Two Engines

I currently have around 15 hours of multi-engine time, about 5 hours of which is in the simulator. I started out by flying simple maneuvers, such as steep turns, slow flight, and stalls. Flying the Duchess proposed a different challenge for me, mainly because there is no nose in front of me to reference the horizon with. One of the newer maneuvers I was introduced to in the Duchess is the emergency descent. The emergency descent consists of pulling back power, extending the landing gear, and pitching down for the maximum gear extending speed. All while flying casual S-turns to maintain a positive load factor on the airplane. This maneuver is fun because it feels like you are diving straight towards the ground. Then I was introduced to single engine flying. Once we are above 5000 feet, my instructor will fail an engine. Not simulated, but for real. He cuts the mixture to starve one of the engines of fuel (always the left engine). I then must run through all the proper procedures- flaps up, gear up, throttles forward, props forward, mixture forward, identify the dead engine, verify, and shut down the inoperative engine. Shutting it down also involves feathering the propeller, which turns the blades sideways so that they do not windmill. This greatly reduces the amount drag and makes the aircraft easier to control. Once all this is complete, and I have stabilized the airplane, I pull out the emergency checklist and run through the procedures again. Flying on one engine requires a strong rudder correction. Because only one engine is providing thrust, the thrust is now asymmetrical, forcing the plane to yaw towards the dead engine. Extensive rudder pressure must be applied to correct for this. Your leg does get tired after a while. There are two maneuvers that are performed during single engine operations. The Vmc Demo, and the Drag Demo. Both are done with a simulated engine failure rather than an actual failure. The "dead" engine will also be placed in simulated feather, which involves adding a little bit of power to reduce the drag of the windmilling propeller. Vmc is a specific speed. It stands for minimum-controllable airspeed. Basically, because only one engine is providing thrust, the aircraft becomes more and more difficult to control at lower speeds. As the plane slows down, more and more rudder pressure must be applied to maintain direction control. Eventually, you will no longer be able to control the airplane. In the Duchess, Vmc is 65 knots. However, Vmc can change depending on density altitude, temperature, and aircraft loading. The Drag Demo is a very easy maneuver that consists of putting the aircraft into different configurations and speeds and noting performance. You start by flying at 85 knots and noting performance, then slowing to 75, then up to 95, then back to 85 with gear down, then 85 with gear and flaps, then with gear up and flaps still down, then with flaps up at 85 knots with the propeller windmilling. This procedure is done primarily to prove that Vyse, or the best single-engine rate of climb speed, shows the best performance. For the Duchess, Vyse is 85 knots. My blog is now caught up with my training. My next entry will be after my next lesson.