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Old 11th Jun 2015, 16:12
  #280 (permalink)  
atakacs
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Age: 58
Posts: 1,909
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I keep thinking there is still more to this than is being reported. It is a "FADEC" control. For those of you who may not know, on a turboprop, the FADEC will adjust the prop to hold a constant speed, then adjust the turbine to hold the desired output torque (and the FADEC measures the torque on the output shaft directly - at least on the turboprop I worked on many moons ago it measured the shaft twist to determine the output torque).

The linked articles suggest that they have the ability input engine specific torque calibrations - but as a long time engine guy it's inconceivable to me that the FADEC would not have a 'default' torque calibration, and/or set some sort of no-dispatch message (or even prevent the engine from starting) if the engine specific torque calibration was corrupted or "wiped".
I would certainly agree.

And I can't imagine that if it wasn't the case (ie no "fallback / safe mode") this would not raise some alerts during the static tests that have (hopefully ?) been undertaken before this flight !?

Another question: given that the aircraft was most likely nowhere near MTOW wouldn't this situation allow some measure of controlled flight / managed emergency landing ? Or where they extremely unlucky not being able to walk out of this one ?
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