PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Partial engine failure in C182 and emergency landing video.
Old 27th Dec 2012, 16:49
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Big Pistons Forever
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Canada
Age: 63
Posts: 5,172
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I think the pilot did a great job. He concentrated on the only thing that matters in this situation flying the airplane, he then took the safest option, a controlled touchdown in a field straight ahead The only way he could have improved on his performance would have been to perform a quick cause check to see if he could restore engine power. However given the low altitude and work load a decision to Just concentrate on flying the aircraft can't be faulted.

Unfortunately it is extremely unlikely that any of the forced landing training he got in his PPL helped him prepare for this kind of partial failure situation. Instead his training was probably all about the least likely scenario, a total sudden engine failure with no warning.

A partial engine failure, like the one this pilot experienced, is more likely than a full failure and in some ways more difficult to deal with as you will have more choices to make.

I tell my students the first thing is to go to level flight attitude and see if the aircraft will maintain Vy airspeed. If it will consider a flight path that will return you to the airport while maintaining a landable option if further engine power is lost. If unable to maintain level flight with the remaining power I tell students to close the throttle and plan a touchdown on the nearest landable surface, reapplying power as required to help the manoever.

With respect to the comment about breathing, all the training in the world won't prepare you for the stress of a real no s*hit emergency....

Finally in the best Pprune spirit of pedantry above all, I wish to point out that his checklist is wrong. The flashing beacon should be turned on prior to engine start not prior to entering the runway
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