Pilot's body found still clutching joystick of crashed Taiwan plane

[Capt.Rocky300]

10. I'd say that is a very likely contributor........

What the media has not reported is that the ATR-72 as well as nearly every multiengine turbo-prop built in the last 30-40 years has autofeather. That means the airplane detects the loss of power and all by itself feathers the prop which greatly reduces the drag caused by a windmilling prop. The pilot doesn't have to do squat right away other than put BOTH throttles all the way forward and fly the airplane. Once some altitude is gained then deal with the situation of securing the engine, fighting a fire if present and that is all done by the monitoring pilot (the pilot not actually manipulating the flight controls). Putting both throttles forward assures that maximum available power is being utilized. It won't have any effect on the failed engine but that's ok.

No doubt this crew had it's hands full as I suspect the airplane was fairly heavy and its performance diminished because of it. But it should be able to climb to a safe altitude higher than the buildings and return to that airport or another nearby. Taipei sits in a bowl pretty much surrounded by hills but I'm not sure if that was a factor here.

We'll just have to wait for more information from the recorders via the press and hope it is accurate and complete. Which I have my doubts about.

I know you probably know all this stuff Trof. I posted it for others who may not have had exposure to this kind of info.