Posted on 02/09/2023 12:20:18 PM PST by BenLurkin
The propellers of both engines of the Yeti Airlines aircraft that crashed in Nepal last month and killed 71 people, including five Indians, did not have power during its descent, a PTI report quoted government-appointed panel probing the aviation disaster as saying.
During the analysis and investigation, the propellers of both engines were found to have gone “feathering in the base leg in the course of landing,” My Republica newspaper reported, quoting the panel.
Yeti Airlines flight 691, after taking off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on January 15, crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport in the resort city of Pokhara.
Feathering applies to turboprop aircraft and is done when there is an engine stall, an aviation expert said. Usually, a propeller is feathered when the engine fails to produce the power needed to turn the propeller. By angling the propeller parallel to the direction of the flight, feathering helps in reducing the drag on the aircraft, the expert added. Fifty-three Nepalese passengers and 15 foreign nationals, including five Indians, and four crew members were on board the plane when it crashed, in one of Nepal’s worst aviation disasters in over three decades. There were 72 people onboard the ATR-72 aircraft when it crashed, but rescue officials have so far managed to recover only 71 bodies with the other passenger presumed dead.
The Yeti Airlines tragedy in Pokhara is the 104th crash in Nepali skies and the third biggest in terms of casualties.
Does this mean they lost engine power and were trying to glide in? Asking the FR pilots.
“Feathering applies to turboprop aircraft and is done when there is an engine stall”
Reciprocating engines also goofball.
That’s a distinct possibility.
Sounds like suicide by aircraft.
I think the pilot had a lot of experience and that is obviously a big no-no.
My question is did the pilot have and engine failure and then shut down the wrong engine? Apparently it has happened before on this same kind of aircraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAsia_Airways_Flight_235
“Does this mean they lost engine power and were trying to glide in? Asking the FR pilots.”
The props feathered so they had no thrust.
That seems to be the implication in this article, based on finding both engine propellers in the feathered position.
Usually when you lose both engines its due to a common problem between the two engines, and number one is lack of fuel.
Could have also been a "Sully" moment with a bird strike into a flock that caused both engines to ingest birds and flame out, but with turboprops its much more difficult to kill an engine with a bird strike because of the giant Ginsu Knives protecting the turbine engine air intake.
Think there was speculation among pilots that the crash followed a stall due to the turn into final approach being too tight. So it wasn’t the engines cutting out that caused the crash in their opinion, it was the low air speed that caused the stall (that caused the crash).
Sounds more like a panic when the pilot discovered they were in a stall................
Pulled the props instead of the flaps?
Thats what the video looks like to me. It appears they were in a left downwind approach and making a left turn final, went too tight and too slow and stalled. I haven’t heard, but if there was a right to left crosswind or significant turbulence, it may have been a contributing factor.
Could they have been trying this. Then when the pilot banked the plane it stalled.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/more-airports-to-use-greener-glide-approach-to-landing/?ref=upstract.com
Maybe the wing stalled but that doesn’t explain how or why or if the engines stalled.
Engines don’t have to loose power for the props to feather
Doesn't account for the feathered props, though. That is something the pilot has to command. And it was both engines. They had to have been feathered before the stall.
“Engines don’t have to loose power for the props to feather”
That’s not what I said. I said if they’re feathered you have no thrust.
See the post above yours... ATRs have “Auto Feather” ... If the engine dies it automatically feathers.
Based solely on them both being Feathered... Dual engine failure. (out of fuel, bad fuel) Or like someone else said.... 1 engine failure and pilot shut off the other engine...
pretty sad.
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