LIVE: Flybe #BE819 Manchester-Isle Of Man (Stobart ATR72 EI-REM) just ret. to MAN. Looks like one engine shut down. https://t.co/lvYTQgSZCM pic.twitter.com/mtBghO8ufG
— Airport Webcams (@AirportWebcams) August 17, 2017
So this week I went off to the Isle of Man to visit my family, catching a plane out of Manchester. Just as we reached 4,000ft one of the two engines failed. The captain kept control of the vehicle just fine, and started us round in a circle. I can only presume he was using the rudder and flaperons to compensate as otherwise the plane would go into a roll or spin, seeing as both the centre of lift and the centre of thrust were now off to one side.
He flew us round in a circle and got us permission to land on a nearby runway, and we returned to the ground just fine. A fleet of fire engines were waiting on the runway as a precaution, as the captain did not know why the engine had failed. They weren’t needed thankfully, and the following day the airline was borrowing planes from another company to get us moving again.
Those planes are designed to stay airborne with one engine and all, but I still find it rather harrowing.