Emergency Descent

[El Cid Av8or]

Pick the place you want to land!

I say pick the place you want to land because a grassy field is a heck of a lot easier to land on than a forest. I would not do any level out manuever if I didn't have to but would plan my descent and approach to landing as if both engines were out, plane is on fire, we got to get down now. Levelling out in a twin or heavy single with no power can be like flying a refrigerator (they don't fly too well either).

On second thought, if you're considering "levelling out" to be transitioning from the emergency descent attitude to landing attitude, the 500ft AGL would be better since you get down quicker. You should have already called your emergency and other aircraft should have cleared (vacated) the area for you. No pattern should be necessary. Maybe I'm not experienced enough yet, but if the plane is on fire, I want to get down now, no time to fly the landing pattern.

Ask an examiner what he/she would want to see.

 

[Rush Limbaugh]

Pick where you land but don't go to high key. In fact, I don't know why anyone would ever go to high key in a light single. The reason high key exists (at least in my little world) is because you may have too much altitude to lose in a short distance and if you tried to go direct to final, your landing speed would be way too hot. That's an important concept in a jet with a 4,000 to 5,000 foot landing roll compounded by limited braking with no engine running. You certainly don't want to land hot. In a light single, you could descent at Vne to short final and still have a reasonable landing. All high key is going to do is prolong the time you're airborne allowing the fire to persist and since you don't have the option of jumping out of the airplane, I would recommend getting it on the ground immediately but in a place you pick.

 

[Rush Limbaugh]

I don't think it was "wrong" but could you really have the ability to maneuver like that if you really had no engine and were on fire? Keep any emergency procedure as simple as you can. The entire thing may have seemed like 30 seconds but I doubt it was that short. If you go straight for final and you are high, you can slip. If you circle from a high key position, you have a higher probablity of screwing it up and ending up low on final. Not the place you want to be with no thrust. You may be very proficient at it as a CFI but would you want a 20 hour solo student trying that? Flying techniques are just like arseholes. Everybody has one and they all stink. Do what you think is best but the best thing to when the airplane is getting sick is to keep it as simple as you can. You have the rest of your life to recover the airplane and if you start getting too complicated, the "rest of your life" may not be as long as you would like.

If you routinely practice a high key pattern, you shouldn't have any problem executing one if you need to. It takes more than just overflying a landing site and executing a descending 360 to a landing. First of all you need to know how much altitude your airplane will lose at a given bank angle while making such a turn. Second, you need to set gates to judge performance and probability of success. For example, you should know the minimum altitude you need at high key to make the turn. The second gate should be low key which like you said is just as you start the base turn and the last gate is called base key which is halfway through the final turn. If you are grossly under one of them, you know you need to abort the pattern and look for somewhere else to land. My recommendation is to fly every single one of them the same way and only vary them for the wind. Unfortunately, not too many light singles are equipped with an INS so you really don't know exactly what the winds are but don't forget to respect them. And remember that your altitude gates should all be based on a glide at max range AOA so if you have extra smash and you are low at high key, you can trade airspeed for altidude at some point along the pattern. I would highly recommend that you be on your set parameters no later than base key so you can use all your brain bytes to get the airplane safely on the ground rather than making corrections that could have been made earlier. The bottom line is that when you have an emergency, no matter what it is, remember not to do anything dumb, dangerous or different. If you haven't practiced a new procedure in a good airplane, you shouldn't try it for the first time in a sick one (unless of course you haven't practiced any procedure to fix your problem).

 

[172driver]

No one has mentioned that the entire reason for the emerg descent is to provide so much air to the fire that it goes out. You can't argue what you would do in a real life emergency situation because you don't know all of the factors. Did the fire go out when you cut the fuel off? In the descent? If it did, you would be wise to transition to Vg ASAP. If not, you better not slow down until landing requires it. I guarantee if there are flames licking your feet, you will not be thinking about high key, low key or any other silly terms but putting it on the ground now.

 

[Rush Limbaugh]

You're right. I was looking at it mostly from an engine out point of view and not a fire. Of course if I have a fire "licking my feet" I'm going to start another fire under my butt in the form of rocket power and give the airplane back to the taxpayer. Not an option in a light single.