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Old 30th Nov 2019, 07:01
  #36 (permalink)  
TheOddOne
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Down at the sharp pointy end, where all the weather is made.
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The accident statistics also hint that for every full engine failure there are probably at least 2 partial engine failures. This is never taught at flight schools but the decision making for a partial engine failure is a lot harder than for a full engine failure
They do indeed, and in the UK, the outcome from a partial failure is usually a lot worse than the total failure.
We certainly do teach partial failure drill. The first question for the student is 'how can you tell you've a partial failure?' The answer I'm looking for is 'loss of altitude'. This generally places one in a worse position than a total failure. We teach levelling off at whgatever power is available. If it is at or above the minimum safe manoeuvring speed, then provided terrain is OK, continue to nearest suitable airfield, looking for landing ground along the way. Once secured, then look for a reason, change tank, pump on, carb ht etc. One of my favourites is the primer, it's happened to me and air leaking by an open primer can seriously affect the power output.
I generally, then turn it into a total failure.
In the classic sudden total failure training, we teach
1. Best glide
2. Pick a field, fly circuit to this field.
3. Look for failure. I like to work left to right in the PA28, as fuel is the most common cause.
4. No failure found, MAYDAY, brief pax
5. On final for the field, once any electric flap setting complete, master off, mixture ICO, fuel off, door open etc.

Historically in the UK, there have been failures caused by pax interference 'I wonder what this red knob does?' In a recent case, a pilot admitted knocking the mags off with their knee! In another case, 2 PPLs crashed downwind running out of fuel with 2 hours remaining in the other tank...

The complete course is 45 hours. You can't possibly bring the average student to a high state of competence in that time in all aspects, so we can only do our best to cover everything. The Club environment helps I think for students to mix with PPLs and get more out of chatting with other people more experienced.

TOO
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