Flight Training - January/February 2024 - 51

eFIRC
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3. Poor airspeed control
For most checkrides, you can make a mistake
and the examiner can give you time
to correct your error. However, slowing
below VMC speed during an engine failure
may lead to a nearly unrecoverable rollover.
So, when you experience an engine
failure in a twin (either in real life or on
the checkride), and more and more rudder
is required to hold your heading as you
pitch up to maintain altitude, know that
you are headed for the Tower of Terror
(my favorite ride at Disney, not my favorite
in an airplane). You need more airspeed!
Make sure the gear and flaps are retracted
and you have full power on the operating
engine. If you still cannot maintain the safe
single-engine climb speed, lower the nose
and accept an altitude loss rather than loss
of directional control.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW,
HOPEFULLY YOU CAN AVOID
THE SAME MISTAKES.
4. Instrument skills
It may have been a while since you did
your instrument training. However, a
single-engine instrument approach is a
required task on most multiengine checkrides.
Hands down, this is the busiest part
of the ride. You are flying an instrument
approach, dealing with an engine failure,
talking to ATC, and preparing for a single-engine
landing. So, make sure you are
proficient with instrument skills and that
you are familiar with the avionics/GPS on
your particular airplane.
5. Forgetting to retract the landing gear
Yes, you read that right. It's no joke,
this is the single most common reason
an applicant is not successful on his or
her multiengine checkride. Here's the
typical scenario. Multiengine checkrides
take place at a higher altitude for safety,
somewhere in the vicinity of 5,000 agl. So,
you have completed all the maneuvers,
and now it's time to descend to shoot
the required instrument approach and
single-engine landing. Seems like a
good time for the emergency descent,
right? For most light twin checklists,
that includes bringing the power to idle
and dropping the gear. When we get to
the predetermined recovery altitude,
the checklist says to simply add the
power back in and retract the gear...
except for some reason (I suspect they're
already thinking ahead to the instrument
approach), many applicants forget that
they still have three large drag-producing
devices hanging out in the wind. When
we experience an engine failure on that
instrument approach and the busy pilot
forgets the gear is still down, airspeed
quickly degrades. Before we know it,
we're flirting with loss of directional
control. Please remember to retract the
gear after an emergency descent.
Now that you know some of the
specific reasons the task saturated
applicant struggles on the multiengine
checkride, hopefully you can avoid the
same mistakes. But take heart, no matter
which checkride it is, nobody expects you
to be perfect. The FAA standard calls for
a competent pilot who notices their own
mistakes and makes a prompt correction.
That's something we can all strive for-to
be self-aware pilots who get safer each
time we fly. FT
NATALIE BINGHAM HOOVER began flying in
2004. After corporate and airline work, she
now serves as an FAA designated examiner and
chief instructor of a flight school in Mississippi.
FLIGHT TRAINING JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024
51
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Flight Training - January/February 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - January/February 2024
