So, you want to be a good pilot. No, you want to be a great pilot. You want people to regard you as one of the best pilots with whom they have ever flown. Not too lofty a goal, is it? Or might it be?
What makes a really good pilot? Judgment is one aspect – never take a risk with someone onboard. Don’t do it with yourself solo, for that matter. You must also fly smoothly. This means checking the weather and flying passengers only when the weather is perfect. You must also fly without any harsh and fast control inputs.
Finally, you have to bring your passengers back to the ground safely in the event anything happens.
When I was a young and inexperienced pilot, I feared engine failures. Today after more than 10,000 hours of experience and 40 years of flying, I regard them as an inconvenience at altitude, and something to be ready for on takeoff.
Most of the time an engine quits, it is the pilot’s fault. Engines quit because the pilot allowed the airplane to run out of gas, or they mismanaged the fuel by running a fuel tank dry.
There are rules you must follow when the engine quits. First, pitch to keep the proper airspeed; second, find a place to land; third, try to determine the cause of the failure; finally, if it does not restart, safely land the airplane. It truly is that simple.
Here is something else to go along with the procedure above. Always have a place to land in the event of an engine failure. In other words, the only time a pilot should be surprised by an engine failure, is on takeoff. Once the aircraft reaches a safe altitude, the pilot should constantly know where to land the airplane should the powerplant go silent. Once you have flown beyond that place, you pick another safe landing zone ahead and then when you are beyond that one, you repeat the process until you arrive at your destination.
Keeping a place to land in mind as you fly is the first half of the battle. The second half includes putting the airplane down on the piece of turf you have decided to make into an emergency airport.
If your primary flight instructor told you to land “anywhere in the first third of the runway” during your simulated engine out practice and then said that was acceptable, he lied to you. For instance, if you learned how to fly from a 3000 long runway, and your ability to land power-off is plus or minus 500 feet from a predetermined spot, you do not possess the skills to be successful in an actual emergency.
To land an airplane power-off effectively, you must have the skill to plan your approach and land within 50 feet of where you want to touch down. The reason for this is simple; if you lose your engine over inhospitable terrain and the only patch of land is about 700 feet long, you will have a difficult time landing the airplane safely if you are not capable of controlling your glide path, airspeed, and touchdown point.
The key is practice. You have to train yourself to understand the nuances of controlling airspeed and glide to arrive exactly where you want to go. After a little bit of practice, you’ll be surprised at how closely you can land to your spot without power.
Okay, I will admit, engine failure on takeoff is still a little scary.
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© 2010 J. Clark
