Instructor Report

Some students really dislike doing simulated engine-outs. Reducing power below the level needed to sustain level flight just seems like asking for trouble. You know the emergency drills are necessary, but that doesn’t mean these students’ discomfort is completely misplaced. Pulling the throttle back to idle can be asking for trouble, especially if you don’t think carefully about where and when to stage this little surprise—or if you continue the drill after it’s clear that you won’t make the chosen field.

There’s always the possibility that the engine won’t respond when it’s time to go around. It doesn’t happen often, but a couple of times a year someone finds that a previously routine engine-out practice has just become a genuine forced landing. Some years ago this happened to a student on his private pilot checkride after the examiner refused to let him apply carburetor heat. The candidate was an active-duty state trooper, and as they waited for the ice to melt after landing safely in a farm field, he told the examiner that he was on the verge of arrest for reckless endangerment. Then he added, “Now we’re going to finish this checkride, and I dare you to fail me.” (He didn’t.) Unfortunately, others have learned a harder lesson: Emergency landing sites that are “good” for preserving life and limb can still put a beating on an aircraft. (A Cessna 172 that flipped while landing in a soybean field comes to mind.) Before you pull the throttle, make sure there really is a safe place to land. (See “You Were Ready for This,” May 2012 Flight Training.)

Forced landings don’t always end in accidents, and when they do, they’re usually survivable. That isn’t true of attempts to will an airplane to a spot it lacks the airspeed and altitude to reach. It turns out that simulated engine failures are the leading cause of stall/spin accidents during dual instruction. Again, the numbers aren’t huge, but more than half are fatal. They typically involve steep banks at low altitude, with maybe a little extra back-pressure to try to stretch the glide. Practicing returns to the runway after takeoff is particularly treacherous. A CFI and a private pilot in a Cirrus SR20 “lost a significant amount of altitude” on the first attempt at a turnback—then spun in on the second. That instructor should have learned his lesson the first time.

David Jack Kenny admits emergency landing practice isn't his favorite maneuver.

Some students really dislike doing simulated engine-outs. Reducing power below the level needed to sustain level flight just seems like asking for trouble. You know the emergency drills are necessary, but that doesn’t mean these students’ discomfort is completely misplaced. Pulling the throttle back to idle can be asking for trouble, especially if you don’t think carefully about where and when to stage this little surprise—or if you continue the drill after it’s clear that you won’t make the chosen field.

There’s always the possibility that the engine won’t respond when it’s time to go around. It doesn’t happen often, but a couple of times a year someone finds that a previously routine engine-out practice has just become a genuine forced landing. Some years ago this happened to a student on his private pilot checkride after the examiner refused to let him apply carburetor heat. The candidate was an active-duty state trooper, and as they waited for the ice to melt after landing safely in a farm field, he told the examiner that he was on the verge of arrest for reckless endangerment. Then he added, “Now we’re going to finish this checkride, and I dare you to fail me.” (He didn’t.) Unfortunately, others have learned a harder lesson: Emergency landing sites that are “good” for preserving life and limb can still put a beating on an aircraft. (A Cessna 172 that flipped while landing in a soybean field comes to mind.) Before you pull the throttle, make sure there really is a safe place to land. (See “You Were Ready for This,” May 2012 Flight Training.)

Forced landings don’t always end in accidents, and when they do, they’re usually survivable. That isn’t true of attempts to will an airplane to a spot it lacks the airspeed and altitude to reach. It turns out that simulated engine failures are the leading cause of stall/spin accidents during dual instruction. Again, the numbers aren’t huge, but more than half are fatal. They typically involve steep banks at low altitude, with maybe a little extra back-pressure to try to stretch the glide. Practicing returns to the runway after takeoff is particularly treacherous. A CFI and a private pilot in a Cirrus SR20 “lost a significant amount of altitude” on the first attempt at a turnback—then spun in on the second. That instructor should have learned his lesson the first time.

David Jack Kenny admits emergency landing practice isn't his favorite maneuver.

Some students really dislike doing simulated engine-outs. Reducing power below the level needed to sustain level flight just seems like asking for trouble. You know the emergency drills are necessary, but that doesn’t mean these students’ discomfort is completely misplaced. Pulling the throttle back to idle can be asking for trouble, especially if you don’t think carefully about where and when to stage this little surprise—or if you continue the drill after it’s clear that you won’t make the chosen field.

There’s always the possibility that the engine won’t respond when it’s time to go around. It doesn’t happen often, but a couple of times a year someone finds that a previously routine engine-out practice has just become a genuine forced landing. Some years ago this happened to a student on his private pilot checkride after the examiner refused to let him apply carburetor heat. The candidate was an active-duty state trooper, and as they waited for the ice to melt after landing safely in a farm field, he told the examiner that he was on the verge of arrest for reckless endangerment. Then he added, “Now we’re going to finish this checkride, and I dare you to fail me.” (He didn’t.) Unfortunately, others have learned a harder lesson: Emergency landing sites that are “good” for preserving life and limb can still put a beating on an aircraft. (A Cessna 172 that flipped while landing in a soybean field comes to mind.) Before you pull the throttle, make sure there really is a safe place to land. (See “You Were Ready for This,” May 2012 Flight Training.)

Forced landings don’t always end in accidents, and when they do, they’re usually survivable. That isn’t true of attempts to will an airplane to a spot it lacks the airspeed and altitude to reach. It turns out that simulated engine failures are the leading cause of stall/spin accidents during dual instruction. Again, the numbers aren’t huge, but more than half are fatal. They typically involve steep banks at low altitude, with maybe a little extra back-pressure to try to stretch the glide. Practicing returns to the runway after takeoff is particularly treacherous. A CFI and a private pilot in a Cirrus SR20 “lost a significant amount of altitude” on the first attempt at a turnback—then spun in on the second. That instructor should have learned his lesson the first time.

David Jack Kenny admits emergency landing practice isn't his favorite maneuver.