The peculiar power lever | ATR mysteries part 2 

An airline captain using MSFS to show how the stuff works. 10/10. I'd buy you the new ATR in game just to share flight Deck and learn from you in a heartbeat.

It means the left side has more salary than the right side. Just for a joke, sir. :P

Extremely insightful and very nice to listen to your explanations as well. Hope you will get a lot of additional support from the sim community with ATR available on MSFS. Looking forward to more!

Hehehe... I'm reminded of a similar question in another industry. People made up dozens of explanations for why a particular circuit breaker was in 'that cabinet' instead of 'this cabinet'. When we finally found the original engineer and asked, his answer was simple, direct, and priceless!!! "I put it there, because it wouldn't fit in here." Nice video with a clear explanation.

Dear Magnar! You are the best and most practical pilot who talks about his own work and technology related to flying in his videos on RU-vid. You don't flirt for the camera and you are humble and consider what you say. This is how you achieve maximum confidence. A real pilot cannot be a clown who talks too much. I really appreciate your attitude!

Since ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 were released on FS2020, the tutorials/videos has become very precious to me. Great so much valuable information ! Thx for sharing your knowledge :)

Flying this aircraft for 5 years and never thought that this could be the reason😄. Thanks commander!!

Cool stuff! I have flown the ATR for 7 years and never figured out why the size difference of the PLs :)

Wow! So informative. I always thought it was purposely designed so that Pilots be aware that #1 is a critical engine. Thanks for this series!!

Thank you, Sir Learning never stops I am a former ATR mecanic at NFD, later Eurowings I missed that plane so much to work on. Q 400 was a nightmare

Best explanation so far on P Factor.

As an engineer: I found this funny. It reminds me of a story: A husband noticed that when his wife was preparing a ham to go into the oven door a holiday dinner, she cut a thick slice from one end before she put it in the baking pan. He asked why she did that. She said she thought it was to help the ham cook better, but she admitted didn't know the reason. It's how her mother taught her to bake ham, and the technique always worked. The wife's mother came for the holiday dinner, and they asked her why she sliced the end off the ham before baking it. The mother looked puzzled and thought for a few moments. She then said, "Oh! I know what you're talking about! Back when you and your brothers were little, I didn't have a baking pan big enough to hold a whole ham. I had to cut some off to fit the ham in the pan."

i wish I’d seen this a year ago. I bought one of these for my son’s 15th birthday. I wanted to encourage his interest in aviation; he has always loved the airplane most of all his Thomas the Tank Engine toys, and he’d stopped playing with the railway in Kirghistan I bought him for his 14th. But when he unwrapped it and was doing some taxiing to learn to fly it, these uneven sized handles were understandably a deal breaker.

Captain Magnar, from Bogotá Colombia a very special greeting. Thank you for such a detailed explanation. Simply spectacular! to start my flights in FS2020.

Years of flying the ATR and I never bothered to ask! Just thought it was one of those French things. 😆 Thank you for this, Magnar! Wish you were back with all your wisdom with us in Cebu!

Bonus points for the Porco Rosso clip. My instructor said the P-38 was an odd case because *both* engines were critical. For some reason the descending blades on both sides were outboard. I can only assume that Lockheed had a good reason, possibly to do with air flow over the twin tails.

11/10 explanation. The Porko Rosso reference earnt a bonus point.

As in so many things in life: "due historical reasons". The whole video is still worth watching to learn about the actual historical reason!

Now is clear for me! I was wondering why ... Thank you for the clarification and kind regards from Italy!

Lovely Capt. Magnar ! The ATR is a fascinating turbo prop and your sharing of its details are great fun for aviation enthusiasts and probably aviators who are learning and flying this aircraft.

Enjoyed the end 💖💖💖 Reminded me of my basic flying training in early 80s when during the preflight someone observed a sparrow nest near aileron pushrod. He made an entry in the aircraft document and the technician wrote "wingtip covers removed, sparrow flown out, problem resolved" 🙂🙂🙂 The restricted deck space was managed just as easily :)

What I knew about prop effects knowledge just went up a notch. Thank you!

