"I sat there for about five seconds taking in what just happened."
I had an "interesting" experience a few weeks ago while instructing in our Beechcraft Baron 58 (twin engine aircraft).
I had recently received a multi-engine student who had been flying with one of our other instructors and was reassigned to me. We met for our first lesson together and he brought his lesson sheet, which contained everything that needed to be covered and what he and the other instructor had previously accomplished. As we were taxiing to the runway I decided that we would do a simulated engine failure during the take-off roll. Generally, this is done by the instructor pulling one of the mixtures to cut-off or by pressing on either the left or right brake after full power is set and it starts rolling for take-off. Either of these methods work to simulate an engine failure on the take-off roll and I have used both methods in the past. What it does is pull the aircraft (left or right) towards the "dead" engine because of asymmetrical thrust.
We lined up on the runway center-line and he set full power for take-off. Our school policy requires the instructor to simulate the engine failure pretty much right after full power is set before much speed has been attained and this is exactly what I did. What I didn't expect was what followed.
As always, I am ready to take over the controls if the students fails to take the proper action for a take-off engine failure. In my mind I reminded myself which way the plane would turn when I failed the left engine. Upon him setting full power I grabbed the left mixture and brought it full aft, which kills the gas going to the left engine. As expected, the Baron started to turn to the left. I waited for his response of both throttles to idle and directional control with rudder peddles. Neither of these happened. He froze! Before I could even react, the aircraft turned 90 degrees to the left and exited the runway on the dirt. We both worked at getting the plane to a stop, but not before all three tires had left the runway and we were sitting in the weeds.
I sat there for about five seconds taking in what just happened. It was the first time in my flying career that I had allowed a student to lose control of an airplane on the runway.
We looked outside the airplane and looked at each other, both relieved that we were stopped and nothing appeared to be damaged. I was shocked that the right propeller had not struck the ground due to such a drastic turn to the left, which lowered the right wing closer to the ground. The props come within about a foot off the ground during normal ground operations. I was also immediately concerned that the hard turn had put excessive stress on the right landing gear.
Within seconds, the control tower asked us if needed any assistance. I told him to stand-by (I needed to evaluate our situation). Even though my heart was racing and in the back of mind I wondered if I would still have a job after this, I knew that we needed to assess the situation and get the aircraft out of the weeds and back onto the runway. I looked outside and in front of us and it seemed that the area was flat enough that I could turn the plane to the right and get back on the runway. I really didn't want to have to get towed out of the weeds because I knew that it would shut the runway down while we were being pulled out. At the same time, I wanted to be reasonably sure that I could maneuver the Baron back onto the runway myself without making the situation worse and causing more damage, if any had already occurred. Both engines were still running at idle so I cranked the left engine and right rudder to accomplish a hard turn to the right. With ease, the Baron crept back onto the runway and we taxied back to the parking area; neither of us were in the mood to go fly after that.
As we taxied back to our parking spot we heard those words from tower that no pilot ever wants to hear: "Baron -----, contact the tower after parking." This usually means, "Hey, you screwed up and we want to talk to you."
After we secured the airplane back at the parking spot, we gave it a thorough inspection for any visible damage. Thank God there was none. As we walked over to the tower, I told him I did not know if this would be recorded as an incident or not, which goes down on the pilot's FAA record. We climbed the stairs up to the tower and the tower chief was there. I know all the tower guys and they are really neat people. He asked if we were alright and if there was any visible damage to the airplane or runway equipment. I told him that fortunately, we missed any runway lights and no damage was sustained by the plane. He kind of chuckled, and said no report was necessary. Whew! We chewed the fat for a few more minutes with him and then my student and I left. Now I needed to tell my boss, the chief flight instructor, what happened.
It was a weekend so he was not there that day. I did not know the repercussions from such a situation and I was not going to wait until Monday to tell him. I decided to give him a call at home. Long story short, he just gave me advice on how he simulates the engine failure and thanked me for calling him to tell him. End of story.
I told him that I would advise maintenance of the occurrence so that the aircraft could be lifted in order to swing the landing gear a few times just to make sure.
WHAT I LEARNED:
After thinking about it, I decided that I should have discussed with the student what I was going to do because this was the first time we had done this particular emergency procedure together. He and his previous instructor had done this procedure, but it was our first time doing this together. Also, my boss told me to gradually bring a mixture back instead of ripping it back (as I was erroneously taught to do for simulated engine failure) or just use a brake. He also told me that I should be ready to pull back BOTH mixtures if the training maneuver goes sour in order to get rid of all thrust.
I'd rather have learned all of that the easy way, but maybe someone reading this will learn from my experience.
