused by a faulty Thrust Reverser that had been MEL'd?..."
I couldn't recall any on the DC-9/MD80. But this
B717 pilot claimed that the B717
(shorter/ lesser "Tail Volume") BMW-engine's ThRev dealt him a rapid Yaw X Roll upset:
Incident occurred Monday, 19Feb01 , Milwaukee, WI
Aircraft: Boeing 717-231,
registration: N2410W
Injuries: 67 Uninjured.
[Recent = Probable Cause Approval Date: 3/30/04]
CHI01IA124
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20010427X00832&key=1
A Boeing 717 sustained an in-flight thrust reverser deployment following a takeoff. The flight returned without further incident.
After the prior flight the reverser was unlocked but not deployed. The flightcrew found the reverser unlock light during preflight. The crew could not clear the indication and contract maintenance was contacted to lock out the reverser. The contractor was not familiar and asked for the procedure to be faxed to him. The contractor used an incomplete set of procedures to lock out the reverser.
Post incident inspection revealed the thrust reverser doors had over deployed....
... Board determines the probable cause(s) of this incident as follows:
The failure of the operator to provide complete and comprehensive thrust reverser lock-out maintenance procedures and guidance to the contract maintenance personnel resulting in a partial and inadequate securing of the faulty thrust reverser and a subsequent inadvertent deployment following takeoff. Contributing to the incident is the failure of the contract maintenance personnel to verify that the maintenance instructions received where complete, accurate, and up to date.
[The above mishap is a firm argument FOR EXPLICIT mx sign-off, rather than merely implicitly mentioning a MxManual Procedure #.]
The MD80 sim' suggested to me that control was OK during flight with the ThRev DEPLOYED (but that was the Sim').
Privately, I recorded these comments from that
B717-pilot's
S&C observations during that mishap-flight with the Buckets Deployed:
The 'mild' rudder 'pulsations' were there throughout the time the buckets were deployed. I believe that it was some degree of intermittent rudder blanking. I doubt that this will be one of those traits that can be simulated. At any rate, it was during the last couple of hundred feet (finalizing the crab, sink, and speed) that the airplane 'seemed to want' that trim. I had flown the airplane without any rudder or aileron trim to that point, as the 'muscling' did not feel that bad. It was only when I realized that the nose did not want to come over into the quartering right headwind (right engine secured) that I 'felt' right rudder trim was the thing to do. Things were happening fast at this point, and I cannot unequivocally state that the right rudder trim helped the situation.