Transitioning SE To ME

Aviation & Pilots Forums, discuss topics that interest Pilots and Aviation Enthusiasts. Looking for information on how to become a pilot? Check out our Free online pilot exams and flight training resources section.
Colonel
Posts: 3450
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:31 am

The Big Picture:

1) when you lose an engine in a light twin, you lose 80+%
of your excess thrust.  Don't expect to be able to climb on
one engine, even if you do everything perfectly, unless
you are very light and the air is very thick.  This is especially
true of the four cylinder twins, which are dangerously
underpowered on one engine.  If you have a six cylinder
twin and are very light, you can actually fly on one engine.

2) piston twins (unlike, say bizjets) have widely-space
engines which are going to cause serious yawing when
you are single-engine.  If you go slow enough, the rudder
won't be able overpower the yaw produced by the
working engine.  This is called Vmc.  Many factors
affect Vmc and people like to jibber-jabber about
them.  It's important to realize that when you are
single-engine, performance and control oppose
each other.  You can get great control with a lot
of bank, but your performance will suck.  And
vice versa.

3) No one will tell you this, but losing an engine
in any piston twin when you have lots of energy
is easy.  Losing an engine in a piston twin when
you have no energy is generally fatal.  It's a good
thing that rarely happens.

Some theory:
www.avweb.com/news/airman/184438-1.html

Some practical considerations of the low-energy
engine failure in a piston twin, which is usually fatal:
www.pittspecials.com/articles/MultiTakeoff.htm

This is how to learn to fly a twin with everything working:
www.pittspecials.com/articles/cct_rg.htm

Remember, as Chuck says, that most flight training
is really dreadful, and will teach you to do this
during a low-energy engine failure:







Colonel
Posts: 3450
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:31 am

It's important to realize that for 99% of pilots, their skill
is the limiting factor - not the aircraft's performance.

Oddly, this does not bother them.  They like to shit on
the 1% of pilots that strive to improve their knowledge
and skill, because the 1% makes them look lazy and stupid.

However.  If you spend some time learning and practicing,
a piston twin is not the death-trap everyone tells you it is.

In fact, you can feather both engines at the surface, and
then do surface aerobatics in a stock piston twin.  Four
bars will tell you this is impossible, but they do not have
even 1% of the knowledge and skill of Bob Hoover:

[youtube][/youtube]

As you might expect, many pilots were very jealous
of Bob's skill, and spent their lives shitting on him.

Here is Bob rolling a jet full of people, pouring iced tea:

[youtube][/youtube]

The four bars like Rockie on AvCan will tell you that
it is stupid to develop strong aircraft handling skills,
and anyone that does is a moron that will never
achieve anything worthwhile.

I might politely disagree.
Chuck Ellsworth

Bob Hoover was arguably the most skilled pilot in aviation and one of the most laid back unassuming people one could want to meet.


Of course he did not need to expound on his flying skills because he demonstrated them over and over.


I have never heard of another air display pilot who could take a stock piston engine airplane like the Shrike Commander and do an aerobatic routine with both engines feathered like Bob could and always ended the show stopped right in front of the crowd with the engines still feathered.

vanNostrum
Posts: 338
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:04 pm

Thanks for links and posting
Many years ago while at DAB I bought a VHS tape at ERAU book store
IIRC it was called'' Optimising Engine Out Procedures ME Aircraft''
where the concept of cero slip is put to the test in different twins
Hope I can find it and the old VCR still works
Colonel
Posts: 3450
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:31 am

Bottom line for that video:  5 degrees of bank does not give
maximum single engine climb performance.  It's generally 2
or 3 degrees.  Yes, you need to fly that accurately if you want
to get even 100 fpm climb rate on one engine.

Despite what people will tell you about basic aircraft handling
skills being obsolete, every once in a while they will keep you
alive.

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAsia ... Flight_235]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAsia ... Flight_235[/url]

ATR-72.  Three pilots, total time more than 27,000 hours.
A turbine twin with auto-feather.  What could go wrong?

[img width=500 height=375]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _crash.png[/img]

[quote]following the uncommanded autofeather of engine number 2
the pilot flying reduced power on and subsequently shut down the operative engine number 1

the aircraft stalled ...

The Civil Aeronautics Administration announced it would subject all TransAsia Airways ATR pilots
to supplementary proficiency tests ... ten pilots who [b]failed the engine-out oral test[/b] and a further
nineteen who [b]did not attend[/b] were suspended for one month[/quote]

That raises more questions than it answers.  With three pilots
and 27,000+ hours.

1) How on earth did these guys pass their initial and recurrent sim?
2) How in the world did they fail an oral?
3) How bad are the 19 guys who didn't show up?
Rosco P Coltrane
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2016 9:46 pm

[quote author=vanNostrum link=topic=7063.msg19090#msg19090 date=1505273569]

Many years ago while at DAB I bought a VHS tape at ERAU book store
IIRC it was called'' Optimising Engine Out Procedures ME Aircraft''
where the concept of cero slip is put to the test in different twins
Hope I can find it and the old VCR still works
[/quote]


Is this PDF related?


http://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent ... text=jaaer
Colonel
Posts: 3450
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:31 am

A bootful of rudder will be required, single engine.

Although it is tempting to dial in some rudder
trim, that actually reduces Vmc.

Why?
vanNostrum
Posts: 338
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:04 pm

The video I have shows how to maximise engine out performance
in  small to medium piston twins no jets
IIRC there may have also tested a  non piston twin [ Conquest?]
Of all the airplanes tested only one needed 5 degrees bank to achieve zero slip
the others 2 or 3
The inside the cockpit shots are interesting
Colonel
Posts: 3450
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:31 am

5 degrees of bank is a random number
chosen for certification and will not result
in either maximum performance or maximum
control.
vanNostrum
Posts: 338
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:04 pm

[quote author=Colonel Sanders link=topic=7063.msg19095#msg19095 date=1505319565]
A bootful of rudder will be required, single engine.

Although it is tempting to dial in some rudder
trim, that actually reduces Vmc.

Why?
[/quote]


If the tab is deflected opposite to the rudder travel it reduces the rudder's area
Post Reply