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Old 1st April 2011 | 11:43
  #43 (permalink)  
SNS3Guppy
 
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,218
Likes: 2
From: USA
You also said I don't understand what Vmca means. It's a pity you can't concisely correct my misunderstanding, rather than referring me back to the same posts that I had misunderstood earlier. Generally, when someone misunderstands something I say, I try to re-word it to help them understand.
I tend to speak for myself, not for you. Perhaps you shall do the same. What I should or shouldn't do insofar as what you might say is entirely irrelevant, so long as I'm making my own posts. When you begin making my posts, by all means go ahead and determine what should be in them. Repeating material which has been presented several times isn't necessary and won't be happening.

i have also been put off flying twins for life!
Why would you be put off multi-engine flying? It's safe, fun, and productive.

A multi-engine airplane is not inherently difficult. Certain aspects of it's behavior, namely flying with one engine inoperative at low speeds, merit attention, but are easily addressed. The multi-engine airplane is not a flying deathtrap.

If you intend to fly a conventional gear airplane, then learning about handling a tailwheel is in your best interest. It takes specific instruction.

If you intend to fly instruments, then learning about instrument flight is necessary. Specific instruction is required.

If you intend to fly a multi-engine airplane, then dedicated, specific instruction is given. No different than if you intend do do anything else in aviation.

In light multi-engine airplanes, in many cases the loss of one engine will not permit the airplane to retain altitude for long, or at all. Only a few light piston twins have much of a single engine service ceiling. Think of it this way, however; you have a lot more options in the twin than you do in a single, following the loss of one engine. You've also got additional generators, additional hydraulic pumps, additional vacuum pumps, additional fuel pumps and fuel options, etc. With the twin you've got greater all-engine speed, climb performance, and in many cases, comfort.

Then again, you've also got much greater expense.

Multi-engine airplanes shouldn't frighten, but only beg for understanding. Flying one is just another trick in your bag of tricks, nothing more. The single most important thing you need to understand about losing an engine in a light twin comes into play when being slow and carrying power on the good engine, and it's drilled into you time and time again during training until it's a very simple concept to remember and understand; sometimes when directional control becomes an issue, the only remaining choice is to retard power on the good engine. Once that concept is internalized and you understand from experience why you shouldn't get too slow, you realize that losing an engine isn't really an emergency (a concept that your instructor in single engine airplanes should have also instilled). It's just another phase of flight for which you can easily be trained.
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