Why do the engines on this Citation start up after it has crashed into the lake? What is causing that?

Question

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Yf6_MVTck

Answer 1

Auto restart. The onboard engine computer (deec) sensed a flame out condition and the pilot bailed without pulling back the throttle. When the deec senses a flame out it automatically initiates a restart. If the throttle is not in the cut off position and the main bus is in the on position (bat on) it WILL start.

Answer 2

Wow I hadn't seen this one. The Engine spontaneous start is caused by "The left throttle lever was observed in idle cut off, and the right throttle lever was bent to the right at the idle stop" (NTSB) The engines had a ton of water ingested but normal course of business is to have the ignitors set to Start in case something would cause them to flame-out. So the water flamed them out (splashing water from the nose/wings) but they were still spinning. Once the ignitor dried out a little the starboard engine started up with a bang (excess fuel seen burning past the tailpipe).

My best guess as the NTSB does not address the engine re-start.

Skytrain: They weren't ditching. The guy landed on a runway marked "no jet traffic" . Then hit touched down 1000 ft from the threshold giving him only 2000 feet to stop the 11,000 plane. He claimed the breaks failed.

Ashtray: The Cessna cj-2 doesn't have thrust reversers. And he didn't apply the emergency breaks.

*Update*
Ashtray: Umm.. No they don't. I have flown them and if they had thrust reversers I couldn't tell you where the handles are. Some smaller jets like Lear, Cessna cj-2, and others Don't have thrust reversers.

Jets that do are pretty obvious: Gulfstream, Beech, Cessna Excel, Global Express, Falcon 300, Hawker, and others http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1196007/M/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0310906/L/

Answer 3

First, the pilot tried to land downwind, and touched down to far. Normally, what he should've done is pull back on the throttles and cut of the fuel supply. But I guess he was trying to perform an emergncy break using the thrust reverses, so obviously he didn't cut the fuel.
Then, probably the water short circuited the electric system, and this led to the spooling up of the engine (or engines, we can only see the starboard one).
You can google the registration of the jet, which is easily visible on this clip (OY-JET, which is quite ironic if you're jewish), and find several explanations, the NTSB report of the crash etc.

Drewpie: Ok, you are 3/4 right. The CJ2 does have thrust attenuators. But reading a bit it seems they were indeed not connected at all to this bizzare case. To make my point, compare these two photos:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1212155&size=L

and

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1213322&size=L

Notice the black plate just behind the nozzle, and how it opens like a little paddle.

Answer 4

Most likely, the pilot did not cut the fuel to the engine, and probably left the electrical system activated. This will cause a short when it comes in contact with the water, and whatever happens after that is just a matter of which system was activated, in this case, the engine starter.

Answer 5

That is a real weird one. Under normal ditching procedures the pilot (or flight engineer if it is a real aircraft) will shut down and secure engines before touchdown. In this case the aircraft overran the strip and entered the lake.
I would have thought the pilot would have shutdown engines as soon as he saw what was going to happen.
Normally aircraft engines cannot start themselves. The results of the inquiry will be very interesting.

Answer 6

Just curious, the pilot landed downwind on too short a runway and he (or something) caused the engines to reignite and spool up; does the NTSB report state anything re: ingestion of jet fuel or other intoxicants into the pilot's intake (i.e. was he drunk?)
Still, an amazing video; just goes to show you, Citations can also be used as jet ski's.

Answer 7

Not only did he land on the wrong runway, he landed on the wrong airport. The ATC communication states he was approaching ACY (Atlantic City), and was cleared to land. However, he landed at AIC which is Baden.
the right engine was not shut down upon landing in the water, the throttle did not advance, because the handle was bent to the right. Probably something in the electronics.

Answer 8

Oy Jet Crash