ME decisions questions.

[saviboy]

I) Established on an ILS after FAP, if engine goes out on a Baron, do u feather or troubleshoot?
II) 4 ways to know the gear is safely down and locked:
1) green lights
2) Manifold pressure horn( less than 14 inches)
3) Flaps horn
4) mirror if equipped
5) red light not on? (not sure about this one since when gear UP and locked red light is off)

any other thoughts?

III)both engines fail night imc how are you going to configure the airplane for crash landing i.e. flaps and gear ,etc...
Thanks

 

[Ralgha]

I) Feather it, land.

II) 5) red light not on will work, it's on if the gear is unsafe, so it being out is good.
6) Not requiring full power to taxi off the runway is also a good sign that the gear is down.

III) Night IMC huh? Good freaking luck. I'd go with props feather, flaps down, gear...up probably, and best sink rate vs. forward speed speed. Do we get to break out of the clouds at all or is it solid to the ground?

 

[MTpilot]

Night IMC is fun!

I and II I agree with ralgha.

As far as III goes, just don't run out of gas, otherwise it's restart because you have surely done something stupid.

 

[SkyWestCRJPilot]

I'll just address the first one.

I) I think there's information missing. It all depends. Say once the engine quits and you get the aircraft under control you are now almost full deflection. Are you going down to minimums or going to break out at 1000' agl? What's the weather like at other airports? How much fuel do you have? Are you in mountainous terrain? What's your experience in the aircraft? Can you maintain a positive rate of climb? Are you heavy or light? Perhaps it's best to slow down and stop the approach and make some decisions. If there's no reason to get on the ground now (low fuel, can't maintain positive rate of climb) I would seriously consider figuring out what you're going to do. Now if you're a freight dog having flown this approach a hundred times and you are completely capable of feathering the engine and completing the checklist within 10 seconds because you know your airplane that well then that's another thing. If it's night IFR and you're in mountainous terrain and heavy then the only place you're going is down so you might as well follow the glideslope to the runway. But there's been numerous fatalities where someone lost an engine and simply lost control and many of those were VFR. They got rushed and wanted to get the airplane on the ground when they could have flown around perfectly well for a long time on one engine getting things under control and making some good decisions. Instead they are dead now. It all depends. That's why they pay you the big bucks to make those smart PIC decisions.

 

[Ralgha]

I disagree. At approach power settings, you're not going to be at full deflection after an engine failure, and a smart pilot would not have bothered to start the approach unless the weather would allow a landing (unless for practice but I'm ignoring that). Any pilot flying alone IMC should be well-practiced enough to be able to "identify, verify, feather" while on an approach and maintaining control. Forget the checklist, just feather it and keep going, probably not even worry about the mixture. Inside the FAF, sole pilot, IMC is not a place to be running checklists or troubleshooting anything. Throw another pilot into the mix, and everything changes.

 

[minitour]

I disagree. At approach power settings, you're not going to be at full deflection after an engine failure, and a smart pilot would not have bothered to start the approach unless the weather would allow a landing (unless for practice but I'm ignoring that). Any pilot flying alone IMC should be well-practiced enough to be able to "identify, verify, feather" while on an approach and maintaining control. Forget the checklist, just feather it and keep going, probably not even worry about the mixture. Inside the FAF, sole pilot, IMC is not a place to be running checklists or troubleshooting anything. Throw another pilot into the mix, and everything changes.

Keep in mind I have very limited experience as I type this, but I agree.

Get it feathered and get it down...if you need to go missed (and if you can), get established in the hold and then secure it....but....I'm betting in most lighter twins, you won't be going missed on one engine.

Like you said, 1. Fly the plane, Identify, Verify, Feather...deal with the rest later. Unless you've got another pilot with you.

-mini

 

[Pilot_Ryan]

Am I going to break out above minimums? If so, my answer is neither. Leave it alone and land. Do not feather, do not troubleshoot. Finish the approach and land.

Do I stand a good chance of going missed? I'll briefly consider going to an airport with better weather, if one exists. If not, mixture idle, prop feather, now ignore the sick engine, fly the approach and land.