Flight Training - March/April 2021 - 46

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ADVANCED PILOT CAREER PILOT

" WE'RE LOSING HERE. WE'RE GONNA BE COMING DOWN
IN A SECOND HERE, " SAID THE CAPTAIN.
a curious controller who noted he had
never seen a CRJ200 that high. Very soon
after that exchange, the captain realized
that the airplane was losing airspeed. It
was so far behind the power curve that
airspeed continued to decline and angle
of attack was increasing despite the
engines still producing maximum thrust.
" We're losing here. We're gonna be
coming down in a second here, " said the
captain. The crew asked for a lower altitude but there was a delay in getting the
clearance. In the meantime, the speed
bled off to 150 KIAS and AOA increased
to 7.5 degrees. The stick shaker fired several times, which automatically kicked
off the autopilot. The airplane stalled
and rolled hard to the left. Chaos ensued
in the cockpit as the crew attempted to
regain control of the airplane. The crew
was able to right the airplane at FL340.
Unfortunately, during the upset, both
engines flamed out. This led to a loss of
cabin pressure as well as most electrical power. The air-driven generator
automatically deployed to provide basic
electrical power. The pilots donned their
oxygen masks.
During the long fall from altitude, the
crew made inadequate attempts to restart
the engines. Specifically, the checklist
called for a minimum of 300 KIAS to
windmill the engines but the crew never
exceeded 236 KIAS. Unknown to them,
the engines had experienced a core lock
and had no chance of being restarted.
Meanwhile, ATC was kept in the dark
regarding the seriousness of Flight 3701's
situation. The crew initially said that they
were on one engine, perhaps to minimize

JARGON
Core Lock

the attention to their self-made debacle.
It wasn't until 14 minutes after the upset
that the crew confessed that they were
piloting a glider. This cost the crew valuable time and altitude to find a suitable
place to land.
Flight 3701's crew got the auxiliary
power unit running and attempted
to start the engines with it, but were
unsuccessful because of the core lock
condition. ATC vectored the flight to
Jefferson City, but they crashed 2.5
miles short in a neighborhood. Among
other causes, the National Transportation Safety Board fingered " the pilots'
unprofessional behavior, deviation from
standard operating procedure, and poor
airmanship which resulted in an in-flight
emergency from which they were unable
to recover. "
All pilots, at some point, let their
guard down and succumb to the temptation to show off or otherwise break the
rigid rules of aviation. Becoming an ATP
and professional airline pilot means that
you're expected to uphold professionalism. Unshackled from the responsibility
of a cabin full of passengers, the crew of
Flight 3701 knowingly cast aside professionalism and paid for it with their lives,
while destroying a multimillion-dollar regional jet. Thankfully, no ground
injuries occurred despite landing in a
residential area. The pilots made an admirable final decision to attempt to avoid
homes. FT
PETER A. BEDELL is a pilot for a major airline

and holds a type rating in the Bombardier
CRJ200.

Temperature differences within engines of any kind
are bad news. In turbine engines, core lock may occur
when, as in the case of the CRJ200's high-power,
high-altitude flameout, outer engine components cool more rapidly than the hotter internal
components. The contraction of the cooler outer
components prevents the blades from spinning and
" locks the core. "

46 FLIGHT TRAINING MARCH/APRIL 2021

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Flight Training - March/April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - March/April 2021