Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Inflight Shutdown; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
We were cruising at FL360 at Mach .75 with continuous ignition on due to light chop.  The Flight attendants called the flight deck and the First Officer (FO) who was pilot monitoring answered the call.  The following events happened extremely fast: while the FO was on the interphone with the Flight Attendants (FAs) we got the L ENG DEGRADED master caution.  Simultaneously; the FO hung up with the FAs and I called for the L ENG DEGRADED QRH.  While the FO was paging thru the QRH we got the L ENG FLAMEOUT caution and immediately lost engine power.  I glanced at the EICAS and saw the Inlet Turbine Temperature (ITT) in the left engine had spiked up to 927C and was increasing rapidly.  I immediately shut down the left engine.  We changed to the Engine Failure or Intentional Shutdown QRH and ran it.  While running the QRH I informed ATC and initiated a descent due to the quick loss of airspeed at FL360 following the loss of engine power.  ATC said ZZZ is the nearest airport would you like to go there?  I told her that was fine and she gave us radar vectors and cleared us down to 3;000 feet.  We got to engine restart on the QRH; and I did not attempt a restart because even though we had N1 and N2 rotation I suspected engine damage from the high ITT temperature and feared an engine fire if I attempted a restart.  After completing the QRH; I informed the flight attendants and sent a quick message to dispatch that stated: L engine failure diverting to ZZZ.  We ran the single engine descents and single engine before landing checklists and landed without further incident in ZZZ.  After getting to the gate the FAs told me that they heard a series of loud bangs and saw light coming from the intake of the left engine.  The FAs had called the flight deck and were in the process of explaining that to the FO when we got the L ENG DEGRADED master caution.
At 36;000 feet I got a call from the Flight Attendant (FA). Right after I answered the call I noticed we had a Master Caution light and an amber message; but I first thought it was just ICE. The FA said; 'We hear a lot of loud noise back here; popping noise'. As she was talking; I saw several more EICAS messages start popping up and left engine gauges start decreasing. I told the FA; 'thanks; we see that; and we'll get back to you'. As soon as I said that; the captain called for L ENG Degraded QRH. I realized the engine had failed so I just looked up the QRH for Engine Failure. The captain agreed to run that checklist so we did. The captain ran the radios and talked to ATC. He asked for the closest airport and they said we were near ZZZ. The captain said we would land there.The cause of the engine failure is still undetermined as far as I know. Maintenance personnel looked at it last night; but I have not been made aware of any reasons why it failed.
A CRJ700 Flight Crew experiences a sudden engine failure at FL360 and diverts to the nearest suitable airport.