Has hell frozen over?

TMetzinger said:
when it comes to payload, the perfect GA plane will carry the pilot and his gear with full fuel at max gross. Then the pilot can trade fuel for payload to meet his mission. BUT (and it's a big but), you also need to have sufficient fuel with all the seats filled for a useful trip. That means either big tanks or an efficient engine. For me, I'd want three hours of fuel with full seats at a minimum, so I can plan for two hour legs and have one in reserve. Four hours would be even better.
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I fully agree. I'd say the majority of people that I talk to complain when they find out the full fuel capacity is only a couple hundred pounds. I'd say if you can get two people on board with full tanks, they should have given me bigger tanks. I don't even mind if I only get a couple hours with full seats, as long as I get a few hours with the number of seats that I typically plan to fill. That way I can take lots of cargo a short distance if I want, or just me and my pee bottle a very long distance, or my typical load a typical distance. Gotta love flexibility.
 
Dave Siciliano said:
... My opinion is losing an engine is only really a challenge for a very short period of time when taking off. Accelerating down the runway and right after lift off until blue line. I've never actually lost an engine; so, I can't tell you first hand how I'd actually handle it but have done a lot of engine out practice in a B-55 and in a sim. I'd like to relate the sim experience to you, but time and space don't allow. But basically, it was a non-event.

...
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I'd really love to do MEL training. Thanks for taking the time to walk me through some of the ins and outs.

I have a little over an hour of dual time in a Cessna 421, during which we had an actual engine failure during cruise flight. Of course, we were expecting the failure, so it doesn't really count. We were testing a ferry fuel system I helped design and needed to validate our fuel line purge and restart procedures in case somebody accidentally ran one of the four additional tanks all the way dry (no boost pump in the ferry system).

The aircraft certainly did yaw, but it didn't take much to straighten her back out. As you say, a total non-event. Of course, we were well above blue line. Different world on take-off, I'm sure.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Dave, I thought you'd appreciate this...

When I was young in this aviation thing, I was the same way. You know what I dreamed of owning someday?
















A Baron. :)
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Course, I know you'll want a newer one than mine, but mine does have your initials on it:yes:

Best,

Dave
 
cwyckham said:
I'd really love to do MEL training. Thanks for taking the time to walk me through some of the ins and outs.

I have a little over an hour of dual time in a Cessna 421, during which we had an actual engine failure during cruise flight. Of course, we were expecting the failure, so it doesn't really count. We were testing a ferry fuel system I helped design and needed to validate our fuel line purge and restart procedures in case somebody accidentally ran one of the four additional tanks all the way dry (no boost pump in the ferry system).

The aircraft certainly did yaw, but it didn't take much to straighten her back out. As you say, a total non-event. Of course, we were well above blue line. Different world on take-off, I'm sure.
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Yes, there's a point on takeoff where the thrust from one side and not the other can really push the plane to one side. As you know, there's a point where you get more rudder authority as you accelerate. Losing one below blue line means you can't climb on one. Another factor is the yaw may be more then the rudder can hold (called below Vmc). So, on takeoff, one needs to pull the throttles back immediately if one engine is lost if below blue line. That could mean landing off runway under a lot of conditions. Some folks try to fly on one when the plane's not able. Creates a very nasty situation, usually they pull the nose up, lose speed and at some point stall/spin. Not good stuff.

On approach the big deal is to stay at blue line (115 knots in my plane) until committed to land. A big problem is folks get to slow and one can lose control below Vmc. Some folks come in high and fast and can't stop; they try to go around and can't. If one does almost a normal approach and stays above Vmc, they can make adjustments and get in fine. There's more to it than that, but that's the quick version. I'm sure the experts on here can go into much more detail.

Best,

Dave
 
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