I read Bob Schmelzer’s article in the May edition of Flight Training on practicing engine-out procedures (“You Were Ready for This”). I wanted to add three things. The first thing is to trade excessive airspeed—for example, anything above best rate of glide speed—for altitude. One might gain a couple hundred feet or so—this is a good thing!
I also teach students to draw an imaginary circle from the prop spinner to the tips of the wings and back to the end of the fuselage. You can glide to everything inside that circle no matter what the altitude of the airplane is. Anything outside of the imaginary circle would stretch the glide, and I teach never to try and stretch a glide.
Schmelzer also had half of what I was taught and teach about what to do with the door locks. He stated to unlatch the door(s) before touchdown. I teach unlock and re-lock open. To re-lock open, especially in the case of Cessna and bolt-type locks, re-locking the doors when they are open will help assure that they will not become jammed closed in the case of a roll or a flip, mangling the airplane and complicating extracting occupants by outside rescuers.
James L. Wensveen
Jerome, Idaho
Great article, except one issue was left out. Carburetor heat should not be number four. The actual heat that makes carb heat work comes from a heat exchanger on the exhaust system. The big picture is: engine shuts off, no combustion. No combustion, no heat to exhaust. No heat to exhaust, no heat to go to carb heat. You can still turn carb heat On; however, at that point it is almost worthless.
Carb heat needs to be a memory item, it needs to be checked every 30 minutes (and sometimes every 10 minutes) without fail during most flights. Any irregularity in the smoothness of that running engine and immediate full carb heat needs to go on. I fly a Beaver in Fairbanks, Alaska, and sometimes I think Frigidaire made that carburetor. I wish the ice maker on my refrigerator door worked that well.
Jim Gibertoni
Fairbanks, Alaska
Do the Dutch Roll
Rod Machado is right on about rudders ("What is Stick-And-Rudder Flying?" May 2012 Flight Training). Since tricycle landing gear came about, some pilots have lost their feet. Whether it is a student or a flight review, it is painful to watch the slip-skid indicator defend itself against the ball trying to escape to freedom. The cure? Teach an ancient maneuver called the dutch roll, something that doesn’t seem to be taught today.
It’s simple: Pick a point on the horizon—a lake, a mountain, or any prominent feature that lines up on the nose. By using aileron and rudder together, keep the point on the nose. Keeping the ball centered, bank left and right, gently at first and as you become more proficient, increase the bank to 45 degrees, ball centered. Practice 90-degree turns. Dutch roll into the turn, complete the turn in the opposite direction, and roll out. You will notice at the 90-degree point the aircraft will cease to stop turning, on point, ball centered.
Walt Castle
Cody, Wyoming
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