Originally Posted by
sheppey
Confirming by closing the throttle of the suspected failed engine is the generally accepted best practice by some instructors. Others do not accept this premise for sound reasons. It could have the unintended consequences of double engine loss of power if during the identification, the pilot in fact closes the wrong side throttle in his efforts to confirm which engine is dead.
Lets just extrapolate that scenario a bit further. If the pilot in question has misidentified and closed the wrong throttle, think how much more consequential it would be if he had gone directly to pulling the prop into feather without confirming by using the throttle.
Also if the wrong throttle is pulled back it won't require being moved anywhere close to closed before it is obvious the wrong lever has been used.
Originally Posted by
sheppey
No problem if that happens at cruise altitude but awfully embarrassing if shortly after lift off.
If the engine failure was due to a severe internal mechanical failure resulting in a rapid loss of RPM, and thus inability to feather below a certain RPM, any delay in feathering (caused by slowly closing the throttle to confirm the power loss) could be disastrous.
Yes, not being able to feather is a possibility but I'd suggest a very rare event and there are greater risks. Managing risk is so very important and I think statistics show very often pilots make a bad situation worse by rushing an emergency procedure. Taking time to properly confirm which engine has failed certainly reduces risk in my opinion.
As has been mentioned by others there is no one size fits all. Teaching one method just because that method may be better for another aircraft that may be flown in the future is misguided. The tuition needs to match the aircraft being flown.