Engine Out! From Trouble to Touchdown

an engine failure as a pilot you trained on what to do but still you may not be ready if the time comes when it happens a real-world engine out is likely to catch you off-guard you're thinking to yourself this can't be real can it engine failures are rare but when one happens you should be ready going beyond rote memorization you should develop a strategy to be spring-loaded for an engine failure in any situation at any altitude first of all don't panic fly the airplane and pitch and trim for best glide don't worry about pinning the speed exactly just go to the nearest five knots and run a quick mental checklist to keep the airplane under control did you do something that caused the engine to quit undo it how high or low are you above the earth in this chart you can see that altitude equals both distance and time and distance and time equal options here are two good rules of thumb for most GA aircraft 1,000 feet gets you a mile and a half of gliding distance and multiply your altitude by two to figure out how much time you have in this example with a Cessna 172 and a nine to one glide ratio at 4,000 feet you'll glide about six miles and take around eight minutes to descend another good rule of thumb to remember is GA s assuming nothing else is wrong if you have gas in your tanks air going to the engine and spark from your ignition system the engine should run some quick troubleshooting can often get an engine running again if time allows go through the restart checklist squawk 7700 and declare an emergency on 121 5l with ATC if you're already talking to them keep in mind that not all engine failures are an abrupt full stop deal there may be cases where you lose partial power or have engine surges from car buys improper mixture ignition problems for early stages of fuel starvation sometimes all you have to do is turn the fuel pump on or switch tanks the engine out checklist can be useful but if there's not enough time just fly the airplane and remember the GA s checklist if you've done your troubleshooting and still the engine remains silent you are now committed to landing close the throttle to avoid it suddenly springing to life when you're near the it's okay to be nervous the bottom line is to focus on landing the airplane safely if you have enough time and altitude call up ATC or use your GPS and moving map while scanning ahead behind below and off the sides to find a suitable Airport but if one's not in reach rural roads and smooth grassy fields can usually provide a safe alternate a highways grassy median strip could also work but you have to watch out for traffic powerlines overpasses and roadsides above a forest fly the airplane under slowest possible speed right into the treetops to cushion the landing the goal is to keep the cabin intact helping your chances of survival over water you'll have to interpret winds swells and currents land parallel to the swells and keep the yoke all the way back to reduce chances of flipping over once you pick a spot stick with it wherever you choose to land don't lift the nose to gain altitude or stretch the glide this is only going to accelerate the descent and increase your chances of a stall or spin remember pitching for the nearest 5 knots of best glide speed will give you the greatest distance with the least amount of drag landing in a soft field with gear up can prevent you from nosing over especially on water landings on the other hand gear down can help absorb the impact from rough terrain flaps will help you lose altitude and give you the slowest touchdown speed but they add drag so you're going to lose gliding distance and that could cause you to come up short side slipping on final might be a good alternative but that means you'll be going faster at touchdown than you would with flaps consider dumping the flaps at the last moment to help slow down as much as possible make sure you and your passengers are buckled in with seat belts and shoulder harnesses and are bracing for impact a folded jacket in front of the face and body can soften a forward jolt during landing front seat passengers should push their seat back as far as possible after you make your last configuration changes on short final turn off the master and alternator to reduce the risk of a fire once the airplane stops evacuate and make sure everyone is safe accident data shows that higher than 90% of off-airport landings are survivable so the odds of success are in your favor an engine failure can be a scary experience but remember to keep these key points in mind but what if an engine failure happens during takeoff do you have a plan there are a few different scenarios that you should be ready for for example if the engine quits before liftoff throttle back maintain control and stop after rotation with enough runway remaining throttle back land straight ahead maintain control and stop during climb out pitch for best glide towards your landing spot and troubleshoot if you have enough time is it ever a good idea to turn back to the runway let's take a look immediately after takeoff and at a low altitude your best bet is often to land ahead or no more than roughly 30 degrees to the left or the right there's just not enough room to turn back near pattern altitude you may be able to nurse the airplane back to the runway a taxiway or grassy area on the airport this is going to depend on your proficiency and your aircraft's performance we don't recommend attempting a restart at this point you've got your hands full so you should concentrate on landing in control whatever the situation remember don't try to stretch the glide an engine failure on takeoff requires immediate action a pre takeoff briefing should help you determine an abort point and think through takeoff emergency scenarios let's look at some ways that commercial operators prep themselves for the best chance of success in an emergency first breathe all possible emergency scenarios including engine outs over water and dangerous terrain and during takeoff and landing second before takeoff determine if density altitude runway length obstacles visibility and whether it's day or night will affect your response time and airplane performance lastly and certainly not least is a thorough pre-flight the lives of you and your passengers depend on it so make it count improper or overlooked maintenance can cause mechanical failures so investigate or report engine system squawks and get them resolved as an owner have oil samples tested regularly and consider installing an engine monitor that shows the health of each cylinder during refueling clearly communicating confirm the type of fuel how much you need and which tanks to fill remember to check the receipt to make sure you got what you requested speaking of fuel make sure you have enough with adequate reserves and manage it wisely we recommend landing with at least one hour of fuel remaining no one plans to run out of fuel but it happens to make sure it doesn't happen to you set a timer to switch fuel tanks is planned got tip tanks for an in-flight fill-up to extend your range know the transfer process and limitations because botched procedures can starve engines of fuel and cut your flight short during engines start taxi and run up make sure the fuel selector is set properly and the mixture is full rich or leaned for high-altitude operations if there's a primer make sure it's locked after the run up do not switch tanks doing this creates the potential risk of a fuel flow problem during takeoff just one more thing before rolling onto the runway use all of it and have an engine out plan again engine failures are rare but if it does happen to you follow these steps and they will give you the best chances for a safe outcome are you ready

Channel: Air Safety Institute

Views: 311,532

Rating: 4.9490371 out of 5

Keywords: engine, out, failure, asi, aopa, flying, plane, airplane, training, flight, pilot, emergency, touchdown, takeoff, trouble, air, safety, institute, engine out, canadian, owners, pilots, association

Id: qbzIFD6YW8Q

Length: 9min 19sec (559 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 04 2016