USMCmech
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2005
- Posts
- 259
Obiously flying in the clouds with only one engine has it's risks, but is it unsafe? Same goes for over water, over rough terain, at night.
My view is "it depends".
There are plenty of aircraft flying around that are borderline unsafe for day VFR, and many of those meet the legal requirements to fly IFR if they wish.
OTOH there are plenty of singles which are well maintained and have redunant systems flown by skilled pilots who know what they are doing. I don't see any problem flying these planes.
First off lets talk about the engine which is the only thing seperating you from a very bad situation. In my experiance the engine is actually one of the most robust parts of the plane. Sudden total engine failure not due to fuel exaustion/starvation or carb ice, are extreamly rare (they do happen however). If you are flying along and your engine "just quits all of a sudden" it's probably the fault of the dummy behind the wheel. Most often the engine will suffer some sort of partial failure and continue making some power, while giving you time to get to a landing site.
Much more common are system failures were the vacume pump or alternator decide to quit. This is were most singles show their disadvantage. Most only have one vacum pump and the alternator is only backed up by a battery that will run most essential items for only 30 minutes. Thats IF and only IF you catch the failure right away. If you are not alert you can slowly drain the battery untill the lights start diming, then you are back in the 1920s.
Of the two I consider an electrical faiure much more dangerous in the clouds, all your radios, transponder, CDIs, RMI, turn cordinator, HSI, and lights, are now running on a very short clock depending on how good you battery is.
A vacum failure will also really put you up a smelly creek with only a small paddle. Unless you regually pratice useing the TC as your primary reference you will really struggle to keep the plane right side up.
Guess which one the FAA thinks you should train for?
Most important of all, the pilot. Most singles which are flown IFR are done so by "weekend wariors" like myself. Unless you regulary practice IFR skills disapear fast. Currently I havent been IFR current for a couple of years. Therfore I don't consider myself IFR capable. If I find myself in the clouds I'm going to find my way out FAST! The writting on my pilots liscense won't help me fly the plane. Many others flying IFR only when required have skills which are not as up to date as they should be. The requirements for flying aproaches within the last 6 months help, but since many of those are under the hood, they still don't fully prepare you for the real thing.
I think putting all your faith in any airplane single or twin is less than wise. Anything man made can and will fail eventually. Even airliners have hundreds of items where a single failure could be disastrous.
However I think pilots spend far to much time talking about equipment instead of looking in the mirror. Most crashes happen because the pilot flew a perfectly good airplane into the ground. Loss of controll, fuel exaustion, CFIT, are all pilot error wehre the plane held up it's part of the bargin, but the pilot didn't.
My view is "it depends".
There are plenty of aircraft flying around that are borderline unsafe for day VFR, and many of those meet the legal requirements to fly IFR if they wish.
OTOH there are plenty of singles which are well maintained and have redunant systems flown by skilled pilots who know what they are doing. I don't see any problem flying these planes.
First off lets talk about the engine which is the only thing seperating you from a very bad situation. In my experiance the engine is actually one of the most robust parts of the plane. Sudden total engine failure not due to fuel exaustion/starvation or carb ice, are extreamly rare (they do happen however). If you are flying along and your engine "just quits all of a sudden" it's probably the fault of the dummy behind the wheel. Most often the engine will suffer some sort of partial failure and continue making some power, while giving you time to get to a landing site.
Much more common are system failures were the vacume pump or alternator decide to quit. This is were most singles show their disadvantage. Most only have one vacum pump and the alternator is only backed up by a battery that will run most essential items for only 30 minutes. Thats IF and only IF you catch the failure right away. If you are not alert you can slowly drain the battery untill the lights start diming, then you are back in the 1920s.
Of the two I consider an electrical faiure much more dangerous in the clouds, all your radios, transponder, CDIs, RMI, turn cordinator, HSI, and lights, are now running on a very short clock depending on how good you battery is.
A vacum failure will also really put you up a smelly creek with only a small paddle. Unless you regually pratice useing the TC as your primary reference you will really struggle to keep the plane right side up.
Guess which one the FAA thinks you should train for?
Most important of all, the pilot. Most singles which are flown IFR are done so by "weekend wariors" like myself. Unless you regulary practice IFR skills disapear fast. Currently I havent been IFR current for a couple of years. Therfore I don't consider myself IFR capable. If I find myself in the clouds I'm going to find my way out FAST! The writting on my pilots liscense won't help me fly the plane. Many others flying IFR only when required have skills which are not as up to date as they should be. The requirements for flying aproaches within the last 6 months help, but since many of those are under the hood, they still don't fully prepare you for the real thing.
I think putting all your faith in any airplane single or twin is less than wise. Anything man made can and will fail eventually. Even airliners have hundreds of items where a single failure could be disastrous.
However I think pilots spend far to much time talking about equipment instead of looking in the mirror. Most crashes happen because the pilot flew a perfectly good airplane into the ground. Loss of controll, fuel exaustion, CFIT, are all pilot error wehre the plane held up it's part of the bargin, but the pilot didn't.
.