The notion of "critical engine" is often extended to include systems, not just airplane performance. If an important system - bleed air for pressurization, for example - is driven by just one of the two engines, that engine may be considered the "critical engine" even in a counter-rotating situation, where the loss of either engine has an equal effect on handling and performance.

So it's been less than 48 hours since I passed my commercial pilot test and this video was the first time I actually understood P factor and critical engines in twin prop aircraft.

I like the little tidbits of trivia like this. Used to wrench on the ATR-72-212/202 and the ATR-42.

I work in a airline that flyies almost 20 ATR and I bet nobody in the company know this! Thanks Sir!

Nice videos, thanks for sharing with us from an ATR trainee in TW

Oohhh the cockpit of the G.222 is from a display of the Aeronautical Museum of Maracay, Venezuela, thr airplane was part of Venezuelan Air Force, I'm so proud!!!!! 💪✈️

I Fly C-152 and the second power lever was entirely cut from the dashboard.

Thank you! I thoroughly enjoyed that discussion all the way to the "punchline" 🛩

That’s the best explanation of P factor I ever heard… thanks

Was just discussing this today with the training capt on my 2hr sector this afternoon. :)

Awesome! I would (mistakenly) thought it was only to prevent the hand from touching the other lever in the neighborhood. Thank you very much Captain Magnar

I love it. Looking forward to showing this to my TRI next time in the sim! Keep up Magnar!

I always thought reason for the different sizes is a design to “help” in stressing situations with unusual settings and distractions, in order to allow an identification of engine 1 and 2 by feeling the difference in your hands… no need to look

Fantastic P-factor explanation, thank you.

The P-38 was originally built with propellers rotating in the direction shown in your graphic. However, this caused tail vibrations and the direction of rotation was reversed. In effect, both engines in a P-38 are critical. The aircraft has so much power, even on one engine, that it is relatively easy (compared to say a light twin) to stay above Vmc and maintain control. Look at the blade on a P-38 and you will see the direction of rotation is as I have outlined. Better to use a picture of a Twin Comanche or Seneca to illustrate your point.

Love your videos - thank you very much!

An absolutely excellent video. Thank you!

That simple. Thanks for explaining capi

Great explanations! Subscribed! Juan

Excellent video, and I love the use of Flight Simulator to showcase effects and graphics.

I once asked our French ATR instructor on why doesn't the spoiler extend upon touchdown. He simply said "Well, blame the Italian engineers for that"

Very interesting explanations, thank you Capt. Magnar.

Gracias por todo desde Tenerife España 👍👍👍

Really well made videos with fun intersections 🙂

Hey even after 21000 hrs of flying I did not know this Capt 🙏

Very interesting! On its competitor, the Dash 8, both throttle levers are identical in size. On the other hand, that engine start control on the ATR 72 look identical to that on the A300-600/A310.

Cool stuff. Hello from Nakina Ontario Canada

Learned something new about the ATR today. Cool factoid

the movie clip in between … nice

Before watching this I thought all the bi-propellor planes should have counter rotating propellors. But does the plane that has propellers that turn in the same way likely to invariably bank in a certain direction during the flight？

Didn’t ask myself this mystery... Thanks Captain... :)

Simple problem, simple solution. Done and done.

I kinda like your dead pan delivery

Thank you Captain für speaking unerstandable english without background music. As a german guy not speaking fluently english I very often have to repeat videos again and again. What I did not unterstand: I thought the critical engine is that engine which requests the most attention when THO OTHER has failed. So in my eyes the right engine should be the critical one ?

U teach so well it feels sad that u didn't fly A320 otherwise wud had made the best videos in RU-vid on A320 too like ur videos on ATR..

thank you Captain

I have always been curious as to why plane engines don't counter rotate for the reason of stabilization when one engine fails or to reduce torque actions on the plane. I have always however known boats with twin propellors to usually be counter rotating but i guess in this example it is because the rotation is reversed with a different gearbox which is probably cheaper than needing a whole different jet engine configuration.

great video

Only by watching your video Sir , Any one can become pilot easily ....

