MD-11 inflight engine problem

[ive348]

I'm looking for some insight into a situation which took place today. One MD-11 flying ZRH-LAX notified French ATC shortly after take off he (actually she) was having an engine problem, but was going to continue to LAX. Said engine was the one in the tail. a/c then climbed to FL300 with Maastricht UAC, only to request diverson back to ZRH after about 30'. My question: Is it common practise to continue on a 9H+ flight over the ocean in a 3 engined plane if you already know from about 15' after take off something is wrong with the nr 2 engine? We were all quite puzzled about it.

[jungly]

What probably happened is this: (remember airlines are run by accountants too)

After an engine problem the crew needed a lower flight level...hence the request to ATC....however, their SOPs state that this is not an emergency and at this stage they havent contacted the company.
Although the crew are 99% they will need to divert...it is the company (ie: the accountants) that decide where is most cost effective (with obviously the crews input from a flight safety stand point).
Until they have the decision from the company it is best to continue enroute.
Obviously the crew would not just beam off over the big blue without significant safety considerations.

In a recent incident I know about....we had an engine failure (4 engines) and continued enroute to Anchorage for an hour before the company asked us to divert to Vancouver (It took an hour for them to find a spare engine that we could snaffle from Air Canada)

Hope this helps......

[ive348]

Thanks Jungly, that might have been the case.
When a:c notified ATC of problem they were still at low level in climbout from ZRH. When Reims called us to inform about the problem a/c was at FL220 for traffic, then climbed to FL260. Then after 5 to 10 minutes requested FL300. All seemed normal speed/roc wise. Even with the accountants in mind, would you have continued if the problem occured during climbout?

[non sched]

If it was able to make 300 right after takeoff on 2 engines and the destination was LA it's possible it was a ferry. I can't imagine making that altitude with any payload so question whether pax were involved. I agree it's necessary to continue on your flight plan until the issue of where to land is resolved with the company. In fact, the last engine I shut down, that's precisely what we did while the F/O worked a phone patch with the company.

[End_of_Descent]

As usual, the Swiss forum is a good source of information. According (in German) to a SR Technics engineer working on the aircraft involved, "no. 2 engine indicated strong vibrations after takeoff and was shut down subsequently". After fuel dump, the plane returned to ZRH.

EoD