Saturday night engine test

[anonymous-user]

Was on a flybe dash 8 last night and when we arrived the pilot pulled up on the taxi way and announced there was nothing to worry about but thry we're just carrying out a 'routine Saturday night engine test' they then held the brakes on and have both engines everything to the point the plane was shaking and straining to set off. Have flown many times for years and never experienced this, what's its purpose? Cheers

[OldGermanHeaps]

Don't know the purpose but i experienced the same thing on a flybe dash 8 on the first flight of the day heading from glasgow to bournemouth when they still did that route.

[-Neil-]

Testing the propeller overspeed governor on each engine, won't be anywhere near max chat.
Power levers to flight idle, hold OSG test switch and advance power levers slightly until OSG test passed appears on engine display.

[anonymous-user]

Thank you, interesting. Felt like the plane was being given a lot of power but that just shows how much power they really must have when needed!

[-Neil-]

That's not to say that the flight crew didn't push the power levers further!

The Dash is good fun on high power ground runs, bounces about a fair bit

[anonymous-user]

She was defiantly moving about a fair but, the flight was late but they made up lots of time and seemed to fly it like they stole it. Fair play it got me home sooner

[OldGermanHeaps]

Always been impressed with the attitude of flybe staff, i've always found they go over and above and you get the impression they like working there, makesa difference to the other low cost carriers.

[surveyor]

One of the Doncaster based captains does great pa's. scrouplesly honest he will let you know when its going to be a fun ride....

One of his flights was late getting into Amsterdam. He was getting cheesed off with the ticket agent not boarding us. Our first indication was one of him leaning forward waving us on.. next he had the wipers on,.. then leaning out of his window... he gave up at that point and sent his first officer up...

All pointless as they then loaded bags that should not have been on our plane. Took time to sort.... then the ground crew forgot to move the leaver that returns steering to the flight crew...

And to top it all we were using the runway which is halfway back to the UK...

[yeager2004]

I've had exactly this on a Flybe Twin Otter - they did the test after landing. It's a great plane to fly on as there's door between the cabin and the cockpit, so if sat near the front you can watch the pilots.

[2fast748]

I had a Flybe captain announce over the tannoy that Liverpool airport couldn't handle 2 aeroplanes at once as we waited 25 minutes to get off.

[LotusOmega375D]

Flybe is my least favourite UK airline. I have used them several times for work. Once they changed a flight time in advance of the departure date and getting a refund was like getting blood out of a stone. Another time in a Dash 8 there was a bang from a nearby emergency exit door as we reached cruising height followed by a high pitched whistling from the door seal, as if air was leaking out of the cabin. A couple of minutes later I was feeling nauseous and had to call for a flight attendant. To be fair the crew were very helpful and gave me oxygen and free chocolate. As the aircraft descended the symptoms disappeared. They even had an ambulance waiting for me on arrival. The paramedics did their thing and found nothing wrong. I returned a couple of days later in another Flybe Dash 8 without any issue and have been in them many other times. I find it hard to believe my discomfort was coincidental with the emergency exit sealing issue. In general I have often found them to not be as cheap as you think. I think they had a unique business model: "Low-cost service at full-fare prices!". Still it looks like BA have copied them nowadays...