Engine failures in a light twin result in a loss of the airplane far too many times throughout the world. Airplanes like the B200 that should be easily controllable are thrown into the ground by even professional pilots. I can accept that a PA31 with 10 people on board has no chance of being flown away if the engine should fail below, say, 300 feet, but at least the impact should be under control at the lowest possible speed for maximum survivability.
I was taught as a sprat to always confirm the engine failure before feathering. In some airplanes this is easy to do because (like in a B200) the torque and EGT will show the loss of power but for a piston twin the instruments are not much use.
The procedure for the piston airplanes was to decide the engine failed side by the dead foot method, with full throttle both engines then confirm by closing the throttle (does anyone have a better way?). If the yaw remained the same then the failure was confirmed, if not, try the other one. A partial failure would be detected this way as well.
But should the feather be quicker than that? Is there time to do this and is it necessary? After deciding which engine has failed by the dead leg, just go ahead and feather it without confirmation? Most POH procedures do not call for confirmation, but jump straight to feather.
If the rpm of a piston engine drops below 1000 the prop will not feather, and closing the throttle could cause the rpm to drop if, say, the engine had failed due to a mechanical issue rather than a fuel stoppage and then the prop would not feather. As well as the extra time taken.
In the PT6 and Garrett airplanes there are problems with decoupled props and failed FCUs that have the engine still running but out of control or the prop dragging despite good power from the engine. Closing the throttle would cause the prop to go into a high drag state so a quick feather is preferable to trying to fly inverted. The Garrett remains in full throttle all the time to protect the NTS/Beta state but I remember closing the throttle in the PT6. and RR Dart but could it actually hurt?
Is it time (at least for me) to move out of the past? Should I confirm by using the throttle at least in a light twin piston airplane or not?