Narrative:

I observed an ACARS message from the crew to maintenance control (all messages sent to maintenance control are also automatically forwarded to the appropriate dispatcher) regarding the left engine running hotter than the right engine at climb power. I was monitoring both sides of this ACARS exchange. The maintenance controller seemed to be asking questions meant to troubleshoot the issue. At some point the crew responded that the affected engine had flamed out. At this time I referenced single engine procedures in the QRH. Knowing the crew's workload would be high; I did not attempt to send any ACARS messages at this time. On our flight tracker I observed the flight descend to about FL210 and level off. About five minutes after this I queried the crew if the restart was successful and suggested some diversionary airports to consider. The crew responded that the restart was successful and that they would be calling me on a commercial radio link. A few minutes later the crew called on the commercial radio link. The maintenance controller was also on this call. The captain stated that the engine had restarted but was still running hotter than normal; although still within limits. The crew felt comfortable continuing to the destination and I agreed. The flight landed normally. Looking back on the incident; I should have diverted the flight even though the engine restarted. At the time; I did not know why the engine shut down and thus the likelihood of it shutting down again. Given this unknown; terminating the flight as soon as possible would have been the safest course of action.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ200 Dispatcher questioned his decision to not require a diversion after the crew reported an in-flight engine shutdown follow by a successful restart with a continuing hotter than normal EGT condition.

Narrative: I observed an ACARS message from the crew to Maintenance Control (all messages sent to Maintenance Control are also automatically forwarded to the appropriate Dispatcher) regarding the left engine running hotter than the right engine at climb power. I was monitoring both sides of this ACARS exchange. The Maintenance Controller seemed to be asking questions meant to troubleshoot the issue. At some point the crew responded that the affected engine had flamed out. At this time I referenced single engine procedures in the QRH. Knowing the crew's workload would be high; I did not attempt to send any ACARS messages at this time. On our flight tracker I observed the flight descend to about FL210 and level off. About five minutes after this I queried the crew if the restart was successful and suggested some diversionary airports to consider. The crew responded that the restart was successful and that they would be calling me on a commercial radio link. A few minutes later the crew called on the commercial radio link. The Maintenance Controller was also on this call. The Captain stated that the engine had restarted but was still running hotter than normal; although still within limits. The crew felt comfortable continuing to the destination and I agreed. The flight landed normally. Looking back on the incident; I should have diverted the flight even though the engine restarted. At the time; I did not know why the engine shut down and thus the likelihood of it shutting down again. Given this unknown; terminating the flight as soon as possible would have been the safest course of action.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.