User Guide

Flight Instruction
207
Flight Instruction
206
VYSE is colloquially called “blueline” speed, and close to
the ground it could just as well be called “lifeline.” Any faster, and
the airplane won’t climb as well; any slower, and while it may
climb a bit steeper, it won’t be gaining altitude as rapidly.
Moreover, if you ever let the airspeed get below blueline, the only
way you can get your speed back will be by descending unless
the Chieftain is loaded very lightly. On a normal takeoff, you’ll
want to get above blueline as soon as possible, so that if an engine
does fail your airspeed will be trending toward it, rather than
away from it. We’ll even be a little easy on you this time around:
we’ll let you get 110 knots before you lose an engine. (In the real
world, if you lose an engine below blueline, your best course of
action will most likely be to put the airplane back on the ground:
it’s far better to go off the end of a runway on the ground, slowly
and under control, than to come back down to the ground as a
falling object at high speed!)
Here we go (gulp!). Get the airplane configured for a normal
takeoff, start the takeoff roll, lift off, accelerate to 110 knots, and
before you retract the gear or flaps, fail the left engine by pulling its
mixture all the way back (or have a buddy do it for you).
You’ll be very impressed at how much harder the airplane
tries to yaw and roll than it did when you lost an engine at cruise.
Why? Two reasons: one is that this time the good engine is at
absolute maximum power, rather than at a cruise setting; the other
is that you’re now at a much lower airspeed, so the controls are
less effective. You’ll need to make a determined effort to get the
wings level and nail the heading; it’ll probably take full rudder. At
the same time, watch the airspeed: don’t let it continue to accel-
erate, but at all costs don’t let it get below blueline.
Okay, we don’t have much time to lose: Identify (“Dead
foot, dead engine”), Verify (close the throttle of the dead engine),
and feather it. You’ll be able to reduce the rudder deflection right
away, and the airplane will fly straighter - but it still won’t be
going uphill at any particularly satisfying rate. What’s next?
Configure. If you’re not actually settling back toward the ground,
go ahead and get the gear up to get rid of its drag, but be prepared
for a sickening momentary sagging feeling as the inner gear doors
open (they’ll close again in a second). If the airplane does seem to
be settling (or, in any case, if there’s enough runway remaining
ahead), just go ahead and land and we’ll try again.
This time, though, we’re still hanging in the air. Continue
configuring by bringing the flaps up - and it’s a good idea to
“milk” them up bit by bit, rather than retracting them all at once.
Continue to pay close attention to the airspeed, keeping it nailed
on that blue line.
Whew! The airplane should now be climbing - and it’ll even
improve a bit once you’ve banked 5 degrees into the good engine
(“raising the dead”) and closed the cowl flaps on the dead one.
How fast will it climb? Fast?! If you’ve done everything right, and
you’ve started out from sea level on a standard day, with the air-
plane loaded to its authorized gross weight, you’ll be rocketing
upward like a homesick anvil - at all of 230 feet per minute! And
that’s in straight flight, too - any turns will eat up most, if not all,
of that paltry climb rate.
Let’s put that in perspective. Say we want 1000 feet AGL to feel
safe making turns to return to the airport for a single-engine landing.
It’s going to take a bit over 4 minutes to climb that high on one
engine, during which time we’ll cover almost nine (statute) miles of
landscape! Does your favorite airport have that much clear terrain
off the end of the runway? What if your takeoff altitude is higher than
sea level, or the temperatures are warmer than standard?
Sobering, isn’t it? I’m not trying to denigrate the performance
of piston twins (once you get into a turboprop, things aren’t quite
as bad). I am trying to point out, however, that there’s little or no
margin for error, particularly near the ground.
What about up at altitude? Is blueline important up there? It
depends how high you are, and if you need to stay up there. Up
to the airplane’s single-engine service ceiling (13,700 feet at max-
imum weight on a standard day), it will at least hold altitude if
flown at blueline. Above that, blueline is still important: it’ll min-
imize the rate at which you lose altitude (called “drift-down”).
Practice your single-engine techniques - and once you have
them really solid in nice weather, try them on instruments. When
you’ve mastered them, you’ll know that you have what it takes to
be a professional pilot. And here’s a secret about turboprops and
jets: with their additional performance, as you’re about to find
out, it only gets easier from here on!