Originally Posted by
Shaggy Sheep Driver
Clarification, please, for a non-multi pilot.
Aerplane climbing normally, then; Uptrim (of #1) and autofeather (of #2) was commanded when there was nothing wrong with #2. Was that a pilot-initiated command or a spurious fault? Or don't we know? In other words, what event kicked off the autofeather of one good engine (#2) and the pilot's shutting down the other good engine (#1)?
Wasn't #2 power lever firewalled at one stage during the decent? If #2 was running, why didn't it unfeather, wind up, and save the day? Was it just that it was firewalled too late to do that?
It has been a long while since I flew the Dash-8-300 but this is what I remember. (ATR-72 shuld be similar but please correct any inaccuracies)
There probably was something wrong with #2.
#2 Autofeathered automatically when it sensed a reduction of Torque. The engine does not shut down automatically and will continue to run. The torque reduction is usually due to a problem in the engine which causes a reduction in the power output. The reason the prop is designed to autofeather is to reduce the workload at this critical phase of flight.
The next step after the autofeather would have been to confirm that the #1 engine has increased power form 90% to 100% (Uptrim) and then do nothing until the aircraft had climbed to the engine out acceleration height. This height varies but is often about 1000' above the ground. (AGL)
At 1000' AGL they should have momentarily leveled off, accelerated to a higher speed and retracted the flaps. Once the flaps are up they would have continued climbing to a safe altitude and then called for the engine out drill (memory items) or an engine out checklist. That would then require them to first identify the engine by pulling back the power lever of the #2 engine. Before doing this the non-flying pilot (NFP) would place his hand on the power lever and say "Confirm #2 power lever".
The flying pilot (FP) would then momentarily take his attention away from flying the aircraft to look and see which power lever the NFP had his hand on. If it was the correct power lever he would then say "Flight Idle" and then the NFP would SLOWLY bring the power lever back to idle. The reason you slowly bring it back is because you don't want to cause the aircraft to suddenly Yaw (turn) if you pulled back the wrong engine. If you pulled the power on the operating non-feathered engine there should be a substantial yaw and this also helps identify the correct engine before you proceed to the next step.
Once the power lever is at idle the NFP would then place his hand on the Fuel Condition Lever (FCL) and say "Confirm #2 Fuel Condition Lever". Again the FP would momentarily take his attention away from flying the aircraft to look and see which FCL the NFP had his hand on and say "Shut-Off". (or "Idle Cut OFF", "Cut Off", etc)
Providing all this was done correctly they should have been able to continue flying, climb to a safe altitude, and return to land.
Something went seriously wrong here and it looks like they just mixed up the #1 and #2 engines. Firewalling the #2 engine will not cause it to unfeather. I don't remember exactly how to un-feather but there is probably a position on the Condition lever.