EMERGENCY PROCEDURES AND LANDINGS

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flyguy
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EMERGENCY PROCEDURES AND LANDINGS

Post by flyguy »

I suppose there are more techniques for handling an in-flight emergency than there are actual emergencies. The thing is to be able to recall the best technique when you are faced that emergency!

I am going to offer a little "approach to landing" technique that was taught to me (I know 'a long time ago') for a sucessful landing with a dead or dying engine. It makes little difference whether your chosen landing site is a runway at an approved airport (preferable) or the best field you have available when the emergency rears its ugly head! If you over-shoot or under-shoot with a dead engine you have little recourse but to hope for the best. (One of our members here can attest to that fact due to a recent incident.)

If you make all of your decent from what ever altitude you have had your problem, to the approach end of your chosen landing site, at best glide speed, and considering the wind, start a figure eight pattern just a short distance (less than a half mile) from your intended touchdown point, a turn on to a short final will assure reaching that spot sucessfully. In the figure eights you never turn away from the runway (that is all the turns at each end are toward the touchdown spot) and you can turn on to final out of that figure eight any time you get to the altitude you need for your short final.

One very important part of any emergency is """FIRST, FLY THE PLANE""" :!:
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Bill Venohr
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Post by Bill Venohr »

FlyGuy--so the axis of the 8 is perpendicular to the runway? I'll have to give it a try--I like the idea of a maneuver that keeps me in a position to get to the runway from any point.

Another aspect--practice, preferably with an instructor, so that it is a well understood maneuver and not for the first time. Early in my flying career I had an instructor pull an engine on me in a Lance. We were near a good runway so I did the appropriate things to get there. We reached the point where every previous instructor gave me back power, but he didn't. I had misjudged my altitude and how quickly the Lance would descend and had to make a landing from a less than ideal position. Nothing unsafe, but it got my attention. Lesson learned--I'm glad he did that.
Bill Venohr
N4044V
Aurora, CO
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GAHorn
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Emergency Landings

Post by GAHorn »

