Air Nostrum CRJ2 at Santander on Feb 24th 2009, both engines shut down simultaneously

Last Update: July 30, 2012 / 15:23:00 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 24, 2009

Classification
Incident

Airline
Air Nostrum

Aircraft Type
Canadair Corporate Jetliner

ICAO Type Designator
CRJ2

Spain's CIAIAC released their report in their bulletin 02/2012, page 1 and following, concluding:

It is considered likely that the engine shut downs were the result of actions on the thrust levers moved below flight idle in order to decrease the engine power below flight idle.

The captain (48, ATPL, 9,328 hours total, 5,052 hours on type) was pilot flying, the first officer (30, ATPL, 4,084 hours total, 2,824 hours on type) was pilot monitoring.

The aircraft was flying at FL200 at 268 KIAS using manual thrust control, no autothrottle available, when ATC cleared the flight to FL150 and advised to expect an ARC VOR approach to runway 11 and descent to FL080. While the first officer was talking to ATC discussing the ARC VOR approach both engines shut down simultaneously and both fuel flow indicators dropped to 0. The air driven generator (ADG) was automatically released and provided electrical power permitting the crew to select continuous ignition and restart the engines. About one minute after the engines relighted the crew observed fuel flow numbers similiar to before the shut down. While the crew was working to restart the engines, another Air Nostrum pilot travelling as a passenger entered the cockpit. After being informed that they had a double engine failure he recommended to declare emergency, not just request priority. The crew subsequently declared emergency reporting they had a double engine failure but were able to restart both. The crew was able to continue for a safe landing.

The CIAIAC reported that the thrust levers have three main positions: SHUT OFF, IDLE and MAX POWER. There are some triggers, painted red, at the rear of the thrust lever to be able to move the levers past mechanical stops like at IDLE towards SHUT OFF.

In their analysis the CIAIAC said that there was no surprise by either crew, the captain immediately realised what had happened and increased the thrust levers, flipped the ignition switch to continuous and initiated the relight sequence, which was successful 37 seconds after the engines had shut down. The captain subsequently voiced surprise that the engines had shut down although the thrust levers had not reached the SHUT DOWN position.

At the time of the engine shut down ATC meant they needed to lose 13,000 feet in 30nm requiring a descent at 2000+ feet per minute. The CIAIAC analysed therefore that the requirement to establish such a high rate of descent together with a required reduction of speed to below 250 KIAS may have prompted the captain to pull the thrust levers past idle willfully releasing the triggers to permit the thrust levers below flight idle.

CIAIAC reported it was not the first time that the mechanical locks of the thrust levers preventing to move the levers below flight idle were overcome in flight.

The investigation released two safety recommendation to the theme to make flight crew aware of that moving the thrust levers below flight idle can shut down the engine at any time even without the thrust levers reaching the "shut off" marking.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 24, 2009

Classification
Incident

Airline
Air Nostrum

Aircraft Type
Canadair Corporate Jetliner

ICAO Type Designator
CRJ2

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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