by Adrian Rosevear 

"Know your aircraft's best configuration after an engine failure and fly it"

Regular readers may recall my article last year discussing primary actions after an engine failure, namely the fact that taking the time to trim the aircraft out at the correct glide attitude after converting speed to height will allow you to better control the aircraft and will effectively create time for you. In other words, fly the aircraft first, trim it out and navigate, communicate and administrate. For students starting out on twin engine aircraft, engine failure initial actions must be handled slightly differently due to the asymmetric power generated by the remaining engine. I am talking here of the initial actions designed to keep the aircraft under control and flying after recognition of the failure. Once these are complete and the aircraft under positive control you can step into navigation, communication and admin as per on a single.

So what are these actions? On the Orion these actions are broken it down into five steps: recognition, attitude, power, drag and trim. They will work just as well on a light twin. Let’s look at each in turn.

Recognition: ‘dead leg, dead engine’ is an oft used phrase to help recognize which engine has failed – the aircraft wants to yaw in the direction of the dead engine so the leg which is holding no pressure on the pedals (to stop the yaw) corresponds to the dead engine. Other cues include the yaw itself, both outside against a point on the horizon and inside on the RMI or HIS. The secondary effect of yaw is roll, so a cue (depending upon aircraft type) may be rolling towards the dead engine. Engine instruments will then confirm which engine has failed – never act on simply the yaw, roll or your leg – you must confirm the failure before pulling levers or chopping fuel.

So what now? On upwind with max power set you experience an engine failure. Left leg is dead, yawing and rolling to the left. The next three actions should be completed before launching into pulling those mixture levers and shutting down the failed engine.

Attitude: know the correct attitude to set after an engine failure. Set it now. Hold it. Stop the yaw with rudder.

Power: set, or confirm already set, an appropriate power for the aircraft configuration and phase. For example during a climb or with flap and gear cut, set max power. During cruise and appropriate power may not necessarily be max power.

Drag: check aircraft configuration. If gear is still down after the take off, retract it. Ensure the flap is set at the correct stage. Quickly check performance – is the aircraft climbing? If not, check speed and retract flap one stage or lower the nose to accelerate (altitude permitting) and then retract flap. The aim here is ensure the aircraft is performing at its optimum, and leaving gear down during the surprise of the engine failure will certainly not help.  Know your aircraft’s best configuration after an engine failure and fly it.

Trim: With the correct attitude set and the aircraft in the correct configuration, you can now trim out the forces. Trim the rudder forces first as here they will be quite high, then elevator and aileron. OK, take a few deep breaths and then look at the engine instruments to confirm the problem. The required actions from here are the aircraft specific…I should not need to tell you to know them and apply them.

During an engine failure, especially one that happens after take-off with high power settings, these steps should be automatic. Say the key words out loud, ‘attitude…power…drag…trim’. At each pause, check the required parameters before moving onto next step. This ensures nothing is forgotten in the immediate actions of flying the aircraft. As always, discuss these with your instructor before putting them into practice.