Flyguys suggestion is a good one, ...one of many techniques (whatever works, right?) that are intended to have a favorable outcome.
I'd like to point out what I believe is the first element of success (after pulling FULL CARB HEAT) is ,>> ..SELECTION OF A PLACE OF INTENDED LANDING.
This first action will be more important than any other technique you adopt. All the practice in the world (at least all the practice you've likely ever done) is made with an idling engine. The day your engine gives trouble it may be idling. It may be shaking. It could have thrown oil all over your windshield. Or it could be totally stopped. (Or worse, it could be totally stopped and twisted completely sideways due to a thrown propeller blade.)
Here's the point. The first and most important criteria is that you must quickly decide upon a field that is closer than necessary. Then, if you have multiple choices, you refine your selection to type of surface, orientation to the wind, length, obstacles, etc.
This is because any technique that involves manuevering is going to eat up altitude, and any engine trouble that results in more drag than an idling engine is going to negate all the training in the world practiced that way.
So, you've picked a place that's really obvious that you'll have excessive altitude? Good. You've looked it over for approach obstacles, and you've noticed the surface wind and which direction you're going to approach it? (Notice that this third element, surface wind, is important. Ten knots of wind from the tail vs ten knots on the nose makes a 20 knot ! difference if you hit something.
Now all you have to do is get over that field with excess altitude. Two or three thousand feet of excess altitude over a large pasture is better than hitting the trees 100 feet short of an East Texas uncontrolled airport. When you get directly over that spot of landing with excess altitude, the entire object from that point on is to get in a position from which you can enter downwind normally, and make as near-normal a traffic pattern as possible. If you're 2K or 3K above the field when you get over it, so much the better. Gliding at best glide speed while circling down to pattern altitude is time that you'll spend trying to find the problem. Carb heat is already on (right?). Fuel selector to fullest tank. (Even if previously on both. Maybe moving the selector will dislodge whatever may be clogging it.) Mags checked.
Now what does "Mags checked" mean? Does it mean, switch to Left, switch to Both, switch to Right, switch to Both,....like you're performing a runup? No. No. No. If you've developed engine troubles while running on Both mags, then taking actions that returns you to that condition is unlikely to do anything other than let the condition (engine trouble) continue. "Mags Checked" means making certain the mags ARE on Both. Then trying Mags on Left...and wait 15 seconds (an eternity) and then switching to Mags on Right...and wait 15 seconds (all of which has just cost you 300 feet of altitude at best glide speed.) But if the reason your engine is shaking and shuddering and won't develop power is because one mag sheared a set of distributor rotor teeth and is firing each of it's cylinders at the beginning of their compression strokes, then your engine will barely be able to idle, but it'll be shaking and popping like you've never heard. If that's the mag you switch to first the situation may remain the same or even worsen. A fast click through a mag check may dismiss your opportunity to get things running again. A 15 second period on the good mag will make things come back to almost full power.
In any case, when you get switched onto a good mag, ...then leave it there and proceed to the nearest airport.
OK. We've checked mags correctly, ..and that didn't help. Mixture full rich. Pump the throttle (employs the carb accelerator pump). Check the primer,...locked? (This last possiblility, open primer, is more likely to result in too rich a mixture and a rough engine rather than complete stoppage, and it's unlikely you'd have had a successful preflight runup with it open, so it's last on my list.) Anyway, you've checked everything you can, and nothing has helped. Declare an emergency on whatever frequency you were on AND 121.5 and hit the panic button....(that little red button that activates your ELT. Those things are notorious for not going off due to faulty G-switches, and the higher you are when your ELT starts broadcasting, the more likely it'll be heard.)
Well, you've been spending your gliding time with productive activity, and now you're nearing pattern atltitude. Plan your descending turns over the field so as to enter downwind at normal altitudes (approx 1,000 ft above the landing point.) Make a normal downwind, a slightly early turn to base, ...and judging by your descent and remembering you're about to turn into the wind, make a turn to final, either early or late, to place yourself only slightly higher than usual. You can always lose altitude by lowering flaps or slipping, you just can't mfr. any. Until now, you should have been flying with no flaps to maximize glide, so when you do get on final and need to slow down or lose altitude, you now have flaps you can use. Don't plan on landing on the first 10 feet of field, ...plan on landing 1/3rd farther down. Remember, though,...due to high levels of adrenalin, most engine out landings result in landing too long and too fast. Once a suitable field is selected, more people have gone off the far end and gotten bent up than have landed short. Keep your airspeed under control. Manage your altitude,...to keep everything looking as near normal as possible,....and things will turn out near normal. (By the way, when you find yourself too high, lowering your nose will only build up speed and will not appreciably shorten your distance but will only put you at ground level way too fast to land. Try raising your nose to lose speed. For a moment it'll look counterproductive, but as your speed decreases well below glide speed, you'll start coming down like an elevator, and you can really increase the descent if you then lower your nose to regain best glide speed. Practice that a little. {I was reluctant to share that little trick because it's won more spot landing contests for me than I deserved, and I realize that "Rope-Trick" is probably reading this.})
I've had seven actual engine failures in my career. (I flew a lot of junk in my early career while building time.) Five of them were in single engined airplanes. Two of those were at night. The above technique, of getting over a field deliberately closer than necessary, and circling down to a normal pattern altitude, worked for me with no damage to the airplane in every case except one. (That one occurred at only 200 feet of altitude in rain while on pipeline patrol in a Cessna 140. God was my copilot, and he landed while I was blinded by rain, in a pasture. No damage, and the stuck valve was unstuck and I flew it back out before farmer Jones even knew about it.)
I'm not critiqueing "figure-8's" or any other techique that works for you, but unless you're proficient in judging descent rates while performing figure-8's, I'd recommend that you might consider sticking to what you do know, ....which is normal traffic patterns. To do that, you've got to make certain you don't have to stretch your glide, so select a field that's very obvious you can make, over one that may look better but be questionable.
(While on this subject, I'll pass on a night-flying thing I do. ) I re-route myself on night flights. Instead of flying the shortest distance between destinations, I fly off to the side, and make multiple course changes, if necessary, in order to take advantage of airports along the way. I try to pick routes that present the most number of airports within gliding distance, or at least short flying distances to my course. As I fly along, I activate pilot-controlled airport lighting and light those suckers up. (And if ever you do get into a traffic pattern with pilot-contolled lighting, then re-activate it again while on downwind. It's pretty hairy when you're on short final and the timer turns the place back into a dark hole! Don't ask how I know about that.)
When one airport slides behind me until it's farther away than the next one available, I start mentally preparing to land at the next one. Not only does this improve my chances, it also easily chases away boredom and sleepiness. Comparing such routes to straight-line routes, they rarely add more than 10-15 minutes flying time to my nighttime travels, but add immeasureably to survivability.
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N1478D
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From The Guy That Can Attest

