Heh. Whenever Pinnacle gives us new, revised manuals that have re-invented the wheel for the third time in two years, we go through this. We got a new CFM not too long ago, and they changed all the checklists. However, our APU deferred checklist was the same one as the old CFM, so it didn't match up. The latest debacle is the new "single pack" procedure on the -200. They cut and pasted the one from the -900......which will over pressurize the pack when you switch the bleeds.
You'll probably still have to deal with crappy procedures. The good news is if you get called on the carpet in HEF, you'll have protection to back you up.
Actually, well be dancing right next to you guys on Noconna blvd... HEF/MNZ will soon be nothing more than a bad memory.
Point being, as you stated, I would like to have something more than a statement of my reasoning for support.
Key example : As i understand it, we had a flight crew inadvertantlly move both condition levers towards start feather in flight, breaking the gate on both. The airplane, being so smart, realized that the flight crew were asking for something completely absurd. At this point the FADEC took control of propeller governing, and kicked both PEC's, (propeller electronic controls) i think... offline. This shows up in the cockpit as PEC #1 and PEC#2 fail. The checklist for PEC#1
or PEC#2 light is completely diffrent then PEC#1
AND PEC#2. Problem is, the second one is actually in the checklist for dual propeller over speed... and the FADCE was limiting the props at that point, so they were not "over speeding" The flight crew ran the checklists for the PEC lights, and nowhere was it mentioned "LAND ASAP" had they read the dual over speed, then they would have had an entirely different understanding of the nature of the beast they were dealing with. They elected to continue to ewr, as it was not much farther away, and, nothing was said about possible secondary failures. They ended up shutting down an engine when the Fadec failed to govern the prop, and it started to surge.
A properly labeled checklist, or even training on this event, would have done much to change this situation... Rather, with no back up, they had to go sing the song in HEF... The resultant change was a memo saying... move the levers slowly - no additional mention of what the proper checklist was, or why the airplane responded the way it did, and an unpaid vacation for the flight crew.
Many who fault ALPA, say the protect the weak... This crew responded to the indications in the way they were trained.. and It was wrong. The combination of the new airplane, lack of training in this scenario, and confusing checklists nearly cost 2 pilots their jobs. It also resulted in a single engine emergency landing, and could have been much worse than the outcome was. Having Alpa to back up the pilots, as well as ALPA Safety to step in, and get this stuff fixed is what we need... neither of these pilots are "weak" pilots.
Stuff that the pilots were unaware of - If the power levers were brought to flight idle, the engines will feather, in the air, and on the ground. The Idle range of the props is now 100-150 rpms lower than normal, and this is above the flight idle detent. There is nothing that says the props will unfeather in this case, and if the engine is shut down, they will NOT feather normally.
All stuff that would have been darn nice to know.. wouldn't ya say? maybe it would be nice if we had somebody looking out for us?