NTSB wants action to ensure restarts
Manufacturers should be required to determine if engine restart capability exists after high-power, high-altitude flameouts, according to the NTSB.

Manufacturers should be required to determine if engine restart capability exists after high-power, high-altitude flameouts, according to the NTSB. For airplanes susceptible to engine core lock, manufacturers should be required to provide design or operational means to ensure restart capability. These recommendations and similar ones directed specifically at the Bombardier CRJ series and other aircraft powered by the GE CF34 result from the Board’s ongoing investigation into the Oct. 14, 2004, fatal crash of a Pinnacle Airlines CRJ200. The pilots took the airplane to its maximum operating altitude of 41,000 feet, where it stalled, the engines flamed out, and the pilots lost control, the NTSB said. Several attempts to restart the engines were unsuccessful before the airplane crashed while the pilots tried to make an off-airport, power-off landing.