Post by N1478D »

To further point out a point. If the prop stops, wether you had to do it or it did it on it's own, now you have something like a 2X4 stuck out to slow your plane down. You need to be slightly higher than normal on short final to compensate for the increased drag. I can attest that it is not any fun to come in too high and fly right down the length of the runway that you so desperately want to be on :cry: Fight the urge to keep all altitude at all costs, it could really hurt you, but, if your prop is stopped, you do need to compensate for the drag.
Joe
51 C170A
Grand Prairie, TX
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GAHorn
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Re: From The Guy That Can Attest

Post by GAHorn »

N1478D wrote:To further point out a point. If the prop stops, wether you had to do it or it did it on it's own, now you have something like a 2X4 stuck out to slow your plane down. You need to be slightly higher than normal on short final to compensate for the increased drag. I can attest that it is not any fun to come in too high and fly right down the length of the runway that you so desperately want to be on :cry: Fight the urge to keep all altitude at all costs, it could really hurt you, but, if your prop is stopped, you do need to compensate for the drag.
Actually, I think it's less drag to get the prop stopped rather than windmilling. (Work is being performed turning that dead engine, so glide is decreased.) Stopping the prop results is less drag, but unfortunately to get the prop stopped you have to reduce speed probably below best glide speed. I'm not sure there's much point for that purpose. It should be less distraction to stop the prop if there's mechanical vibration in the form of a damaged engine, tho'. Something to ponder.
4-Shipp
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Post by 4-Shipp »

Lots of good thought provokers here. Last month during our first family cross country, every takeoff was at max gross, and the climb performance reflected it. Climbing out of Piney Creek on the Canadian-US boarder, I described to my 12 year old in the right seat why I was altering course to avoid the timber and stay over the plowed feilds, just in case the engine quit, until we got some decent altitude under us. My wife later shared that considereing the wind and turbulence we fought that day, those were not the most comforting words she heard during the trip. The moral...while it is always good to be thinking of these things, you might want to be concious of how you share them...doh!

Another consideration to, well...consider. Single engine fighter pilots routinely practice SFOs, simulated flameout patterns. They begin at "high key". Flying down the runway centerline - initial - when you reach the approach end you are at high key. The altitude (in AGL) depends on the airplane. When I fley the QF-106, it was 12,000 feet AGL. Over the numbers, you set a power setting simulating a windmilling engine, popped the speed brakes and began a tight descending 360. 180 degrees through the turn, you wanted to be abeam the numbers and at 6000 feet AGL. This is "Low key". 90 degrees later was "base key" and you wanted to be at 3000 feet AGL. The goal was to roll out on 1/4 mile final and 300 feet AGL. By the way, this all took place between 270 and 290 KIAS! You could enter this 360 degree cork screw anywhere before low key. If you got to the runway too late to make that position, they recommended ejection - that whole risk management thing, you know. The real art to the SFO is entering somewhere besides a text book high key position and manging your energy to get to low key on altitude and on airspeed. From then on it would always look the same!

This is similar to what George described as and the same principle as the figure 8 also mentioned. The application for us is to know our plane's glide performance well enough to put ourselves in a position to make that "normal landing". We should know what altitude we want to be at on base (base key), downwind (low key) and over the field on up wind (high key). If you learn the minimum altitudes for these positions, you can then mangae your patern and energy for excess altitude, airspeed and winds.

