Surviving An Engine Failure At Night
Posted by Jeffrey on August 3rd, 2009
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With the summer coming to a close and with the days getting shorter it is time to start thinking about what you are going to do if an engine fails while on a night flight, especially if you are in single-engine airplane.
I was reminded of this recently when I was flying from San Francisco (KSFO) to Victoria, B.C., Canada (CYYJ). It was the first night flight I’d flown in awhile and as I was looking out my window watching the sun set when I happened to glance down and notice that the terrain was quite inhospitable and it was getting dark and I wondered to myself, what would I do if we lost one of the engines.
Immediately I scanned my cockpit displays and look for VOR’s and airports with runways long enough to land my CRJ-200. While I was at it, I checked the engine instruments and fuel to confirm that everything was the way it was suppose to be. With everything checked off and looking good, I started thinking about when I was flight instructing and what I would teach my students about in-flight emergencies and engine failures.
Now in the CRJ-200 if one engines fails, it is a manageable event. Commercial jets and turboprops are designed to continue flight with one engine shutdown. In fact, airline pilots practice the worst case scenario of losing an engine right a V1 every time they are in the simulator.
But if you lose your engine in a single-engine airplane at night, you only have two things you can do…either get the engine started again…quickly or land.
During the day, emergencies are a bit easier. If you are like me, in a single-engine airplane, I am ALWAYS looking for somewhere to land or divert to if my engine should fail or another emergency comes up. Night emergencies offer limited options though.
So what do you think is the biggest reason people perish during night emergency landing?
If you said it was because they lost control of their airplane and stalled it into the ground, then you would be right!
Stalling an airplane low to the ground is almost ALWAYS fatal, but if you control the airplane to the ground, you are more likely to survive an engine failure and emergency landing at night than not.
So, here are some important things to consider when you are flying at night:
- Know your terrain and have an out. Are you flying over mountains? Cities? Rural Areas? Desert?
- Flight plan weather and fuel requirements. (See my article: Five Very Important Flight Planning Tips)
- Fly at an altitude that will allow you to have time to try an engine re-start, make a radio call with your location, and plan for your emergency landing.
- Prepare the cockpit. Secure all loose items. Tighten seatbelts. Open doors. Run your emergency checklist.
- Pick an area to land and then commit to that location.
- Maintain airspeed above stall speed (at all cost), control the descent, and control the airplane until the airplane stops.
These few considerations will make you a safer pilot and will let you have a more enjoyable flight knowing you have a plan if something BAD should happen!
To Your Flying Success…
Jeffrey
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Water? Road? Tree?
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August 4th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I had this exact thing happen to me. You were probably flying right over where it happened to me on this trip. It happened at Bellingham Airport. I was a Student Pilot, Solo at night. Yes I was endorsed to fly at night solo. Read my story here.. Anyways, great article. It’s true you never know when this could happen you.
Clint
January 11th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
All this information is good: an experienced, prepared pilot is the best safety device for any plane. However, I have petitioned along with 100s of others to make it mandatory to install more safety features in all light aircraft:
1) Airbags – have saved tons of lives from blunt force trauma.
2) Ballistic parachute system – while this won’t save one from stalling close to the ground, this has been proven to save people who have suffered engine failure over mountains, water bodies and mid-air collisions…if a wing falls off and you are on a death roll, just pull the chute and you are safe.
3) PCAS – portable collision avoidance system – will really help to monitor the traffic along with your eyes in busy airspace.
4) Terrain/weather/airport awareness GPS – this has helped saved people’s lives who receive wrong information from ATC in IFR.
Ofcourse, the main thing is CONTROL THE F****** PLANE (CTFP)…its what my flight instructor always nails in my head. maintain the airspeed, always choose routes (night or day) that gives you emergency options – such as highways and airports within a few miles of your flight path, and plan the journey with departure/destination and enroute weather, try best not to rent planes from shoddy looking airports or from friends (especially kit planes)!
If FAA does more to improve general safety and pilots start treating the job more seriously, fatal accidents would start to become non-existent.
This will ensure you many years of trouble-free and safe travel even in the event of emergencies.
January 11th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
always carry portable radio, life jacket (for river landing), even a backpack parachute if your plane doesn’t have BRS parachute system…Enough preparation will save you from disaster.
January 11th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Thanks for keeping it clean…ha!
Some great points! GA can definitely use some improvements in their safety but like you said, ultimately it comes down to the pilot. Good sense and common sense prevail. Couple that with good training and a desire to always be better and smarter than you were before last flight goes a long way towards living to fly again.
On my CRJ200, we have TCAS-II and EGPWS (Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning
Systems) that help us. GA has come a long way and both these systems are becoming more prevelant in GA but with a pricetag. Zaon Portable Collision Avoidance System – PCAS MRXA-A is commercially available TCAS but GPWS isn’t so available to GA but here is a good course on it, Jeppesen CFIT- Awareness and Prevention Video (DVD) – This video analyzes three actual Controlled Flight Into Terrain cases and explores the preventative measures and techniques.
Great comments! Thanks for sharing your insights. I’m sure there will be many pilots that benefit from your insight.
Jeff