Tribulations of a new multiengine pilot
Brownie was no introvert. Each visit to his flight school featured lengthy stories about Kirby Grant, who played rancher-pilot Sky King in the well-known 1950s TV program. Given Grant's role, I was disappointed to learn that he wasn't a practicing pilot. Brownie had chauffeured the actor around the country for promotional appearances in the show's twin-engine Cessna 310, Songbird. "We'd swap seats after landing," Brownie told me, "so Grant would look like the pilot to fans waiting at the ramp." Back then everyone knew the popular series, so it was good marketing when Brownie renamed his field Sky King Airport.
Brownie's flight school offered bargain-basement training in a Piper Apache. Learning to safely manage engine failures is demanding in any twin, because of the yawing effect of the working engine pulling on one side while the dead one generates drag on the other. But those challenges were amplified in the antiquated Apache.
For starters, there was the temperamental cabin door common to early low-wing Pipers. Located on the passenger side, it was notorious for opening of its own accord in flight. Rarely in most airplanes does an open door create a serious aerodynamic hazard, but accidents sometimes occur when panicking pilots lose control. (It didn't help that hapless Apache aviators occasionally experienced control yoke buffeting when the open door disturbed airflow over the elevators.) To steel my nerve against such occurrences, Brownie's instructor delighted in releasing the door at inopportune times.
Between ear-splitting blasts of icy wintertime air from the door, I learned that when the airplane yawed to one side it meant an engine had quit. The challenge in any twin when this happens is to maintain control while identifying which engine has failed, and then feather the propeller (rotate the blades perpendicular to airflow to reduce drag) and turn off fuel to the failed engine. After you've accomplished these tasks promptly and with care so as not to disable the running engine, what normally remains is to fly to an airport and land. In the Apache, however, the excitement was just beginning.
One might logically assume that the reason for two engines would be to keep the airplane flying if one failed. The Apache, however, incorporated anemic powerplants on a blunt and boxy airframe. When one engine quit, the other lacked enough "oomph" to sustain level flight - immediately the old creature began drifting downward. Therefore one needed to pick an attainable destination, and quickly.
Modern twins feature dual alternators and vacuum pumps - one each per engine to provide back-up power should the other fail. But early Apaches had only one of each. The left engine drove the airplane's sole electric generator and a hydraulic pump powering flaps and retractable landing gear. The right engine drove the solitary vacuum pump powering instrument gyros. So, as if engine failure wasn't enough to keep a pilot busy, losing one in the Apache triggered a whole string of other emergencies.
If the right engine failed, we'd lost our vacuum pump and therefore our heading and attitude indicators. Hopefully we were in visual conditions, because if not our lives hinged on the success of an engine-out partial-panel instrument approach.
If instead we'd lost the left engine powering the hydraulic pump, I was to wait until approaching the airport, smash my face against the instrument panel, and manually lower the landing gear using 40 strokes of a hand pump located below the throttles. This was to be accomplished while holding full rudder with one foot to counter the drag of the dead engine and simultaneously keeping wings level with my other hand on the control wheel. Of course extending the wheels too early in this underpowered airplane meant we'd never make the airport.
"You've got it easy," asserted my instructor after one such adventure, noting the pool of sweat I rested in. "This Apache has been upgraded with a second generator - at least before pumping down the gear there's no need to shut off lights and radios to conserve battery juice." (Most Apaches eventually received duplicate generators and vacuum pumps, but on those still flying, pumping down the landing gear remains standard procedure after losing the left engine.)
Given the Apache's foibles, I wasn't totally disappointed when it became unavailable because of a scheduling conflict. I switched to a more glamorous and modern Cessna 310 based at another airport. Although far more costly to rent than the Apache, it was sleek and powerful, and it sparkled like new.
The Cessna proved harder to fly than the Apache, however, which at least was slow and docile enough to accommodate its faults (and mine). Approach speed for a 310 is nearly double that of an Apache, and with 600 pounds of fuel cantilevered in wingtip tanks the 310 is notorious for popping wing rivets when planted too firmly. Don, my new instructor, had just bought the beautiful airplane; it's surprising that he ever allowed me land it at all.
When checkride time came, Don accompanied me in his precious twin Cessna to Sky King Airport. It seemed most appropriate, flying a 310 into that particular airport. I was to complete my multiengine commercial flight test with Brownie, and then add single-engine qualifications in a rented 172.
As usual, the examiner greeted us with a parcel of Sky King stories, during which I noted the wind picking up alarmingly. Then he conducted an equally leisurely oral and sent me outside to preflight. Don caught my eye with a you'd-better-not-ding-my-airplane glare on my way out the door.
Crosswinds were howling by the time Brownie emerged from his office. He was accompanied for some unknown reason by a high-energy little boy. Brownie asked a few questions and then recounted differences between Don's modern 310 and its ancestor, Sky King's Songbird.
"Mind if my grandson rides along?" asked Brownie, corralling the boy and motioning me toward the pilot seat.
"Er, uh...of course not," I replied. Immediately upon reaching the backseat, the boy began squirming while Grandpa admonished him from beside me. This would be my first time flying the 310 without an instructor - with crosswinds hammering the narrow strip, I now also faced the distraction of an antsy 6-year-old.
I'd just started the takeoff run when Brownie signaled. "Stop right there and shut down the engines," he said firmly, pointing at a spot outside the windshield. Petrified at failing, I chopped throttles and applied the brakes. Expensive as the 310 was to rent, it would be months before I could afford additional training and another checkride. Dejected, I halted the airplane mid-runway where Brownie had indicated. Wordlessly he opened the door and stepped out onto the wing. What had I done wrong? I couldn't believe it was already over.
Brownie's face reappeared upside down in the open door after the boy bounded out behind him. "My grandson's not going after all," he said. The child scaled the runway fence and disappeared into a house just beyond. "Let's get on with your flight test," said Brownie, climbing back in.
"The runway'narrow here," I said. "I'll turn around at the end."
"Here, I'll do it," said Brownie, revving one engine and stomping on the opposite brake. The roaring powerplant and squealing tires soon brought my instructor scrambling from the office. I avoided eye contact with him as Brownie twirled the airplane a second time for departure, this time directly before its horrified owner.
That moment was long forgotten by the time Don met me back at the 310 that afternoon; after all, I now sported a fresh commercial certificate with single and multi-engine ratings. Having mastered the gleaming twin, my mind swelled with visions of commanding it homeward. The screeching turnaround had apparently made a more lasting impression on Don, however. I was reaching for the door handle when he touched my shoulder.
"You deserve a rest after that fine performance," said my instructor through a forced smile. "You relax and I'fly home." Crushed, I relinquished the controls. Oh well, I figured, at least I'll save a few bucks while he's flying. But Don charged me for the whole flight anyway. Such are the tribulations of a new multiengine pilot.
Greg Brown was the 2000 National Flight Instructor of the Year. His books include Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane, The Savvy Flight Instructor, The Turbine Pilot's Flight Manual, and Job Hunting for Pilots. Visit his Web site.
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