Loss of power involving British Aerospace BAe 146-200A, 231 km west of Meekatharra, Western Australia, 22 March 1992

The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic passenger service flight from Karratha to Perth at Flight Level 310 (31,000 ft). As the aircraft entered cloud white diverting around a large thunderstorm, there was a sudden and significant rise in the outside air temperature. A short time later, all four engines progressively lost power and the aircraft was unable to maintain altitude.

During the next 17 minutes, numerous attempts to restore engine power were made without success until, approaching 10,000 ft altitude, normal engine operation was regained. The aircraft diverted to Meekatharra where a normal landing was completed. The investigation determined that during high altitude cruise, the aircraft entered an area of moist air significantly warmer than the surrounding air.

This resulted in a need to select engine and airframe anti-ice which in turn placed high bleed air demand on the engines. Under these conditions the fuel control units were unable to schedule sufficient fuel to the engines, thereby causing them to lose power, a phenomenon known as 'roll-back',