I have had two engine failures in single engine aircraft and one oil line failure in a P Navajo that required a shut down. I have also had two twin shut downs just to assure the engine would be saved. The single engine failure were maintenance item failures. One was a broken mixture cable with a student in the 70’s and of course, the vibration of the engine caused the mixture to vibrate to lean. The other was a Cessna 140. The Cessna actually primed the engine above the carburetor. The primer plunger backed out and flooded the carburetor when I went to idle to land at my ranch. I have never damaged an aircraft. Also, the student the did not come back.
In regard to the failures, it caused me to review what I consider the improper training for engine loss in twin engine aircraft. I have trained hundreds of instrument pilots and I teach attitude instruments. What does that mean? I teach the “needle, ball, airspeed and altimeter method” rather than the artificial horizon method to fly on the gauges. I learned this method 45 plus years ago from an instructor who was the first FAA examiner for Braniff Airlines when they had their one orange Boeing 747, “Fat Albert.” This instructor, who was former Air Force, had learned to fly in the fifties when we did not have the avionics and equipment we have now. He taught me the “hard” way to fly the gauges and it started with covering up the artificial horizon. I have used that method ever since, especially in my twin training in what I call “stabilization.”
The Difference
The difference in teaching “attitude instruments” is how it imparts to engine loss training. I tell pilots who come for training that I teach inside the cockpit. You will never see an airline training where you look out the window. You have to manage the aircraft on the gauges; not only to determine the problems, but to solve the problems and save the aircraft.
For instance, the vertical speed on an early engine loss is everything. You have to determine if the plane will stay airborne. So do you go to a 1,200 fpm climb and then check airspeed or do you go to a 200 fpm climb in a piston aircraft and check the resulting airspeed? Of course, it is the latter, all while locking the heading and not letting it vary. You also gain another benefit doing this, but I am not going to give you all my training secrets.
The best high end piston aircraft is going to only have a slight climb even with slow airspeed. So my approach is to teach my “stabilization” procedure by holding the heading, reducing the vertical speed to 200 to 300 fpm and see what the airspeed result is. In the twin Cessna aircraft with VGs, Strakes and higher powered engines, (I have MT four blades on my 340) you can stay airborne even with a high gross load. The Barons also perform well using my method as they are narrow across the body and are very clean with gear up.
Specific Training
We teach a lot of twin Cessna pilots as well as Beechcraft pistons, Piper twins and King Air pilots. These planes are better than most people realize in an emergency scenario but you have to TRAIN. I always tell pilots to remember the United DC10 flown by Al Haynes when the center engine blew and they lost all hydraulics. Nothing in the book about that, but they got it on the ground by putting together their training.
If you understand the systems of the aircraft and you understand the emergencies, together you can solve the problem and get a good result. For example, has your instructor ever been able to allow you to determine what the altitude your twin can handle safely on one engine? Probably not, but we can do this in the sim.
We can also show you things like how to determine how to come down from flight level 220 to a safe altitude where a slight climb and a safe airspeed is manageable. Also, what about a one engine descent to an airport and how far can you go at different altitudes? We can do that in your model. That is how good our sims are.
What We Concentrate On – Not All Pilots are the Same
Our first day of training consist of analyzing the pilot, his or her instrument skills, and an introduction to emergency situations. We practice the procedures. We break for system training discussion. We then go back to the sims and practice and rehearse these and other procedures again. This is followed by another break for systems. We take breaks because the training is tough.
The next day, we review the previous day and we immediately see the pilot is starting to clean up and pick up the handling of emergency procedures. In our opinion, you need a minimum of two days to get the procedures down. The second day for recurrent training ends with the pilot much cleaner in handling the aircraft than in the beginning. You will also fly a training route with multiple failures. All of this is done in the large motion sim. This all depends on the pilot’s background and instrument training. Most come back very quickly on the second day and leave with a feeling of accomplishment and gratification.
If you are taking an initial, you will spend three days at a minimum. We offer a half day on the fourth day if you feel you need it. In the last stage of training, we go over the emergency procedures and you will soon see that “you are getting it.”
Our training is all about “building blocks.” We start with analyzing your skills and instrument background and build from there while throwing in breaks for system training. Also, during the sim training, we hit the “pause” button and discuss the systems as it applies to the particular aircraft training that we are working on. In the end, it all adds up to a successful training session. And as many of our pilots say, “can we go ahead and book another update session in the future?”