I had an "interesting" experience a few weeks ago while instructing in our Beechcraft Baron 58 (twin engine aircraft).
I had recently received a multi-engine student who had been flying with one of our other instructors and was reassigned to me. We met for our first lesson together and he brought his lesson sheet, which contained everything that needed to be covered and what he and the other instructor had previously accomplished. As we were taxiing to the runway I decided that we would do a simulated engine failure during the take-off roll. Generally, this is done by the instructor pulling one of the mixtures to cut-off or by pressing on either the left or right brake after full power is set and it starts rolling for take-off. Either of these methods work to simulate an engine failure on the take-off roll and I have used both methods in the past. What it does is pull the aircraft (left or right) towards the "dead" engine because of asymmetrical thrust.
We lined up on the runway center-line and he set full power for take-off. Our school policy requires the instructor to simulate the engine failure pretty much right after full power is set before much speed has been attained and this is exactly what I did. What I didn't expect was what followed.
As always, I am ready to take over the controls if the students fails to take the proper action for a take-off engine failure. In my mind I reminded myself which way the plane would turn when I failed the left engine. Upon him setting full power I grabbed the left mixture and brought it full aft, which kills the gas going to the left engine. As expected, the Baron started to turn to the left. I waited for his response of both throttles to idle and directional control with rudder peddles. Neither of these happened. He froze! Before I could even react, the aircraft turned 90 degrees to the left and exited the runway on the dirt. We both worked at getting the plane to a stop, but not before all three tires had left the runway and we were sitting in the weeds.
I sat there for about five seconds taking in what just happened. It was the first time in my flying career that I had allowed a student to lose control of an airplane on the runway.
We looked outside the airplane and looked at each other, both relieved that we were stopped and nothing appeared to be damaged. I was shocked that the right propeller had not struck the ground due to such a drastic turn to the left, which lowered the right wing closer to the ground. The props come within about a foot off the ground during normal ground operations. I was also immediately concerned that the hard turn had put excessive stress on the right landing gear.
Within seconds, the control tower asked us if needed any assistance. I told him to stand-by (I needed to evaluate our situation). Even though my heart was racing and in the back of mind I wondered if I would still have a job after this, I knew that we needed to assess the situation and get the aircraft out of the weeds and back onto the runway. I looked outside and in front of us and it seemed that the area was flat enough that I could turn the plane to the right and get back on the runway. I really didn't want to have to get towed out of the weeds because I knew that it would shut the runway down while we were being pulled out. At the same time, I wanted to be reasonably sure that I could maneuver the Baron back onto the runway myself without making the situation worse and causing more damage, if any had already occurred. Both engines were still running at idle so I cranked the left engine and right rudder to accomplish a hard turn to the right. With ease, the Baron crept back onto the runway and we taxied back to the parking area; neither of us were in the mood to go fly after that.
As we taxied back to our parking spot we heard those words from tower that no pilot ever wants to hear: "Baron -----, contact the tower after parking." This usually means, "Hey, you screwed up and we want to talk to you."
After we secured the airplane back at the parking spot, we gave it a thorough inspection for any visible damage. Thank God there was none. As we walked over to the tower, I told him I did not know if this would be recorded as an incident or not, which goes down on the pilot's FAA record. We climbed the stairs up to the tower and the tower chief was there. I know all the tower guys and they are really neat people. He asked if we were alright and if there was any visible damage to the airplane or runway equipment. I told him that fortunately, we missed any runway lights and no damage was sustained by the plane. He kind of chuckled, and said no report was necessary. Whew! We chewed the fat for a few more minutes with him and then my student and I left. Now I needed to tell my boss, the chief flight instructor, what happened.
It was a weekend so he was not there that day. I did not know the repercussions from such a situation and I was not going to wait until Monday to tell him. I decided to give him a call at home. Long story short, he just gave me advice on how he simulates the engine failure and thanked me for calling him to tell him. End of story.
I told him that I would advise maintenance of the occurrence so that the aircraft could be lifted in order to swing the landing gear a few times just to make sure.
WHAT I LEARNED:
After thinking about it, I decided that I should have discussed with the student what I was going to do because this was the first time we had done this particular emergency procedure together. He and his previous instructor had done this procedure, but it was our first time doing this together. Also, my boss told me to gradually bring a mixture back instead of ripping it back (as I was erroneously taught to do for simulated engine failure) or just use a brake. He also told me that I should be ready to pull back BOTH mixtures if the training maneuver goes sour in order to get rid of all thrust.
I'd rather have learned all of that the easy way, but maybe someone reading this will learn from my experience.
*Baron 58 photo courtesy of Raytheon Aircraft Co.
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