Dealing with Engine Failure.
What you'll learn
- Explanation of engine fails and what actions to do.
- Introduction to flying training for a pilots license.
- Potentially life threading situation. Danger awareness and action consequences from the safety of the classroom.
- For people wanting to do a pilots license or for people who are just interested
Requirements
- Best if you have a flight sim and controllers to practice the scenarios yourself. You do not need a VR headset but it is 100 times better if you do.
Description
If your engine stops while you are in flight there are 2 possibilities for what follows. 1 you are able to re start the engine and 2 you are going to land the aircraft. In this course we focus mainly on landing the aircraft safely.
When your engine fails immediately after takeoff, you don't have time to attempt a restart. Instead, you need to focus on flying the plane and picking a safe landing spot. That's why the first item on the checklist is airspeed. Fly too fast, and you're wasting energy and descending faster than you need to.
An engine failure is always something that will get your blood pumping, but there's one place where it can be particularly pulse-pounding: immediately after takeoff.
When your engine fails immediately after takeoff, you have a few things going against you. You're low, slow, and you don't always have a lot of good landing options as you look out over the cowl of your very silent engine. So what should you do? It all starts with the checklist. And in this case, we'll use the checklist for a Cessna 172S. (Obviously, you should always use the checklist for the aircraft you're flying, but you already knew that...)
When your engine fails immediately after takeoff, you don't have time to attempt a restart. Instead, you need to focus on flying the plane and picking a safe landing spot.
That's why the first item on the checklist is airspeed. Fly too fast, and you're wasting energy and descending faster than you need to. Fly too slow and it's even worse: you could stall early and impact the ground hard. So what speed should you fly? It depends on where your flaps are:
Next, you want to prevent a fire from breaking out after touchdown. If you end up landing in a less-than-ideal location, you could have torn fuel lines, bent wings, and several other scenarios where fuel is spilling out around the engine.
Here's the plan to prevent a fire:
2. Mixture Control - IDLE CUTOFF (pull full out): This cuts off fuel flow to your engine
3. FUEL SHUTOFF Valve - OFF (pull full out): This ensures that if a fuel line severs near your engine, fuel won't keep pouring from the tanks into the engine cowling
4. MAGNETOS Switch - OFF: This removes all possibility of your spark plugs firing
These checklist items serve a second purpose as well: making sure your engine doesn't suddenly restart close to the ground, in the case of fuel starvation.
Next up is configuring your airplane for landing.
5. Wing Flaps - AS REQUIRED (FULL recommended): Adjust them as required, but get your flaps all the way down if possible. You want to touch down as slow as you safely can.
6. STBY BATT Switch - OFF: This takes the standby battery offline and prevents it from arcing and starting a fire after touchdown.
7. MASTER Switch (ALT and BAT) - OFF: This cuts off power from both the main battery and the alternator. Again, you're removing all power from the electrical system, reducing the chance of a spark and fire after landing.
If you land hard, or hit something after touchdown, you could bend the airplane. And if you bend the airplane, your doors could jam shut - not something you want to discover after you safely put your dead-stick airplane back down on Earth. So...
8. Cabin Door - UNLATCH: This ensures you can open your doors and get out of the plane after touchdown (keep in mind, this technique is fairly unique to the 172 - most aircraft don't recommend unlatching the door, especially if it's load-bearing)
ou've got the airplane setup and ready for landing, and now it's time to focus your last few seconds in the air on your touchdown point. Where should you land?
9. Land - STRAIGHT AHEAD
It's important to not take this one too literally. When you're close to the ground, you should avoid trying to make "The Impossible Turn". But at the same time, if there's an obstacle directly in front of you, a slight turn to the left or right is a good idea. Just don't try turning back to the airport when you're close to the ground.
Fly the airplane, pick a safe landing spot, and follow your checklist. It's a recipe for walking away from almost any engine failure after takeoff. Your airplane might get bent up, but the most important thing is that you live to fly another day.
Who this course is for:
- All levels from beginners upwards explained in a very basic way.
Instructor
![Graham "The Baron" Hesketh](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.1 Instructor Rating
- 587 Reviews
- 19,434 Students
- 111 Courses
Chief Flying instructor.
Baron flying club.
I will show you the basic skills you need to fly aircraft fixed wing and rotary.
Learn from me first before you go to the flying school and part with your hard earned thousands as it could save you a lot of money.
If you are stuck on anything please feel free to ask questions.
So you want to learn to fly?
Why not it is Great fun.
My style is not for everyone but here it is.
Flying can be very very expensive, Helicopters are double expensive, but now there is no need to let that stand in your way.
The future for flying training is CGI and VR headsets with controllers. The air forces around the world are already doing this in their pilot training as is saves a fortune. So whatever type of flying you want to do this is an inexpensive way to go.
Today the flight sim on your own computer with a VR headset is almost like the real thing. (Yes it is!) I am a real pilot and done plenty of both. I love flying in VR because it is FREE. Loads of cool aircraft to fly too as FREE downloads. You can easily build hundreds of flying hours experience for FREE.
If you want to be a commercial pilot there is no option but to spend heaps of cash, join the military or land yourself a scholarship with a big airline. But in the meantime you can learn with me on your own PC almost for free. My courses are an excellent introduction to being a pilot.
You will need a joystick and controllers too and a flight sim programme. I use X Plane 11 and microsoft flight sim. VR headset is highly recommended but not essential.
Don't waste cash at the local flying school just yet. I am a Multi engine pilot and skydiver, I qualified as a pilot in 1996. I ran my own flying school "The Baron Flying Club" at Shoreham airport in East Sussex, where students were trained to PPL and multi engine PPL standard CAA UK.
Today I teach private students only.
I love doing low flying and aerobatics but I want to bring my online training to everyone, students, people who simply cannot afford it, or do not have the medical requirements because lots of people do fly just for fun and are not actually interested in going commercial. Sim flying is actually better than the real thing in many respects mainly the cost.
Using pc and mac based flight simulators we can go through every aspect of flight school without the crippling cost in easy stages and make it fun. Flight sims are not held up by the weather either as real aircraft often are, the realism levels are awesome. I enjoy flying the flight sim every day, We really can go anywhere in the world to fly.
Do it in your own time as much or as little at a time as you like, At the end of my courses you will know if you have the ability, desire or need to actually lash out thousands and thousands of your own cash to fly the real thing.
The drones are the future certainly for combat aviation. They will be controlled by someone on a computer sitting in a room on the other side of the world.
VR headsets are really very good for flying and I highly recommend them. In my opinion it really is worth investing in a good joystick, throttles and rudder pedals, even second hand ones from ebay can be found at a good price.
Blue skies!