Accident Prevention Program – Single-engine vs Twins

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Always Leave Yourself an Out

While single-engine aircraft may not be safer, twins can be more dangerous/Richard N. Aarons

DESPITE heated scoldings from flight instructors and grim warnings from the National Transportation Safety Board, many pilots still seem to believe that implied in the fact that an aircraft has two engines is a promise that it will perform with only one of those engines operative. And the light-twin stall/spin accident rate further indicates that many multi-engine pilots have not come to grips with the facts that:

  • Significantly more than half the climb performance disappears when one engine signs out
  • Exploration of the Vmc regime close to the ground is a sure way to kill yourself.

A while back, the NTSB reported that light multi-engine aircraft are involved in fewer engine-failure-related accidents than single-engine aircraft. However the same report observed that an engine-failure-related accident in a twin is four times more likely to cause serious or fatal injuries. An analysis of that report appeared in the June issue of B/CA (Cause and Circumstance).

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Density Altitude…

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When it comes to good old-fashioned hangar flying sessions, one subject that almost never seems to be discussed is density altitude. The reason being, too many pilots do not know enough about the subject. Yet, because of the inescapable influence density altitude has on aircraft and engine performance, it is important that every pilot understand its effects. Hot, high, and humid weather conditions can change a routine takeoff or landing into an accident in less time than it takes to tell about it. There are three important factors that affect air density; ALTITUDE, TEMPERATURE, and HUMIDITY.

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Bad trend for the plog!!

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Well, looking at those dates it would appear i have not blogged anything for some time, does not mean i have not htought about it tho!! 🙂 .What has happened in the last month of any real significance???

not a great deal i am thinking, however a few memorable notes to reflect on …..

second solo flight after a substantial amount of aircraft downtime, surprise, surprise!! second solo flight consisted on 4-5 ccts with the instructor on the saturday morning, it was quite busy which resulted in a number of go-rounds, good for practice. I then proceeded to do 3 solo ccts which all went sweet. Lucky i got a keen instructor who keeps pushing me to keep flying….then again i am just an hours slut!! 🙂

third solo flight, what a gem, scared absolutely shitless but is was fun , no major f*** ups which is always good!! even had a runway change in there!

fourth solo flight…had major head-ache..was tired..first few ccts went well..greased them in….last few were terrible, cross-wind had come up and i was struggling, bounced the last few in…must practice cross-wind technique…

will be heading out the training area for training area training..too many trainings in there!! should be fun..better than flying round in cirlces all day!!

newsworthy item – a duchess came down during the week, it appears the pilots are ok. They were doing a engine failure approach….one engine fully feathered, for some reason unknown to myself the tower initiated a go-round, of course the poor ol’ duchess cant do anything with an engine out! It would be nice to know the facts..will have to wait until the ATSB report comes out.

Spent the weekend of the 23rd up at mums in the lovely countryside, always a nice drive up there…just as long as u dont have to do it too much!!!

Work is exciting as ever, CASA212 is bleeding off, thank f***….no got crazy pod shit….never thought i would be doing this kinda work when i graduated.

Had my review last week, was ok, got payrise and all…still think i am seriously under paided. key points for this month are….do work to hard…its not worth it!! have a life and be fit and healthy…this is more important than a career.

Another item of interest!! had the phone disconnected for about 6 weeks…what a blessing!!! shoulda paided the bill i suppose tho!!..oh well the 60 buck connection fee is heaps less than what it woulda cost to have it on with this household. Speaking of rippoffs…bloody parking fines….fined for parking nose to kerb instead of ass to kerb…the worst part…i went back to the car to put the snorkelling gear in the boot and the parking inspector was two cars away giving some other poor prick a fine….they could have a least said something…lousy f***s

This weekend has been interesting…mums been down, sisters have come out to play…makes for one very stressful visit!!! nonetheleess life will go on..

hopefully the next plog will be sooner rather than later….

First Solo Flight

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Well after nearly 14 hrs of flying i have gone solo for the first time, and was i sweating bad…… Started off with normal cct, was a little high in the approach and a little late in the flare but we did not even feel the wheels touch!! Certianly helps when u have flown the last two lessons in 14-16 knot winds with a crosswind component of 10 knots!! Makes flying in smooth weather a breeze.

The second cct was a flapless, it was perfect, maybe a little high again, but hey, better to be high than too low right. Again the landing was greased in….The cct was looking pretty busy by this stage, maybe 4 other aircraft had joined, must have had something to do with the perfect weather for flying! Glide approach was next,keypoint i did maintain was my glide speed, got it straight away and maintained pretty well all the way! Did not even need flaps. Next was my worst, the darn go-round, the main reason i find this hard is when there is alot of traffic u really have to be situationally aware of the other a/c so u can slot in on the downwind leg. This was probably my best go-round, out of my huge total of 3!!.

Somewhere in there was the engine failure after takeoff…that was fine, man i hope that never happens in really life…you would be rooted. Finally a fullstop to let the instructor out and takeoff by myself!

I have to say my solo cct was pretty good, all radio calls and procedures were spot on, even with the increased traffic. It was amazing to see the difference in how the aircraft flew with only me in it…climbed like a bloody rocket!!! a rocket listing to one side tho!! My landing was great, flared at the right time, greased it in, took the second taxiway where i had to wait for more traffic taxiing along! Picked up instructor and recieved the congrads from the tower and it was all over. In all a bit of a non-event, especially since i hardly bloody slept the whole night before!

Mental note for next flight: do not become complacent as experienced is gained.

Saturday Flying

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Went pretty good, very busy in the ccst, got some more experience at differing radio calls and more or less different situations, need lots more like this, mix it up, improve my failing situational awareness!! had a few interesting glide approaches, made more so with the increased traffic, couple of go-rounds, one of which i royally messed up…not next time tho! nice bit of wind on saturday also, luckily tho not much crosswind mostly just straigth down the runway!

No solo for me on monday due to the unavailability of the cheif instructor, thats fine with me tho!! more practivce on wednesday…will definitely get it all spot on!! Also had half a brief on crosswind landings…

Friday Flying!

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More ccts, not the best ones i have done but i think i may be getting there. I guess the darn 15knot crosswind did not help, felt like i was flying in a bloody washing machine!! Nonetheless it was a good experience and need more like it, i have been lucky enough to always fly in the morning when it is quiet and smooth. So i booked a cct lesson in for peak hour traffic at bumville airport! that sound be a barrel of laughs. should be going solo on monday morning, we’ll see.