B777 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240; Flight Crew Total 25000; Flight Crew Type 700
Workload; Time Pressure; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport
Aircraft; Human Factors
Shortly after takeoff at 4000 feet the left engine had a compressor stall. I was the PM and the FO was flying. I quickly saw the EGT temp rising and pulled the left throttle back to idle and the EGT went down and the engine did not compressor stall again. The EGT went into the yellow; later maintenance told us the EGT temp reached 609. I then turned off the left auto throttle arm switch to keep the left engine at idle. I called ATC and told them I had an engine problem and had to return to the airport. I did not declare an emergency; looking back I should [have]. I felt that we had very good control of the situation. I did have the crash trucks brought out. ATC gave us a turn to downwind. The FO was a C5 Galaxy driver and I asked him if he was comfortable doing this landing and he said yes so I let him continue flying and land. Next the purser called us and I told him what had just happened and asked him to make a PA and I would follow up later with a PA of my own. The FO and I discussed keeping the engine at idle and doing a single engine approach and landing; flaps 20. I now went looking for the compressor stall check list; and did not find it while I was being distracted by ATC; setting up for the approach; running the normal checklists; and keeping an eye on the airplane; and airspeed. I felt rushed to get the plane on the ground because the airport was very close. I felt that everything was done so we could make a single engine; left one at idle; landing. We were 350;000 lbs under landing weight and the runway was 12;000 feet long. We landed normally and taxied to the gate. Once at the gate I said to the FO let's look for the compressor stall check list. After several minutes it was found; we went through it and we had covered everything on it except the flap override switch which I did push on when it went off at 500 ft on final. Now that I have had time to think about how we handled the incident I should [have] taken a deep breath and slowed down; we weren't on fire. I knew there was a checklist for compressor stalls and I should [have] not stopped looking for it.
Looking back on the event I realize we should have taken more time to find the ENG Lim/Surge/Stall checklist. I believe that the reason it was missed is due to the condition we had being in the end of the checklist name. For some reason I was looking for the word compressor in the title and the proper checklist name didn't jump out at me. As the flying pilot; I didn't devote enough time to helping find the checklist. Although we covered the relevant items; I let a perceived sense of time compression get the better of me.
B777 flight crew reported returning to the departure airport after experiencing a left engine compressor stall climbing through 4000 feet.