That's something those of us flying more modern aircraft just don't even think about. We may have to fly a special routing for terrain, but it's pretty much gospel that once you get into MCT, that working engine will provide thrust for as long as you need it, and that thrust will be sufficient (at any weight/isa that you launch in) to keep you in the air until you are ready to land.
When flying the 737-200, this is definitely a consideration I’ve had to make. Depending on the weight/temp/DA combination at a given time, there’s been times where it’s been essentially a macro Piper PA-44 Seminole, in terms of single engine performance, and all the considerations that come with that.
Off the top of my head, I think
@Derg and I are the only two on here with 737-100/200 experience. Am curious what performance considerations he took, and if they were the same as what we deal with.
But yes, these are things many pilots take for granted in jets with CFM and other high bypass turbofans that have tons of power available single engine, versus a low bypass turbofan like the JT8D, which hs a lot of thrust limitations, especially with the earlier models.
Pretty much. Blew one engine, overtemp'd the second one.
whoops
Which I can understand. If performance wasn’t happening single engine, and flying in ground (water) effect wasn’t working…..which is tough as hell enough to do night unaided and not hit the water…..then I can see the crew pushing the remaining one up to milk every bit of thrust they can out of it to avoid hitting the water. They’re bringing it around the radar pattern anyway, it’s not like they’re flying it over-temped for an hour. So it becomes a gamble of needing that extra thrust performance right now, versus the time that extra thrust performance will last with the excessive EGT before things start to melt in the hot section. Chances are, had there been a shorter radar pattern or the emergency allowed for a tighter traffic pattern and the QRH was able to be run during that time, they may have had the time available to get it back to the runway before that EGT began doing its damage.
In a situation like this, go-around EPR goes out the window, and it’s all managing the EGT as best as possible. These guys just ran out of time as it came to milking all the thrust possible from the remaining engine, and by extension, ran out of options. It looks like they kept up the fight and kept the dice rolling all through the emergency and into the decision to have to ditch…..a guts decision, and if you think about it, one that there was absolutely zero time to prepare for due to having to manage single engine flight and just trying to keep the jet airborne at low altitude. So no time to do anything related to ditching. That the jet held together as good as it did is a testament to the solid airframe of the jet, as well as the skill of the crew in setting it down, as well as good luck of calm swells.
Kudos to these guys. A hearty Well Done.
JT8D-15 below, and the -200 cockpit at night cruising along…most likely how their setup was.
