{"id":218,"date":"2010-08-21T06:00:36","date_gmt":"2010-08-21T10:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeclarksblog.wordpress.com\/?p=218"},"modified":"2012-09-16T09:16:54","modified_gmt":"2012-09-16T13:16:54","slug":"engine%c2%a0failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=218","title":{"rendered":"Engine\u00a0Failures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I told the story of my first engine failure in Joe\u2019s Luck<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 Looking back from the vantage point of 30 years, it\u2019s pretty funny.\u00a0 At the time, however, it lacked any humor; it was not until I slept on it that I began to see the wit of the situation.<\/p>\n

Of course, engine failures are not a laughing matter.\u00a0 However, they don\u2019t have to be as serious as some pilots, the public, and most certainly, the news media, tend to view them.\u00a0 Handled correctly, an engine failure may be nothing more than a simple inconvenience.\u00a0 Keep in mind, if handled correctly<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So how do you handle an engine failure in an airplane correctly?<\/p>\n

First, keep your head.\u00a0 Secondly, be well trained and follow through on your training.\u00a0 And finally, stay cool, calm, and collected.<\/p>\n

Now, I will tell you the secret for accomplishing these three tasks.\u00a0 If you are well rested, properly hydrated, and eating well, you should have no problem with any emergency that comes your way.<\/p>\n

When you have had enough sleep and can think clearly, you are rested. \u00a0Rest is one of the most important factors in being able to reason and use your intellect during any crisis.<\/p>\n

When it comes to hydration, keep in mind this means water.\u00a0 You know, that H2<\/sub>O stuff, the clear liquid which makes up most of our body.\u00a0 Without it your brain will short circuit and malfunction.\u00a0 This is something you do not need in the middle of an emergency.\u00a0 As much as we may wish, carbonated and caffeinated beverages do not qualify as proper liquids for purposes of hydration.<\/p>\n

Finally, you have to eat well if you are to keep your body primed for any emergency.\u00a0 This means taking in the proper number of calories spread out over the entire day.\u00a0 Additionally, the calories have to come from foods which are legitimately good for you.\u00a0 You know, those food groups your mom and dad tried making you eat when you were younger.\u00a0 Fast foods and milkshakes will not cut it this business.<\/p>\n

Now, here are the brass tacks in dealing with engine failures.<\/p>\n

When the engine fails at altitude, the most important thing you need to know is the wind direction.\u00a0 Always turn the airplane into the wind<\/em>.\u00a0 In order, these are the procedures you have to accomplish immediately.\u00a0 First, pitch the nose down and use your trim to set the correct glide speed.\u00a0 Next, pick a place to land keeping the wind direction in mind, in order to plan your approach and landing directly into the wind.\u00a0 Finally, check proper positioning of the fuel valve; turn on the fuel boost pump. \u00a0If the engine quit when the carburetor heat was off, pull it on and if it was on, push the control in.\u00a0 Try switching to each magneto independently; one mag may have failed and the other is perfectly fine.\u00a0 Also remember to follow all of the recommended procedures in the pilots operating handbook (POH).<\/p>\n

After completing these three items, and if you have time, now you can talk on the radio.\u00a0 Make certain you do all those other things first. \u00a0Remember, the rule is to aviate, navigate, and then<\/em> communicate.<\/p>\n

Talking on the radio is way down on the list of priorities.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I told the story of my first engine failure in Joe\u2019s Luck.\u00a0 Looking back from the vantage point of 30 years, it\u2019s pretty funny.\u00a0 At the time, however, it lacked any humor; it was not until I slept … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,6],"tags":[363,1006,1034,1231,1263,1279,1292,1547,1974,1987,2778,2915,4022,4120,4236,4282],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-flight-instructing","category-flying-2","tag-altitude","tag-correct-glide-speed","tag-crises","tag-eating-well","tag-emergencies","tag-engine-failures","tag-enough-sleep","tag-food-groups","tag-intellect","tag-into-the-wind","tag-pick-a-place-to-land","tag-properly-hydrated","tag-training","tag-use-your-trim","tag-well-rested","tag-wind-direction"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4654,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions\/4654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}