How to survive an engine failure after take off 

Very good discussion on important safety matters. Matt Lane is always very knowledgeable.

Good brief Jon. Possible the biggest fear of most SEP pilots is EFATO. I recently did some IR training with my instructor. Firstly he gave me partial panel manoeuvres with no primary instruments and then if it couldn’t get any worse, he gave me partial power. We were at 3000’ and only just able to just hold that altitude at a much reduced IAS and, some 10-15 miles from home plate. I called ATC with what should have been a “practice pan”, who then asked me if I was declaring a practice pan? Doh! Cut a long story short… I took an SRA to the ILS and flew it down to 200’. It was a great exercise for, both, myself and ATC. With the limitations placed upon me, I couldn’t climb or fly headings, no a/p and had to use the standby instruments, this also made ATC work harder too. It was a great exercise which really tested me and I recommend that everyone should take an hour’s instruction once a year and practice partial power recoveries VFR or IFR. It might save your life.

A good example of a partial power loss is the P51 Miss Velma that crashed in a field at a Duxford airshow a few years ago. The pilot released his go pro footage from the cockpit of the incident and did various interviews after. Good learning to be made from that incident. Its such a good bit of flying that pilot pulls off realising on base that he'll end up on the M11 and turns right to belly land in a field. Eye opening just how violent these incidents are onboard

Interesting discussion, the ambiguity of a partial power failure, is a killer. The temptation is to try save your precious aircraft. I try to brief myself, that if the power comes back, chose a good field nearby and climb overhead the field. If it fails in the climb, well then you are over a good field. If you get high enough, you could consider flying back home, but now, if it fails again, you will have enough height to be in reach of other forced landing fields or options.

Huge respect for those that have the patience to sift through and then explain in plain English licencing. Thank you John and Matt!

Hi Jon, I flew G-BUFY (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) on a training flight out of EGLD, and was delighted to read beforehand that someone had had partial engine failure (650/700 RPM) on base on his first solo, in 1994. Carb heat was on. He didn't mess about - sent out a MAYDAY, and didn't stall her. Bloody legend, put her down in a field next to the M25, and (obviously) the aircraft lived enough to fly another day, and survive a couple of my landings. Whether he continued with flying is another question. If you want to look, it was an 06 departure and circuit. This was something that I always self-briefed (even though the FI would have taken control) so at least I'd know what to expect. I thoroughly enjoy this format, and thank you, Matt, your contribution is invaluable.

I liked the discussion format of this thought-provoking briefing.

Really interesting discussion. I did a flight with an instructor/examiner in the last week, and one of the in-flight scenarios was; 1) he said that engine power was reduced at 2500 agl over hilly terrain (8nm from the departure airport), 2) then he said that oil temp was rising and oil pressure falling, 3) so I began a search as I elected for a precautionary landing with power (we were near to a small private strip that I could not see), 4) and while turning and positioning for a generous field, he closed the throttle and said that the engine had failed, so 4) this became a PFL from a lower level than normal. It was a more genuine problem-solving experience than a simple close-the-throttle PFL, I thought.

All very good points, gentlemen. It seems, here in the colonies as well, that partial power is actually more likely fatal than complete engine failure. Our head of our Air Safety Institute had the bad luck to have enough power to almost get back to the airport before the babying you mentioned caused a stall. I feel, and my history confirms, that more incidents and accidents would likely cause fewer fatalities. I have been an instructor since 1974 when our Practical Test Standards were being developed to integrate instrument flying with contact flying and base test standards on instrumentation, mostly various V-speeds. Somewhere into 17,000 hours and 13 engine failures crop dusting and patrolling pipelines, I became convinced that the now Airmen Certification Standards were too instrument oriented and too high altitude oriented. My point of view, 200' AGL or less all day long, was that airspeed and not altitude was life. I always had plenty of airspeed, from level in low ground effect until cruise airspeed and then cruise climb or from ground effect in the crop field and then pitch to just over any obstruction. This extra free natural energy allowed me to maneuver with zoom reserve energy after failure. I came to the conclusion that neither Vx nor Vy was ever appropriate on our long runways. For actual short field I found ground effect energy until pitch up to just (not well) over the obstruction to be superior just as it was in the crop field. The ACS soft field takeoff technique is far more energy efficient than the ACS short field takeoff technique. The soft field technique is therefore a better short field technique than the roll on the ground until Vx or Vy as appropriate technique. I teach the dump the nose stall recovery technique I was taught in the middle of last century, but I also agree with Wolfgang (Stick and Rudder) that we need to pay attention to what the airplane wants to do. In a turn, where most inadvertent stalls happen too low to recover, the airplane (because of dynamic neutral stability) wants to pitch down. I teach my students to let it. If they have trimmed for Vy (too slow in my opinion but mine is not the reason why), the turn to crosswind and the turn to downwind (I see no reason to climb just here) will stay at Vy only if we release all back pressure on the yoke. And if we release back pressure in turns, no matter how steep, they will all be 1 g. Safety in the pattern where so much is going on could be improved, in my low altitude orientation, by letting the airplane do what it was designed to do to prevent stall. Too much information, as my wife says so often. Good briefing guys. I enjoyed it.

Love it

Thanks Jon. Always look forward to these.

Ok so I'm only at 13:18 minutes in. Gliding teaches you all you need to know. I'm not any sort of expert but the basics are the same when you don't have an engine. I don't understand why this isn't mandatory in learning how to fly. (Powered Pilots Pull, Glider Pilots Push, Lift is everything!) Absolute basic skills I think everyone should have that Fly Aircraft. Anyway, back on with it. Cheers from Down Under!

Great format and content, keep it up, it's a valuable resource. I started my flying in South Africa and my instructor was a 747 captain that started his career on Constellations, this provided me with a fantastic wealth of knowledge and experience. The EFATO routine was drilled into me time and time again until it became second nature. I've experienced two partial engine failures and numerous other issues, all non-events due to the excellent training. On returning to the UK I couldn't afford the power flying costs so I started gliding and eventually became a BGA instructor with numerous very long cross-country flights of circa 300 km as well as some thirty odd out-landings. In my very biased opinion, this is where I really learnt to fly. Every take-off in a powered aircraft is the same... if the engine fails now where's my field, this is repeated many times until at a suitable circuit height. The same is done throughout a flight.

Thanks Jon.very useful

Thank you for sharing this information, its a great help!

Good format, Jon

Do some gliding even if its only a few "winch launches" and a practice cable break procedure !!!

I think that if full power is restored it must be nigh on impossible to choose to land out rather than try to return to a runway. Perhaps training pilots to run a diagnostic ( carb heat, mags, fuel etc) whilst a suitable landing site is still achievable would be helpful and only when satisfied with the engine’s performance attempt a return to the runway. Interestingly, when considering the human factors/ response in different circumstances I recall flying a brand new PA28 that had just been released from a service and shortly after turning cross wind and preparing to leave the circuit I had engine vibrations and rough running. First thing I selected carb heat only for the engine to run even rougher. Laughingly my response was to think that’s not right and I pushed the carb heat back in. A moment later I realised the stupidity of this and re selected carb heat but the engine continued to run rough and within seconds I carried out further diagnostics to no avail. Luckily I had sufficient height and three quarters power to fly the aircraft to the cross runway and land without further drama. The subsequent cause was a severely fouled spark plug. Note to self, always be on high alert after an aircraft comes out of maintenance.