Eddie, hmm those heli whirly thingies. No idea with that witch magic! But on the King Air there's a couple of different sets of switches.
One of them is the "Ignition and Engine Start" which spins the starter and provides spark at the igniters. This switch also has a position to motor the engine without ignition, but that's not relevant for this discussion.
The other set of switches is is the auto-ignition. Without going in to too much detail, these are generally turned on before takeoff and off after landing. If for some reason torque drops below 400ft/lbs the ignition system will energise automatically, providing spark. These switches lever lock into the armed position.
In a no starter assist start, basically have the auto ignition armed, be below 20,000ft and going at least 140ias, condition lever to low idle and monitor the start. Once stable, set power as required.
Sms777, it was me who brought up the friction locks and power lever slide back. There are those pilots who have and those pilots who have not experienced it. And there's probably many, many more who have no clue as to it being possible. You have experienced it, so you know what it's like. In the King Air it'll more often than not be on takeoff when you take your hand off the power levers to grab the gear. I'd probably put money on this being what you had. Am I close?
It isn't that difficult to deal with to be honest, but there is a very real possibility that someone somewhere could stuff it up and not realise what has happened.
Out of this discussion, whether or not there is any relation to this accident, if some people have learnt about the phenomenon then that's good.
Last edited by Car RAMROD; 29th Mar 2017 at 10:33.