Cautions That List Is Incomplete And Not Indicative Of The Safety Of Any Airplane

The accident in Taiwan last week involving an ATR-72 that lost engine power on takeoff has prompted the Flight Safety Foundation to look at similar incidents involving the GE235 engine installed on the airplane.

According to information posted online by Flight Safety, preliminary information released by the Aviation Safety Council of Taiwan on the February 4 accident involving an ATR-72 would suggest that there was a master warning in the cockpit associated with the right engine (nr.2). Subsequently the throttle of the left engine (nr.1) was brought back to idle, after which the nr. 1 condition lever was set to the fuel shutoff position resulting in left engine shutdown.

The Aviation Safety Network compiled a list of 17 airliner and military transport accidents in which the flight crew shut down the wrong, working, engine following engine problems. The most recent occurrence was a Jetstream 41 aircraft that crashed in 2009 during a training flight near Durban Airport in South Africa.

To illustrate the different situations in which an engine shut down can occur, the Aviation Safety Network also compiled a list of ATR-72-500 and -600 (all equipped with PW127 engines) incidents that the application of emergency procedures following real or perceived engine problems. This list cannot be considered complete, nor does it say anything about the safety of the ATR-72 airplane or PW127 engines.

FMI: ASN List