Nigel, you sound like another Nigel I know, must be something common in the name, 'cus neither of you seem to understand the thought process differences between pilots and flight engineers.
I'm betting you've never flown in a three-man crew environment!
WTF...30 sec after a fire warning to close the thrust lever....
I would have expected the FE to simultaneously advise the Captn of the indications, and be slowly retarding the power, I say slowly because of the phase of flight they were in, as well as selecting maximum power on the other three engines.(At that stage I expect that climb power would be set!)
In the Qantas environment, all the FEs would be familiar with the RRs, since they would have been operating RB211s for most if not all their career.
Hence the caution with the stated RPM variations.
RRs are complex engines and subtle indications are not to be taken lightly!
EW73
