Hi GZ,
Some operators used to leave the auto-feather off to avoid confusion. It's amazing how fast you can get that lever back when things go rotten! That one at Toowoomba, the poor bloke had too many things against him. It's a long while since I was in there and I believe there have been changes to the runway, but it used to be fairly short. If he lost the engine close to minimum control speed, he may not have had sufficient room to abort. Continuing with the take off meant that he would have needed to get the prop feathered very quickly and the gear up quick smart, neither of which happened. I am not familiar with the C90 and have no idea of the temperature at the time. Toowoomba is high but not all that high.
Personally, I liked the negative torque sense system on the Turbo Commander 690A. I had the turbine part company on one engine
just as I had selected gear up. Before I could blink the prop was feathered and the thing was still climbing like a scalded cat! Phew!
For Spruik, When the engine is operating normally, the blades are roughly 90 degrees to the direction of the aircraft. When the pitch lever is moved back, the blades move towards a 180 degree position to reduce the significant drag of a windmilling prop. If you look at a turbo prop aircraft on the ground, you will see the blades in the feathered position, the pilot will select full fine position during the start sequence. Some turbo props, like the Turbo Commander keep the blades locked in full fine whilst shut down and are taken "off the locks" after startup.
