Eagle off the runway in SDF
 

Jet with engine trouble skids off runway

By Charlie White
[email protected]
The Courier-Journal

An American Eagle commuter jet skidded off a wet runway at Louisville International Airport about 5 p.m. after crew members reported trouble with one of its engines.

There were no injuries among the 46 people aboard, which included passengers and crew, said Trish Burke, spokeswoman for the Louisville Regional Airport Authority.

The jet, an Embraer ERJ-140, had taken off on-time from Louisville International en route to Chicago when the pilot noticed a loss of power in one of the two engines, said Tim Smith, a spokesman for American Eagle, the regional carrier for American Airlines.

All American pilots are trained to fly with one engine, Smith said.

Airport officials learned that American Eagle Flight 3980 needed to land about 4:30 p.m. The pilot immediately turned the plane around and landed it 25 minutes later, Burke said.

The jet’s engines are designed to go to idle if there is problem, Smith said. He said the crew followed proper procedure in returning to the closest airport.

But because of the wet runway, the plane’s brakes did not stop the jet in time, Smith said.

Some witnesses told airline officials the jet began to hydroplane. It stopped about 15 feet off the end of the left side of runway 17, he said.

“It is always tough to get braking traction on a wet runway, and with the one engine out, there were fewer options for” reversing the forward thrust of the plane, Smith said.

The plane’s landing gear got stuck in the mud off the runway, but preliminary inspection found no damage, Smith said.

A maintenance crew planned to use a jack to lift the aircraft and “get the landing gear out of the muck,” Smith said.

Passengers were given the option to fly out on a later flight or stay overnight at the airline’s expense and fly out Saturday.

Reporter Charlie White can be reached at (502) 582-4653.

Oh, you mean that thing you learn to do on your first day of multi-engine training? I'm so sick of this media bullcrap.

Totally agree, I hate the media!

But are the Eagle pilots trained to fly on only one engine?

Glad this wasn't a Mesa flight there would surely be some more crappy airline bashing.

A twin's a twin, ERJ or Seneca.

I don't know what SDF's runway lengths are, but shouldn't the plane "legally" be able to stop? I believe the landing distance calculations are done for the FAA using brakes only, no reverse. So even with no reverse the plane is supposed to be able to stop in the amount of runway specified in the POH. Can anyone shed some light on that?

"Legally" you're supposed to be sharp as a tack after 8 hours of legal rest which includes a half hour wait for the van, a 15 minute van ride, 10 minutes waiting for the person behind the desk to check you in, a half hour to relax enough to actually get 5 hours of sleep to wake up an hour before show time with a short stop at the continetal breakfast to report for a follow up 16 hour duty day.

You guys need to realize the regs are rigged to the airlines favor. You weren't in the cockpit you don't know what happened. Yeah, it should of been able to stop, yes the runways are long enough. Hydroplaning is the same as landing on ice, no reliable thrust reverse, no stopping in published limits.

You are correct reverse is not figured into the performance data.

runway lenths range from 7250 to 10850 .... fyi

im glad everyone is ok and safe. BTW for the pilots this is why its good to be ALPA!

Reverse thrust credit
 

I believe that you can use the effect of reverse thrust when computing stopping distance on a WET runway. If the runway is dry, you cannot use the credit for reverse thrust. I know this applies for takeoff computations, and I believe it is the same for landing. As for single engine operations, there is no preflight requirement to figure one engine landing distance, it would have to be referenced from tables inflight or contact dispatch. Also, there is no preflight requirement to compute landing information for your departure airport.

Unless the airplane was in flames, you would still have to take the time to calculate actual (not 121 60%) stopping distance for the conditions at hand. What could have gone wrong...

Conditions not reported correctly.
Long T/D.
High T/D speed.

I would assume that the numbers for a low-flaps LDG on a wet runway would account for higher LDG speed and thus higher risk of hydroplaning, but I don't know for sure...

On a low-flap approach in a jet, you MUST nail the correct speed and GS and be prepared to go-around if you don't (unless you're landing at Edwards AFB)

So you can be trained to fly on one engine? Wow...