Twin Comanche - right seater

Go somewhere with a long runway and emergency services. Fly the appropriate speed down to the runway. Close the throttles and land it like any other airplane. Live another day.
 
saracelica said:
So my husband picked up a new hobby. Getting the "Multi Engine instrument" on his certificate. He's almost done with the training and proud of his dedication in doing it. Then there is me with a new (6mths) old PP certificate in my wallet.

I presume at some point he'll want to go take the Twin Comanche out on one of our airplane adventures. However since I was in the plane with an instructor only once I was the one who got to have the brakes. :) (That instructor was very trusting I presume!)

Which leads me to my question. Worst case scenerio, husband and I go on a trip and on the way back he falls violently ill. Sure I can probably figure out the airplane (it is only a couple extra knobs and stuff) but it's the landing I'm thinking. I'd hate to get it almost all the way to the ground and then stall it and die trying to save my life?

Recommendations? I believe approach speed in that thing is 120 how do I get it from 100+ to 0 with no brakes? Do I see if his instructor will let me do right seat time? Hope for the best? Not fly in it? I suppose there is some sort of parking brake in it would I be able to reach it from right seat? All I'd care about is "getting it on the ground and if I have to do it sans landing gear I would....just curious on thoughts.
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First of all, if you grab both throttles and move them together there's little difference in flying or landing a twin vs a single of the same weight/performance unless one of the engines quits. And I'd put the chances of an engine failure on the same flight as hubby passes out (assuming the loss of an engine didn't cause him to faint from fright) in the same ballpark as a wing falling off, e.g. not likely enough to worry about.

Now given that a Twinkie is a bit heavier and lands a bit faster than a Cherokee there are some issues to consider when landing one for the first time beyond the number of engines and throttles. One thing many pilot have a little trouble with the first time landing a twin is that they tend to be a little more pitch sensitive and PIO (pilot induced oscillation) in the flare is a distinct possibility. The answer lies in another quality that most twins have and singles lack which is the ability to substantially affect lift with the throttles. This is due to the way the extra airflow from the props increases lift slightly and more significantly the airflow disturbance created by a windmilling prop (i.e. when the throttles are closed) decreases lift and increases the stall speed. What all that boils down to is with a sufficiently long runway, you can make a safe, easy landing by leveling off a foot or two above the runway with a little bit of power on (like enough to raise the RPM a few hundred above what you get with throttles closed) and then simply holding a slightly nose up pitch attitude and closing the throttles. That will plant the airplane on the ground in just a few seconds without requiring the pilot to pull the nose up.

And WRT that "sufficiently long runway" if you have a seriously ill pilot turned passenger you'll want to head for a major airport that has on-site emergency services and virtually all of those have runways that are at least twice as long as you'd need to land a Twinkie without brakes.

And if it crossed your mind to pull the mixtures to help stop, don't do that until the plane has slowed to around 40 KIAS. Above that and the spinning props actually help the plane slow down. Be sure to pull both mixtures at the same time (or just switch both mags off) or you might have some directional control issues to deal with.
 
jesse said:
Go somewhere with a long runway and emergency services. Fly the appropriate speed down to the runway. Close the throttles and land it like any other airplane. Live another day.
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Exactly.

Just because a Twinkie can fly fast doesn't mean you have to fly it fast. Make a reasonable, slightly above Blue Line approach, when you have the field made start pulling back the power (like Wayne pointed out, you don't fly blue line all the way to the pavement). Power to idle as you start the flare and touch down. As long as you aren't trying to stuff it into a 3000' or less runway, you'll be fine with no brakes.
 
bbchien said:
and if you had that situation, Saracelica, why woud you go to your horm port of 2000 feet? I'd be making for a place with 4000+ known to the EMS services....and fire trucks.
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I always thought, when I flew in SoCal, that if I needed to make an emergency landing, and had time to get somewhere besides the home airport, I'd head to Ontario. Long runway, dedicated fire dept, and since it was on the other end of the LA basin, and in Class C airspace, it would take longer for the media circus to get there.
 
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