A PA-31T engine malfunctioned at 300 ft after takeoff so the engine was feathered but the flight con...

Narrative:

IFR flight plan. Left engine lost torque on takeoff about 300 ft AGL. Feathered engine. All other gauges seemed to be functioning properly (in the green). Climbed to 4;000 ft MSL. Told center of precautionary shutdown. At first decided to continue to our filed destination; since there was no maintenance at the departure airport. Looked at flight time and saw home airport was only 10 minutes further than the filed destination. Decided to notify ATC that we would divert first to ZZZ where passengers where picked up; then changed to home airport where maintenance could be performed. Tried to do air restart; but torque still was at 0. Seemed to be running at idle & throttle not working. Decided to shutdown again and feathered prop. Continued to home airport. Was quite impressed that we got 185 KTS GS on single-engine. Mechanic has checked engine and it seems throttle cable had broken loose. Crew environment worked very well together. Pilot flying flew airplane; while I diagnosed problems and went through checklists to verify all items were completed. Some may question the decision to continue to home airport. Once options were weighed on maintenance facilities and having to move people; plane; and possibly be stuck for several days; since no visible damage was noted; the decision to continue was made.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA-31T engine malfunctioned at 300 FT after takeoff so the engine was feathered but the flight continued to cruise altitude and diverted to the crew's home base where a broken throttle cable was found.

Narrative: IFR flight plan. Left engine lost torque on takeoff about 300 FT AGL. Feathered engine. All other gauges seemed to be functioning properly (in the green). Climbed to 4;000 FT MSL. Told Center of precautionary shutdown. At first decided to continue to our filed destination; since there was no maintenance at the departure airport. Looked at flight time and saw home airport was only 10 minutes further than the filed destination. Decided to notify ATC that we would divert first to ZZZ where passengers where picked up; then changed to home airport where maintenance could be performed. Tried to do air restart; but torque still was at 0. Seemed to be running at idle & throttle not working. Decided to shutdown again and feathered prop. Continued to home airport. Was quite impressed that we got 185 KTS GS on single-engine. Mechanic has checked engine and it seems throttle cable had broken loose. Crew environment worked very well together. Pilot flying flew airplane; while I diagnosed problems and went through checklists to verify all items were completed. Some may question the decision to continue to home airport. Once options were weighed on maintenance facilities and having to move people; plane; and possibly be stuck for several days; since no visible damage was noted; the decision to continue was made.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1046142
Time
Date	201210
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-31T Cheyenne I
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	Direct Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Throttle/Power Level
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 9300 Flight Crew Type 325
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A PA-31T engine malfunctioned at 300 ft after takeoff so the engine was feathered but the flight continued to cruise altitude and diverted to the crew's home base where a broken throttle cable was found.