PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Single Engine Taxiing
View Single Post
Old 22nd Feb 2003, 01:36
  #13 (permalink)  
Ignition Override
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Down south, USA.
Posts: 1,594
Received 9 Likes on 1 Post
Exclamation

You should also avoid single-engine taxi with wing-mounted engines on snowy taxiways etc, or if fairly heavy and a much smaller aircraft is behind you. Have the other pilot(s) possibly open fuel crossfeed valve to prevent an imbalance-just put a checklist in front of some engine gauges or whatever, to remind you to close the crossfeed later and turn on all required fuel pumps, as you plan to restart the engine when near runway and repeat at least one (i.e. "All Engines") checklist! Don't forget to check your total fuel before takeoff, as you quickly brief distant/close-in noise departure and SID, engine/wing anti-ice, tail winds if not already discussed...single-engine return to which runway?

On our planes with tail-mounted engines, I shutdown an engine on two different flights this month during taxi out, once with delays to a de-ice pad, due to lack of a forecast for snow, with fuel burn already near planned taxi burn on flight release before we even got to the pad (would have been there a while for two-stop deicing, but snow quickly stopped and so single step holdover time [4 min.!] was not much of a factor).

And today, due to extra (heavy) cargo jet arrivals due to low RVR on parallel runways and average contingency fuel planning by Dispatch (or was it due to Dispatch $upervisor's fear of carrying any extra fuel?), an engine shutdown probably prevented the need for us to taxi back for adequate contingency needs, already having two alternate airports due to low ceilings all over 'Copperhead Country'.
Ignition Override is offline