HighFlyingA380
Cleared for Takeoff
I've been doing some research on something I hard from my old chief CFI a couple years back, but I'm not finding much on it. He is the only person I've heard this from, and any CFI, DPE, ect. I've talked about this to since have not heard of it. That being that when you have an engine failure more than several thousand ft. with a non-full-feathering prop, that you should pitch up and decrease airspeed, sometimes to an intentional stall, to stop the rotation of the prop/engine. (Of course, only after you have attempted to restart.) The reason being that you will see a greater gain in glide distance by reducing the drag created by forcing thee air to turn over the engine. He claimed that while you would most likely be off of Vl/d for a short amount of time, thus not gliding in the most efficient manner, that is outweighed by the decrease in drag. (As I said, do this only with several thousand feet and plenty of time.) He claimed that in the case of something such as a 172, doing this procedure at, say 10,000ft, you would gain several more miles of glide distance.
Sure, the theory sounds plausible, but unless there is some hard data (which I've been unable to find), it's just that, a theory. So, what are your thoughts on this? Have you heard of this or done it before? Any links to data/research on the topic would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Sure, the theory sounds plausible, but unless there is some hard data (which I've been unable to find), it's just that, a theory. So, what are your thoughts on this? Have you heard of this or done it before? Any links to data/research on the topic would be much appreciated. Thanks.