User Guide

Flight Instruction
205
Flight Instruction
204
SINGLE-ENGINE APPROACH AND LANDING
Normally, this would come a bit later in the syllabus - but
since we already have an engine shut down, let’s head back
toward the airport (fly or slew the simulator as you prefer) and
we’ll examine the prospect of a single-engine landing.
It’s no big deal as long as you remember one all-important
factor: The airplane will maintain altitude on one engine, as long
as it doesn’t have too much drag. Once you extend more than the
first notch of flaps, however, and particularly when you extend the
landing gear, it’s going to come downhill.
This, in turn, means two things. One is that you’ll hold off
adding drag until landing is assured - until you know you’ve got
the runway made. The other is that once you’ve added drag and
are below, say, 600 feet AGL, you are committed to land. If you
had to go around on one engine, you’d have to give up altitude
while you got the airplane cleaned up again (and even after that,
its climb rate would be miserable). If a truck pulls out on the run-
way in front of you, too bad - just move over to the side and land
on the taxiway, or even in the grass!
Fly your normal landing pattern, but keep the speed above
the blue radial line on the airspeed indicator - we’ll make a much
closer acquaintance with that line in a minute - and leave the land-
ing gear and flaps up (or, if necessary, extend the flaps to no more
than the first notch). Some people like to fly their final approach a
bit higher than usual, but don’t overdo it or you may find yourself
running out of runway later. As you turn on final approach, it’s a
good idea to dial the rudder trim back toward neutral: even though
this means you’ll be holding rudder pressure on final, you won’t be
faced with a sudden trim reversal as you pull the power off the good
engine to land. Try to minimize your power changes, and make
those that are necessary slow and gentle.
When you’re sure you can make the runway at your present
power setting, extend the landing gear; at this point you can also
use more flap if necessary, but be sure you realize that you are
now committed to land, no matter what. As you come in over the
threshold, ease the throttle back to idle.
You may be surprised to find that the airplane “floats” fur-
ther than it does on a normal landing, and that its directional trim
feels a bit strange. Remember: you no longer have the usual drag
of a windmilling engine on the feathered side.
THE WORST OF THE WORST
What’s the worst thing that can happen to you in a twin?
Most pilots agree that it’s an engine failure right at liftoff. In fact,
there are those who say that this situation is worse in a twin than
in a single: at least in the single you don’t have to worry about
options, and since the airplane is smaller and lighter, it’ll proba-
bly crash pretty gently (in fact, at a big airport, you may still have
plenty of runway to land on).
The twin, on the other hand, can stay in the air if you do
everything right, and right away. If not, it, too, will crash - but it’s
a lot heavier, and is going a lot faster, so it’ll hit hard. Over the last
20 years or so, the engine-failure accident rate for singles has
been higher - but the engine-failure accident fatality rate is high-
er in twins, pointing up the need for correct pilot technique.
Training in light twins in the real world, no sane instructor is
going to chop an engine on you near the ground; it’s just too risky.
That’s one of the reasons to train in a simulator - aren’t you glad
you have FLY!?
THE NEED FOR SPEED, PART DEUX
Take another look at your airspeed indicator and note the
blue radial line at 106 knots. Here, again, is a speed so important it
merits a special marking: best single-engine rate of climb speed, or
VYSE. Actually, and with no aspersions cast on the builders of pis-
ton-powered light and medium twins, it might better be called
“least-worst” single-engine rate of climb speed, as you’re about to
find out!) This is the speed at which the airplane will get away from
the ground fastest on a single engine. (It is not, however, the speed
at which it will climb steepest; that one, best single-engine angle of
climb speed or VXSE, is unmarked at 92 knots, and is what you’d
use if you needed to clear an obstacle immediately ahead.