TransAsia in the water?

[Tu.114]

It seems to me that there is some exaggeration going on here at the moment.

It is true; most turboprops around at the moment have Autofeather, and it is also true that it works as advertised most of the time. In an engine failure after V1, memory items are initially limited to the two questions:

1. Is the propeller feathered?

2. Is there a fire indicated?

(3. Did the uptrim work on the good engine - type dependent)

Answering those just requires checking of the instruments and no manipulation of any lever. And if both conditions are fulfilled, there is no more to be done until acceleration and cleanup. Then the book is taken out and the lists are worked off. So the only difference to a jet is the positive need to have the propeller feathered.

Workload starts to get a bit higher if either of the two conditions are not met. This is not because of some authority wishing to "see hands fly" at all costs; the aircraft just needs to be brought into a condition covered by performance calculations by feathering the propeller and a possible fire needs to be fought (this, again, is just as it is on a propeller-less aircraft). No flying hands or frantic actions are involved; such a procedure can and indeed should be handled in a calm and proper way just like any other abnormal procedure on any aircraft there may be. There is always time e. g. for the PF to properly verify that the PNF has his hands on the appropriate power lever, condition lever and T handle.

Also, please do not forget the role of the manufacturer in creating such a procedure. It may well be possible for him to allow flying the aircraft with one windmilling propeller until acceleration, but if climb gradients are still to be met, this will require reducing the max takeoff weight by offloading passengers and other payload and therefore make the aircraft unsellable to airlines.

Just to show some figures: on the DH8-300, an unserviceable Autofeather was releasable under MEL. This meant that an engine failure after V1 would have required manual feathering of the engine, which would have taken longer than with the autofeather working. And this alone caused a MTOW reduction that would have forced me once to offload 30 of the 40 passengers on board AND everything that was in the cargo compartment, had I accepted this aircraft. With no feathering at all until acceleration altitude, the restrictions would even be more severe and I would be surprised if the MTOW still allowed taking fuel on board.