Practice your power off patterns and note the altitudes at the beginning and end of each turn. When you have that wired, go to a strange field, with or without a runway, and practice those non-standard "SFO" pattern entries. 170 or 106 - this is a perishable skill that deserves regular attention.

Yes, I agree that an experinced pilot can judge these things by looking outside rather than at the altimeter. The same principle applies - you still need to know what "picture" you need to see at certain points in the pattern. My two cents...or 1.2 cents CDN. Cheers,
Bruce Shipp
former owners of N49CP, '53 C170B
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CAS
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Forced Landings

Post by CAS »

The previous posts on this topic have all given good advice - here are a few more thoughts on Forced Landings.

To determine if you have a chance of making a potential landing site look out the side window and if the site is not BELOW 1/3 to 1/2 the way out the strut don't even consider it - you won't make it. The exact limit depends on wind speed and direction and how well you maintain best glide speed; However, it does WORK FOR ANY ALTITIUDE. For students having trouble judging this we sometimes try putting a piece of tape on the strut in the appropriate position.

Keep the selected field in sight at all times. DO NOT turn your back on the field - you may not find it again and it is difficult to judge an approach to a field behind you.

If possible, always land into wind - I know, its teaching granny to suck eggs but you may be surprised at how many students end up approaching down wind on practice forced landing exercises.

Once you have selected a field and a touch-down point make a PLAN on how to get there working backwards from that point to where you are - select a 1000' point (preferably a close left base position) then back to low key (about 1,500' on "downwind" abeam the touchdown point) then high key (about 2.500 about 1 NM upwind of the selected landing area). Try to make each of these points at the nominated altitiude ABOVE GROUND LEVEL. If you are too low - cut the corners; if you are too high - widen out a bit.

If you are going to hit an obstacle (eg trees) it is better to be on the ground (even if you are still going fast) than in the air when you hit. For a start there is the drop to the ground after the initial impact. Also, on the ground you may be able to initiate a ground loop rather than hit something or fall in a big hole. Steer BETWEEN the trees and let the wings (rather than the squishy bits in the cockpit) take the impact.

We can all improve our skills in this area by finding a quiet airfield and practicing power off glide approaches and noting the glide performance of our aircraft and the position on the strut that indicates whether or not a point on the ground is within gliding distance.

David
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GAHorn
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Half-strut landing sites

Post by GAHorn »

David, are you sure we didn't learn from the same guy? I almost went back to edit my own post when I realized I'd forgotten to mention that little trick,...and here you've taken care of it! Thanks!
You're right, and the beauty of it is that altitude makes no difference.
I'd like to re-emphasize that it's important to not lower flaps while gliding around and manuevering towards the field. At least not until on final where you can be certain you're going to make it. Also remember, it's better to lose excessive altitude by pitching slightly UP for a loss of speed (and resultant loss of glide performance and gain in extra time), than to lower your nose which will result in a speed increase (and loss of time to deal with the engine). (The resultant speed increase will become another problem to solve when you've obtained the altitude loss you desired.)
Even tho' you practiced all this back in '08 with Orville, ....remember it's good to go out and practice this before you need it.
Rudy Mantel

Dead stick landing

Post by Rudy Mantel »

When I learned to fly, on a grass field in a J-3 in 1949, we were taught to always close the throttle on downwind when opposite the intended landing spot. Adding power was frowned on. Due to my instructor's tragic fatal accident in that J-3 (he and a student spun in turning base to final...) I actually soloed in an Aeronca Champ from another airport.
Shortly after soloing, when I was supposed to be in the local practice area, I couldn't resist a short cross-country to the grass airfield where I had learned to fly.
Wouldn't you know it, on downwind the engine quit dead and that little wooden prop just stopped. Happily, I merely continued the usual pattern and landed. Had to push the plane off the runway and found nothing amiss. Since I had applied carb heat the engine must have just "loaded up" with fuel and fouled the plugs. I've never neglected "clearing" the engine since. After closing the throttle I always make a point of giving it a burst of power every 20 seconds or so.
Nowadays most of us use power on approaches (don't you?) so flooding the engine isn't prevalent but with power-off glides it's a good thing to keep in mind and "clear" that engine. I never forgot that little incident.
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