Well I sort of thought someone would comment on my post.
So, Angle on fire allow me to elaborate on my thoughts and my methods of teaching.
The first time I could not unfeather was in a Piper Apache and it would not maintain on one because of another problem no one had caught, when checking the aircraft over subsequent to my being unable to maintain it was discovered that the nose wheel doors were not closing properly and that was enough to cause a 150 hp Apache do drift down.
In that instance I made it to a farm strip that I knew was close, otherwise I would have had to force land somewhere away from an airport.
On the second occasion the feather motor burnt out and the prop would not unfeather, I had feathered the left engine and unfeathered but the other pilot said he would like to see the unfeathering proceedure again so I feathered the right one, and when I was unable to unfeather I was now without an engine driven hydraulic pump. I will not bore you with the rest of the problems except to say we did manage to get the gear down and land the thing safely.
As to whether I should be teaching on or even flying multi engine aircraft I am not to worried about that as I do believe I know what I am doing.
Just today during our per flight briefing we discussed this very topic and everyone whom I am training were comfortable with my methods and my teaching ability.
My reference to VNE was tounge in cheek and not meant in the context you may have read it.....so I with draw that part of my comment.
However I will still submit that engine out flying skills can be taught by simulating rather than full feathering and shutdowns. And I support that by once again stating that having shut down an engine that is operating normally you have now put yourself in an emergency situation when none existed before the shut down......unless of course losing an engine is not an emergency situation in which case I am wrong.
For what it is worth I have had to shut engines down in conditions that were extreemly difficult from the high Arctic to the tropics and managed to get them all safely on the ground.
But hey if you are really serious about my not being competant teaching on and flying multi engine aircraft, PM me and maybe you can make some money teaching me how to do it.
But be forwarned when you get to the bit where you want to show me the airplane will still glide if the other one fails I will sit on the ground and you can show me your skills without me in it.
In any case I will go with what ever the regulators approve as far as my being able to teach and fly on these things, right now I am teaching under an approval from a JAA country and last time I checked it was not revoked.
Chuck
AML :
We as flight instructors all have slightly different methods, ideas and ways of teaching people how to safely fly aircraft.
My preference and method of teaching engine out airplane handling is to carefully and fully explain what we will be doing and what the airplane we are flying is capable of.
It is my personal opinion that if my student is capable of flying the aircraft properly with an engine in simulated feather thrust and then with the power brought bact to simulate performance below that of a feathered engine and they have performed the vital actions up to but not actually full feather they can and will complete the process should the need ever arise where the engine must be feathered........
......it is all in how well you program the student and how aware the student is of what the airplane will do and how skillful his/her flying is under your tutelage.
I am well aware that my methods will not sit well with many of my colleauges, but I will put my students up against anyone here as to their skill level and comprehension of what is happening during flight.
By the way there are many, many flying machines out there and they all have their own limits and systems, I could be wrong but some of the comments that are posted here are from people with a very limited exposure to a wide variety of flying machines.
Anyone want to discuss the issues that one will face in an engine failure in a Sikorsky S61 at all up weight and max collective up power limits with regard to the input clutches?
By the way it does not glide with both engines out worth a damn.
Chuck