I guessed right and I don't fly planes or simulators. I'm just a happy PAX. My favourite airport is TRF and my favourite airline is Widerøe and my favourite airplane is the Dash 8.

When you do the next mysteries can you explain the T/O TO GND SAT box on the ENG OAT page of the EFCP?

Thank you for this video and explaining the concept of critical engine. I noticed just last week that during taxi of ATR aircraft (noticed on 2 of them) one of the engines was switched off and I wondered why. Is it just to save fuel and coincidence that it was the same engine or is there a reason associated with critical engine and included systems as mentioned by Greg Faris.

I thought it's an ergonomic design to limit mistakes.

Hello. Thanks for great video. I have a question about throttle of ATR72-600. As far as I know that the ATR72-600 doesn't have the auto-throttle system. Is it correct or is it just optional?

In South Asia... it would be called a _'jugaad'_ (a sort of a compromise arrangement cum innovation).

So the fact that the No. 1 engine is the critical engine isn't *really* the reason it's the largest, just a happy coincidence with the solution to the spacing issue, right?

Critical engine, “the big knob sits on the left.”😁

It is still possible to make them both the same size: just make both of them the smaller size.

But then why dont they do the same with number 1 throttle to make them symmetrical?

Can you talk more about condition lever, they are making news because of preliminary report into Nepal crash.

So now the question is why did they cut ONLY the right one. They could have cut both and keep only one injection mold and only one part number (I think I know what is the answer to my question...)

Awesome!!!

Hi you probably talked about this one of your other great videos but why is the max setting on the ATR called RAMP?

Hello capt. Do frequent use of reversers even not needed do lessen the lifespan of an engine for the ATR72?

Super video !

3:03 I think you will find that both engines on a P-38 were critical. Have a look at video footage or a photo with one sitting on the ground.

So why couldn't they just manufacture two identical power levers? Was it really cheaper / simpler / better to cut off lever for engine 2 ? This sounds to me like over-saving up money.

well done, great video!

Oups, wrong illustration! The P38 Lightning is one of very few aircraft’s (if not the only one?) that has counter rotating props turning OUTWARD from the pilot’s stand point, not INWARD as illustrated. This is due to flutter problems on the twin tails observed during testing. I don’t know if there are any other examples, but surely, the P38 is the only single case of counter rotating blades you shouldn’t have taken to illustrate this video that way.

Well explained!

This is an extremely, extremelyyyyy common misconception. The reason the left power lever knob is larger, is because it has to house the go-around button. You will see many twin engine airplanes where the left power lever or throttle is larger than the right, and the reason is always the same. One contains a button, one is just a knob.

The props both spin outwards on a Lightning I think.

Funny During my 3000h on ATRs in the 90s O did realise the difference but never asked myself this question.

This was a good one. 👍

The other reason might be the sense of touch. Just touching it a pilot cud identify it's the right engine throttle lever. In A320 there's many switches that r designed in such a way to give a feel of touch so no mistake at extreme emergency when pilot has to act very fast.

Condition Levers with PEC’s and EEC’s. How old fashioned.

Alright. The 2nd answer makes more sense.

By "Condition lever", I assume you mean propellor pitch?

Nice use of Porco Rosso..... wonder why nobody's made his seaplane for msfs2020

Dont need to watch the video to know that you can identify the power levers by feel so your eyes can be looking elsewhere while your hand easily finds and operates the proper lever.

Have any pilots ever put the 2nd last lever to the right - in Feather position (FTR), instead of putting the last lever to Flaps 30 degrees.. In one of the accident reports, they are saying that was the reason for Plane crash and 72 dead!

Is condition lever same with a propeller lever?

P-38 has CONTRA-rotating propellers, not counter-rotating. Your description and graphics were exactly backwards. Both engines are critical. No critical engine on counter-rotating props (unless it has the sole hydraulic pump).

If the right throttle lever can be small, then why don't engineers make the left throttle the same size? So this question is unnecessary 😁

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Answer starts from 04:53

Nice 👍

Who remembers the power levers of the Fairchild Metro III?