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Old 11th December 2002 | 19:57
  #15 (permalink)  
tecpilot
 
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 506
Likes: 1
From: Europe
Have never flown a S-76 but some other twins since 18 years.
My advice, if you are unable to fly 50-100nm OEI in a twin, especially offshore, at night or any other hostile conditions, it's better to use a single, it's much cheaper!

There are some other possible causes to fly OEI, not only the engine fire. If you, personally as the pilot and the a/c, are able to fly safe under OEI condition, don't hesitate to cut the engine.

It's foolish to try to "interprete" the warning lights or the instruments. Have flown a MD 500 with permanent eng-chips light. Never chips on the chip detector. At last, no one including the engineers, believed on real chips and they were right on the moment! "Screw out the bulb for the next hours and have a look at the other engine instruments" nice advice isn't it?, "At home we fix the problem" 5 flight hours later i experienced an engine failure on the ship, with very much chips on the detectors. Fortunately on ground, life-long thanks and some beers free to my ground crew, they refused the next sling load, against my certain and stormy order, i was so stupid!!! because they could hear!!! the engine grinding and screaming. With ear protection and helmet i couldn't hear the noise and all instruments and lights were "green". With one exception the eng-chips light on, with an real electrical problem (short circuit) that makes the system unable to detect chips. Crazy story or?

If you have a possible false fire warning and you would decide to ignore it, may be you have some minutes later a real fire? In which situations you will trust the warning lights? Stay on the flight manual and refer on the chapter "Emergencies" - it's my advice.

And for the young guys: if you ignore a warning light or indication, your boss and the insurance takes your TV-Screen, your car..., ..., ... and you can feel fired, because of the resulting damage. At first it was only a chip or a to low oil pressure and some times later it was a new engine or MR gearbox!
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