2024-10 · NASA ASRS report 2178176
B767 flight crew reported performing a rejected takeoff due to loss of EGT indication on the left engine. Postflight; Maintenance found an EGT sensor had been improperly secured and vibrated loose.
At approximately 105kts; taking off on runway XX at ZZZZ First Officer (FO) stated forcefully reject EGT". At this point in time things slowed down and below is what went through my head: The FO's non-standard assertive announcement of 'reject" got my attention significantly. It caused me to think there was something very serious going on; i.e.unable to fly. We did not have much time to make a decision as we were a max power takeoff on a short runway. I began to assess the EGT issue. I was taking off in a crosswind at the time; so some of my energies were focused on centerline. My thought now was if we are going to stop; stop sooner rather than later. I did not want to spend time accelerating eating up runway researching the problem. I knew we are on the low end of the high speed regime. I did think about continuing; but it would have taken a second or two to evaluate; and if I had missed something that I believe the FO was seeing we would be in a bad spot. Given where we were; I yielded to what I believe was the conservative and safest course of action. To stop the airplane at this point in time; where I knew it could be brought to a stop fairly easily. At the very least something was wrong. Checklists was performed. Shortly thereafter the left engine EGT resumed working and the left engine indications were normal. An emergency was not declared. Fire rescue personnel met the airplane; and no assistance was needed. There were no reported issues with passengers or crew. The incident was entered in logbook. Dispatch; FO and Maintenance Control were verbally debriefed. Crew performed a de-brief.There were a few challenges during the preflight phase of this flight. Flight was performance challenged departing ZZZZ airport for ZZZ airport. Due to the long runway closure we would be taking off on runway XX; the short runway. We had to delay the flight to reduce the weight. Multiple calls were made to dispatch and load planning. Cargo was disembarked and non-revs were deplaned. A non-rev flight attendant at departure time was requesting the jumpseat from being a non-rev. The temperature and wind were changing in a more adverse direction. Consequently we had to delay departure at the end of the runway to burn down to our exact takeoff weight.My FO was proactive and utilized good skills. We discussed the issues surrounding our max performance takeoff and mitigation techniques. Such as using every inch of available runway and engines properly spooled. We discussed an engine failure prior to V1 and how critical it would be to stop on the remaining runway.FO and I thoroughly debriefed the occurrence (to include over dinner as we digested it more thoroughly.) We discussed the confusion in his non-standard callout of "reject". FO and I discussed different options for our decision. Such as; continuing the takeoff; based on good indications on the rest of the engine instruments. The issue there could have been if the EGT continued to be inoperative inflight. We would continue on a flight over water to ZZZ [airport]? And was this failure of the EGT gauge indicative of a larger issue.I executed in my opinion the safest course of action. Given the little time to analyze the potential engine threat; my decision to reject was based on earlier is better than later with the short runway and 100kts had just been called. Debriefing with my FO; I stated the big picture. We had an issue at the most difficult phase of flight; with little time to react. No metal was bent; and most importantly no one got hurt. Thus I was satisfied with the outcome. In 20/20 hindsight it did not go perfect; there was learning that occurred; and there is always room for improvement."
During the takeoff roll at 105kts; the left engine's EGT indication went completely blank. Seeing the abnormality and totally-blank engine indication; I believed it to be related to an engine failure and I called out reject - EGT." (Note - in hindsight I realize I should not have said the word "reject" myself; and should have just called out the issue).The captain initiated the reject properly while I notified the tower and passengers; and then we worked together to accomplish the rejected takeoff QRC on the runway (keeping tower informed); and then we taxied clear. At some point during the course of the reject; the EGT indication came back and the engine appeared to operate normally on the taxi in. Brake temps peaked at 5.5; but had dropped below 5.0 (the caution zone) by the time we parked. In accordance with the checklist; I called Ops while taxiing to notify the ramp crew to remain clear of the landing gear; and they confirmed that they were aware.I believe we displayed excellent CRM; communication; and teamwork; not just during the reject but from the beginning of the preflight too. It was a complicated departure process (further detailed below); and then in the aftermath of the reject; the CA was especially good in confirming with me that each checklist step was done properly before we moved on to the next step. We accomplished a thorough debrief after we parked; and then again over dinner at the hotel. All appropriate phone calls; write-ups; and reports were made. An abnormal indication at high speed during the takeoff roll is probably one of the more difficult decisions pilots can face; because there's very little time to react as speed increases and runway remaining decreases. Coupled with the fact that this was already a very performance-critical takeoff (see further detailed explanation below); I'd say we made the conservative safety-conscious call in that moment not to take the plane airborne; especially since the only time you ever see a blank EGT is when you turn off the engine at the end of a flight. It might not have been perfect; but neither any people nor the airplane were hurt. I'd gladly welcome feedback on this situation. After talking with maintenance; they found that one of the EGT sensors on the left engine was installed/secured improperly; and the vibrations experienced at takeoff power caused it to vibrate loose; leading to the the loss of our indications. Contributing factors: Our takeoff was very critical - we were right at our max allowable weight for runway XX (since the longer runway XY was closed) given the current weather conditions. We had gone through several phone calls back and forth at the gate with dispatch working with the takeoff numbers and bumping off passengers in efforts to make the numbers work; and then still had to burn off fuel at the end of the runway before takeoff. And lastly; it was a max thrust takeoff; which is the highest probability of having an engine issue arise. Given all this; I knew there was absolutely no wiggle room with performance; which may have led me to call out the abnormality a little quicker than if we had had a longer runway in front of us. During sim training for a rejected takeoff; usually any engine indication abnormality we get leads the crew to rejecting the takeoff. In this case; although the EGT totally blanked out; N1 was fine; but in that split-second it looked like the abnormal indication could be indicative of a developing engine issue; and with us accelerating at heavy weight towards the end of a short runway; I chose to call out what I saw sooner rather than later. Maybe there could be more of an emphasis of "things that look weird but may not actually require a reject" in the actual sim; instead of just discussing them."
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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