UNABLE TO FEATHER PROPELLER WHEN OVERSPEED DURING DESCENT. OVERSHOT ALT 3300' ACCOUNT EXCESSIVE DRAG.

1988-07 · NASA ASRS report 90103

Date: 1988-07 · Aircraft: Light Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turboprop Eng

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|deviation-altitude-overshoot|inflight-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control

Synopsis

UNABLE TO FEATHER PROPELLER WHEN OVERSPEED DURING DESCENT. OVERSHOT ALT 3300' ACCOUNT EXCESSIVE DRAG.

Narrative

ON DSCNT FROM CRS TO CROSS THE SCURRY VOR AT 6000' THE LEFT PROP WENT INTO AN OVERSPD CONDITION. THE CREW WAS UNABLE TO FEATHER THE PROP; SO SHUT DOWN THE LEFT ENG. WE WERE UNABLE TO STOP THE RATE OF DSCNT AND AN EMER WAS DECLARED. AT 2700' WE WERE FINALLY ABLE TO MAINTAIN A LEVEL FLT CONDITION. COMS HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED WITH COMPANY MAINT AT DFW AND WITH THEIR HELP THE CREW WAS ABLE TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO FEATHER THE PROP WHILE IT WAS IN THIS HIGH SPD CONDITION. (THERE WERE NO PUBLISHED PROCS FOR THIS TYPE OF EMER). ONCE THE PROP WAS FEATHERED WE WERE ABLE TO CLB THE ACFT AND LEVELED AT 3000' MSL TO CONTINUE THE SHORT DISTANCE TO THE DFW ARPT WHERE WE LANDED W/O INCIDENT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING: WAS ABLE TO STOP THE DSCNT AT 2700' AND MAINTAIN ALT PRIOR TO GETTING THE PROP FEATHERED. FULL COOPERATION FROM CENTER REF THE EMER DSCNT. SO MUCH DRAG WAS CAUSED BY THE OVERSPDING PROP; 163%; THEY COULD NOT STOP THE DSCNT AT A HIGHER ALT. ABLE TO FEATHER THE ENG WHEN MAINT SUGGESTED MOTORING THE ENG DRY THEREBY BUILDING UP OIL PRESSURE IN THE PROP DOME RESULTING IN THE PROP FEATHERING. WAS ADVISED THE SAME THING HAD HAPPENED TO ANOTHER COMPANY ACFT; SAME TYPE; AND OTHER COMPANIES HAVE HAD THIS PROB. ONE LOSING AN ACFT. UNABLE TO IDENT THE CAUSE OF THE OVERSPD. COMPANY HAS SENT OUT A PROC FOR RUNAWAY PROP AND HAS CHANGED DSCNT PROC TO REDUCE RPM TO 80% AND IAS 180. NO OTHER ACTION TAKEN TO DATE. ACFT ORIGINALLY CERTIFIED W/O AN OVERSPD PROP PROC ACCORDING TO THE RPTR.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.