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AviationEngine failure after liftoff (simulated)

In a twin, after liftoff, the examiner simulates an engine failure: you keep control, fly the single-engine speeds, clean up the airplane, simulate feathering and securing the dead engine, and climb or return to land. It is Task F of Area IX, Emergency Operations, in the FAA Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards, for the airplane classes listed below.

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Scenarios

  • Airplane multiengine land (AMEL).
  • Airplane multiengine sea (AMES).

The steps

  1. Recognize the engine failure promptly, keep control and use the right emergency procedures.
  2. Set VYSE; with obstructions, set the best single-engine angle of climb speed VXSE or VMC +5 knots, whichever is greater, until clear, then change to VYSE.
  3. Reduce drag by retracting the landing gear and flaps as the manufacturer says.
  4. Simulate feathering the propeller of the inoperative engine (the examiner then sets zero thrust on it).
  5. Use the flight controls in the combination the manufacturer recommends, or as needed for best performance, and trim as needed.
  6. Monitor the operating engine and the airplane's systems and adjust as needed.
  7. Recognize the airplane's performance: if it cannot climb at VYSE, hold VYSE and return to the departure airport, or start an approach to the most suitable landing area.
  8. Simulate securing the inoperative engine.
  9. Hold heading within 10 degrees and airspeed within 5 knots.
  10. Complete the appropriate checklists.

Safety rules that stop the station

  • The examiner does not simulate the engine failure below 400 feet above the ground or before at least VSSE, VXSE or VYSE.
  • Any action, or lack of action, that makes the examiner step in to keep the flight safe is unsatisfactory.
  • Consistently exceeding the tolerances of the task, or not correcting promptly when you exceed them, is unsatisfactory.

To pass

  • Control kept, VYSE (or VXSE over obstacles), drag reduced, the dead engine feathered and secured in simulation, heading within 10 degrees and airspeed within 5 knots.
  • Know what changes VMC, VMC (red line), VYSE (blue line) and the safe single-engine speed VSSE, the accelerate-stop and accelerate-go distances, how to identify, verify, feather and secure an inoperative engine, why drag reduction matters (feathering, gear and flaps, bank toward the operating engine), simulated feathering with the examiner's zero thrust, and the risks of an engine failure after liftoff, collision, configuring the airplane, low-altitude stalls and spins, and distractions.
  • Missing the standard on this task fails the task and its area of operation.

Official source

Federal · FAA Private Pilot ACS

Private Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C)

The FAA publishes the Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards free: every task of the checkride with its knowledge, risks and tolerances.

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