Don't knock a little extra speed guys. Yes I read that article and don't remember him saying stay on the ground until blue line. Any article that did would be consigned to the bin as the rantings o an unthinking pilot.
1/. Holding the aircraft on the ground until blue line is plain dumb on a short runway and essentially counterproductive on a long one. It's a very bad habit IMO. It's the same mentality that causes people to approach at Blue Line, I've seen it!!...guys, often Instructors, landing Barons at YSBK in rain and barely getting it stopped. Some guys want to touch down at redline too...why?
2/. IMO after lift off get the wheels up as soon as positive rate of climb established and the let the aircraft accelerate in a gentle climb. Why climb at Vy/Vx? These numbers are essentially certification speeds which have very little meaning in day to day operations...how often have you operated off a runway where TODA=TODR? I have operated piston twins for thousands of hours in PNG and the answer for me is hardly ever...in Australia it would be a lot less of an issue.
99.9% of pilots faced with a real engine failure will sit there dumbfounded for a few seconds and in that time, if you are at Vy/Vx/Vyse the speed will bleed off and, in a typical piston twin you will have no way of getting those knots back other than to lower the nose...and if you are at less than a few hundred feet you will a/. Not have the altitude or, b/. most low experience pilots will not be prepared to lose that height and stagger on slowly bleeding speed until the inevitable happens...a VMCA induced loss of control or assy stall, depending on the DA.
If, on the other hand, you let the aircraft accelerate immediately and have Vyse + 10 or 15 knots asap when you lose an engine you will have time to get the failed engine secured and then peg Blue line as the speed bleeds back toward that figure. Even if there is a big tree off the end of the runway there is no requirement to climb steeply to miss it by 100s of feet...let the speed build up and ease the aircraft over it...think about how much you 'have' to miss it by!! Not much..even in 20.7.1b aircraft it's only 35'. Flight Manuals give TODR to clear a 50' obstacle...think about how low 50' is and then have a think about why you are climbing at Vx/Vy for more than a few seconds after liftoff!!!!
I would suggest that the difference in time/distance taken to achieve 50' after lift off no matter what you do is not worth worrying about.
If you actually find yourself lined up on a runway which is just long enough and has terrain/tall timber coincident with TODA I would suggest you have farked up big time just being there in the first place!!
Wheels up asap and accelerate straight to cruise climb unless there is a real good reason to do otherwise. Even departing at night towards a reasonable high, by Oz standards, LSALT...just do a climbing turn at a comfortable speed and depart overhead. Use the circuit/circling area to allow nice wide buffers in both altitude and speed.
And DO NOT rush that first power reduction after lift off...not because 'that's when it will fail' but because you want maximum power to get away from the ground at a speed comfortably in excess of Vy/Vx/Vyse. If the Flight Manual says you have a 5 minute limit at takeoff power (very rare in light piston twins) then why pull it back after 1 minute? If it's an IO520/550 why pull it back at all? Max continuous is balls to the wall on those engines...leave em there!!
Most twins used in commercial ops these days (C402/PA60/Barons/Chieftains etc) will, if loaded properly for the ambient conditions climb on one or at least maintain height on one engine, and if you are too heavy the ROD is very low and you should have time for a controlled belly landing at Vmca +.
Chuck.
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 22nd Apr 2003 at 07:42.