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While conducting company required periodic aircraft systems tests while in cruise; the pilot of a BE99 inappropriately pulled both engine fire handles as directed by the company supplied checklist. Both engines flamed out and only the right engine restarted when he repositioned the fire handles. He secured the left engine; declared an emergency with ATC and diverted to a nearby non-towered airport where he landed safely.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 998314 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201203 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZLA.ARTCC |
| State Reference | CA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Airliner 99 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 135 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Powerplant Fire Extinguishing |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Captain Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 1600 Flight Crew Type 30 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
While enroute I started to perform my required 'friday-checks' checklist; going through item by item. The checklist calls for a weekly fire-test. The first item is to pull both fire handles. As I pulled them I noticed a sudden loss of performance on both engines. My gauges indicated that both of them flamed out. I pushed the fire handles back and started to troubleshoot. I determined that my right engine was still operational. Meanwhile; the aircraft was losing altitude but it was under my control. I advised ATC about my situation and they told me there was an airport ten miles away along my route. I was familiar with it- an uncontrolled field by the highway. Being a new pilot on this airplane under these circumstances I decided the best course of action was to secure the inoperative engine and land as soon as possible. With my right engine operational I was able to stabilize the airplane and started a VFR descent. I completed my emergency checklist; then declared an emergency with ATC as a precaution and performed a safe single engine emergency landing on the airport. After securing the aircraft I contacted flight sfervice and my company. As I mentioned I am a new pilot on this airplane; having just completed my upgrade training one week ago. During the flight training this part of the checklist was never mentioned and the checklist was not available in the training aircraft. On the checklist the fire test appears to be among the in-flight test items. This event was the result of me following the checklist that I believed I was supposed to perform. Had I received the proper training; I am sure this situation could have been avoided.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: While conducting company required periodic aircraft systems tests while in cruise; the Pilot of a BE99 inappropriately pulled both engine fire handles as directed by the company supplied checklist. Both engines flamed out and only the right engine restarted when he repositioned the fire handles. He secured the left engine; declared an emergency with ATC and diverted to a nearby non-towered airport where he landed safely.
Narrative: While enroute I started to perform my required 'Friday-checks' checklist; going through item by item. The checklist calls for a weekly fire-test. The first item is to pull both fire handles. As I pulled them I noticed a sudden loss of performance on both engines. My gauges indicated that both of them flamed out. I pushed the fire handles back and started to troubleshoot. I determined that my right engine was still operational. Meanwhile; the aircraft was losing altitude but it was under my control. I advised ATC about my situation and they told me there was an airport ten miles away along my route. I was familiar with it- an uncontrolled field by the highway. Being a new pilot on this airplane under these circumstances I decided the best course of action was to secure the inoperative engine and land as soon as possible. With my right engine operational I was able to stabilize the airplane and started a VFR descent. I completed my emergency checklist; then declared an emergency with ATC as a precaution and performed a safe single engine emergency landing on the airport. After securing the aircraft I contacted Flight SFervice and my company. As I mentioned I am a new pilot on this airplane; having just completed my upgrade training one week ago. During the flight training this part of the checklist was never mentioned and the checklist was not available in the training aircraft. On the checklist the fire test appears to be among the in-flight test items. This event was the result of me following the checklist that I believed I was supposed to perform. Had I received the proper training; I am sure this situation could have been avoided.
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.