ATR down in Taipei

If the engine was running but the prop feathered that would be a lot of drag. THEN they shut down the left engine accidently, wouldn't the airplane have dumped to the right?
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It'll be a lot of noise and vibration, and possibly terrifically hard on the powerplant and structure depending on where the power lever is, but there won't be much in the way of drag from it when compared to an engine failure, prop feathered. That propeller will likely sit there, happily feathered and running around (say) 60% Np with the power lever advanced for takeoff, all day long if it's anything like the Brasilia, and all you'll notice is racket and "hey we suddenly don't have our sprightly two-engine performance." The performance of an unscheduled automatic feathering and an engine failure, prop automatically feathered did not seem discernible to this turboprop pilot from those days.
 
Well, according to local news, all pilots are suspended till passing written, oral, and SIM ride.

The best advice I ever got in 121 flying - fly every flight like you are taking a check ride or re-current proficient ride and follow company SOP. When things happens for real, you won't be panicking and made wrong decision.

ps: I am not perfect and made my share of mistakes in the SIM.
 
If you really think about it, that's quite a small number. Guys bust recurrent training all the time. Especially when you pop it up on them. I'm not defending the carrier by any means, just trying to avoid the "OMGZ! NEWS MEDIA FREAK OUT TIME!"
It says 10 of 49 pilots, that's around 20%, rather high wouldn't you say?
 
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It'll be a lot of noise and vibration, and possibly terrifically hard on the powerplant and structure depending on where the power lever is, but there won't be much in the way of drag from it when compared to an engine failure, prop feathered. That propeller will likely sit there, happily feathered and running around (say) 60% Np with the power lever advanced for takeoff, all day long if it's anything like the Brasilia, and all you'll notice is racket and "hey we suddenly don't have our sprightly two-engine performance." The performance of an unscheduled automatic feathering and an engine failure, prop automatically feathered did not seem discernible to this turboprop pilot from those days.
Thank you.....I didn't proof-read my post....:oops:
 
Thank you.....I didn't proof-read my post....:oops:
I've never done that! ;)

If you really think about it, that's quite a small number. Guys bust recurrent training all the time. Especially when you pop it up on them. I'm not defending the carrier by any means, just trying to avoid the "OMGZ! NEWS MEDIA FREAK OUT TIME!"
Erm, well, yeah, but 10/50 is a pretty amazing number when considering that is the whole pilot group. 20% of our guys will not be failing their line checks. Or sim checks for that matter.
 
Well, according to local news, all pilots are suspended till passing written, oral, and SIM ride.

The best advice I ever got in 121 flying - fly every flight like you are taking a check ride or re-current proficient ride and follow company SOP. When things happens for real, you won't be panicking and made wrong decision.

ps: I am not perfect and made my share of mistakes in the SIM.
This.

I goof plenty, but I do it the way they want it done and it makes recurrent that much easier.
 
This.

I goof plenty, but I do it the way they want it done and it makes recurrent that much easier.

Yeah, but what's the environment like in their training center? You can fail anybody on a check ride if you really want to. If they're going down the path Colgan did post-3407 then 10 failures may not be surprising. The article also doesn't mention a sim, only that they failed an oral exam. That could be even trickier if they're purposely looking to bust people.
 
Yeah, but what's the environment like in their training center? You can fail anybody on a check ride if you really want to. If they're going down the path Colgan did post-3407 then 10 failures may not be surprising. The article also doesn't mention a sim, only that they failed an oral exam. That could be even trickier if they're purposely looking to bust people.
Fair 'nuff; nevertheless, it seems a suspiciously high number.
 
It says 10 of 49 pilots, that's around 20%, rather high wouldn't you say?
I've never done that! ;)


Erm, well, yeah, but 10/50 is a pretty amazing number when considering that is the whole pilot group. 20% of our guys will not be failing their line checks. Or sim checks for that matter.

Yeah, um, I fail. I didn't read the article, and just assumed the poor group was bigger than that.
 
I read the local paper. CAA (equivalent ,to FAA here) requires all pilots to take written, oral and sim(locate in Singapore,I think). They also requires the require company to submit a New improvement plan for entire flight operation. TransAsia submitted an improvement plan last year. CAA only approved 30 percent of plan and required company resubmit after last crash(about 7 or 8 months) ago.
 
20% seems like an awfully high number. Honestly, it makes me wonder if those 10 pilots really demonstrated such poor airmenship as to warrant a failure(I doubt that many pilots just had a "bad day" with so much on the line) or if the checks were ridiculously intense.
 
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20% seems like an awfully high number. Honestly, it makes me wonder if those 10 pilots were really demonstrated such poor airmenship as to warrant a failure(I doubt that many pilots just had a "bad day" with so much on the line) or if the checks were ridiculously intense.
It's sort of nice to see a regulator on the warpath about something that REALLY does matter. I'm assuming that their Fed rides went like the observed sim sessions I have had, with a Fed watching the company LCA sweat, who is, in turn, watching us sweat.

Proficiency is serious business.
 
20% seems like an awfully high number. Honestly, it makes me wonder if those 10 pilots were really demonstrated such poor airmenship as to warrant a failure(I doubt that many pilots just had a "bad day" with so much on the line) or if the checks were ridiculously intense.

I flew in Taiwan for 3 years. It is not surprising in the least that 20% of the pilots would fail a checkride given by someone other than their own company check airman.

One thing to remember too, is that pilots at TransAsia and Far Eastern are generally not the cream of the crop. They are there because they could not get hired by China Airlines or EVA. Whether that be because they did not speak good enough English to pass the test at the two international carriers or because they did not pass the interview for another reason.

Further, the culture of TransAsia has not changed in 20 years. Their Makong crash is proof positive. The same old crap of going below minimums that was prevalent when I was working there. Heck, when I joined FAT the D.O. bragged to me about going below minimums on an approach to Kinmen. They viewed a diversion or a go-around as a loss of face and would do whatever it took to "get in".

It's sad that it has taken two crashes in rapid succession, with the intendant loss of life, to put the spot light on them. But it's about time, maybe now they will finally join the 21st century of airline safety and good CRM.



Typhoonpilot
 
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