I agree with the opinions / advice about flying the engine out departure – always follow your procedures.
As we have seen from many past accidents and indications from several currently under investigation, the problem of human error is underestimated.
The performance engineer has solved the difficult aspects; the pilot does not have to reassess or make judgement, just a confirming decision to follow the procedure. Even in VFR, the limitations of human vision and judgement can easily contribute to error, and some of the terrain clearances may appear very small.
Engine failures in modern aircraft are rare, especially those occurring at a critical point during the take off or in limiting conditions; the crew will be surprised, shocked; even fearful. The best course of action is to fly the aircraft accurately, maximising the safety margins in obstacle clearance, dealing with other surprising events (EPWS alert or EGPWS terrain popup). For failures after V1 the situation is always better, but the crew may not be able to judge by how much. Good procedure design will specify the last point of applicability e.g. start of the emergency turn; if the engine fails after that, then the normal procedure will be safe. However, in very difficult terrain there may be conditional procedures with branch points – see some of the operations out of Lugarno!
Refer to the PSM+ICR reports, especially for the
turboprop causes of accidents that show that loss of control was the dominat factor after an engine failure. Rule 1, fly the aircraft (following procedures), don’t get smart and try to out think people and procedures, this
is when
you make mistakes.
EOSID – there is nothing ‘standard’ about this. The procedure may be an emergency turn or emergency routing, it is an emergency. At an appropriate time after engine failure and completing essential drills, communicate with ATC to ‘tell’ them what your intentions are; this does not have to be very detailed – you are the one who requires assistance, and the one who has the overall responsibility for safety and the authority to fly a safe route. Don’t forget that ATC can also get excited and in being over-helpful with radar steers or advice they can give you misleading and possibly dangerous information.
Airbus operators should refer to the excellent publication “Getting to Grips with Performance” issued by Flt Ops Support in Toulouse, which explains many of the technical concepts discussed above.