A B767 Relief Officer reported a CRM issue when a reluctant First Officer accepted an engine indication and the issue was not discussed by all three pilots as a crew.
Synopsis
A B767 Relief Officer reported a CRM issue when a reluctant First Officer accepted an engine indication and the issue was not discussed by all three pilots as a crew.
Narrative
During climb out First Officer noted right engine was tagging behind approximately 1.0% N1 of the commanding N1 setting. The Captain made a note of it and I was sent back on my crew rest break. Upon returning from my break approximately 2 hour 20 minutes later the Captain stepped back to use the lavatory and the First officer gave me the turn over brief. Just then we received a clearance to climb to our crossing altitude. During the climb First officer stated Captain was concerned about he right engine not being able to achieve MCT power and he called Dispatch to give them a heads up. First Officer demonstrated during the climb to our crossing altitude by pushing the right engine throttle full forward noting the N1 was lagging behind but by less than 1.0% of the commanded N1. That maneuver caused the plane to yaw in the climb. He informed me that now the Captain had made Dispatch aware of the problem and we were taking this aircraft across the pond that he was doing a report on it. First Officer went to break Captain said he had already put it in the book. I was out of the loop but did question the Captain and he said a report wasn't necessary. I did discuss the possibility of loss of the engine and a go-around on the right engine at our destination but nothing more was discussed. I felt out of the loop since most of this went on during my break.
NASA callback
The reporter stated that the engine did not fail during this event. What transpired was a miscommunication betweens the Captain; the Air Carrier and the other crew members. The active first officer had not felt comfortable with the engine's performance and questioned whether an oceanic crossing should be continued. The Captain and he decided that it was acceptable even though the First Officer was uncomfortable. The decision was made while the Relief Officer was on break and so he was not included in the decision process. This made the entire issue a CRM issue for all three pilots because now a decision affecting the safety of flight was made possibly without the input of all those responsible. In the end; data was reviewed and it was determined that this was a known indicating problem and that the flight was operated withing safe parameters.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.