Engine Failure at Night Procedure

[vanNostrum]

Long ago , as I was gaining night flying experience in a 150, I had a conversation with a very experience pilot about engine failures at night and what to do. He described  a procedure that I never tried so Im still wondering about it.
It went like this

Carb heat on
Trim all the way nose up
Flaps 40
Keep wings level

With very little forward speed and minimum sink rate  contact with the ground would be survivable
Anyone ever heard of this or tried it?
vN

[CpnCrunch]

I think this procedure is described in the Cessna 172S POH for descent through cloud for a non-instrument rated pilot. It seems like a good idea, although I wouldn't want to end up landing in water at night.

[vanNostrum]

I haven't flown a 150 in a long time so don't remember how much authority the trim has but I imagine not enough to stall ,however when 40 flaps are added the pitching up would be significant How close to the stall this maneuver would put you I don't know
vN 

[vanNostrum]

The survivable crashes are the ones where control is kept to the last moment, I understand the human body can take about 9Gs of forward deceleration or touching down at 50 K and stopping in  less than 30' but the human body can only take few Gs of vertical deceleration so you will be better off minimizing sink rate even at the expense of forward motion   
I don't know if this procedure of trimming full  nose up and 40 flaps mushing along at a high A of A would leave  enough energy to pitch up and arrest the descent.
Too bad I never tried it to find out :(