What happened to the 2X EFATO thread ?

[Big Pistons Forever]

Ryan 5252

You said "What I wanted to clear up was that you cannot ask a person a question and then moan about their lack of response or attribute this to a lack of knowledge."

Actually I think I can. My feeling is for low hour pilots if the vital actions are not burned into the brain than they are unlikely to be actioned when the pressure is on. My personal experience is most PPL's have significant skill and knowledge fade after the flight test. I do not find this surprising as emergency procedures that are not regularly reviewed will fade.


You said "I am a keen pilot and a dedicated student (I say student because I am, like everyone else, still learning). I pay close attention to all aspects of my flight, before, during and after. I pay particular attention to the cause and effect of my actions and I am constantly looking at ways to improve and further this knowledge. Therefore I regret to say that 'your' students are not alone in being the 'least likely to actually have to deal with an EFATO" - it can happen to anyone and I for one also pay attention to what my aircraft is telling me not only during the power checks, but all the way down the runway too!"

So just what are you looking for in "power checks" ?

I am also curious as to what objective methods you use to determine what you describe in the part highlighted by me in red. Is it just "well it feels right" , or are you using some objective criteria like checking that the engine is actually making the POH minimum static RPM at the beginning of the takeoff roll and having a predetermined idea of a physical point down the runway where the aircraft should have attained rotation speed. Because if it is not based on soem objective criteria you are IMO fooling yourself

My experience with low houred PPL's is that their ability to make qualitative judgements on the performance or lack there of, was not very good due to their general lack of experience. You seem to think otherwise..... I hope for your sake you are right.


You said: "I flew yesterday afternoon in the clubs PA28 - just myself and 3 year old son on board. I can tell you know, if the engine stopped on the runway I'd be stopping the role in my own manner before looking for a checklist. (I would also vacate the aircraft and get him to a safe distance before securing the cabin and performing checklist items per the POH) Equally, in the event of an EFATO I would hope to god my training kicks in and I would do as I was taught, but to be honest, my priority is getting back on the ground in one piece and I will use whatever is available to me at the time to do so."

So the airplane is say accelerating through 40 knots and the engine just stops, no warning , no indication of fire, just sudden silence. Fom the above I gather you are going to stomp on the brakes and then just going to jump out of the aircraft and run around to the passenger side to unstrap your son while leaving the fuel and all electrics on, run away from the aircraft and then presumably leave your 3 yr old child unattended by the side of the runway while you return to the aircraft to "secure the cabin and perform the checklist items per the POH ".......

I would suggest a better way is to retard the throttle to idle and pull the mixture to ICO so there is no possibility the engine will suddenly roar back at full power as you are trying to brake (a possibilty with some failure modes), raise the flaps so that you are assured of maximim braking effectiveness, advise ATC so that the aircraft that is on final behind you knows that the runway is blocked and once having completed the above memory items while slowing down take 20 seconds after the aircraft has stopped to action the checklist which basically gets the aircraft systems shut down greatly reducing the possibility of a fire starting, and then get out of the aircraft and wait for help. Or in other words automatically followed the actions which you had mentally rehersed prior to takeoff and which will always effectively give you the starting point to deal with the EFATO emergency

You said: "Again, I do apologize if you felt my post was in anyway derogatory toward you as this was not my intent, but I do feel its only fair to be able to respond to your comments in a constructive way."

Frankly I did not find your comment in an earlier post

Quote Are you suggesting that without being taught to stop one is likely continue with the flight?? unquote ...very constructive.