by Rick Baker
On Jan 18, 2012
Some airplanes are still powered by engines and propellers.
Sometimes airplane engines fail and airplane propellers stop working.
This is a problem.
It is a problem that has only 2 solutions:
- get the propeller working or
- land the plane safely.
When I took some flying lessons 10 years ago, we used a little single-engine plane. Not that I was nervous or anything... I asked my instructor, "What happens if our engine fails and our propeller stops turning?" And, I asked about the relative safety of 1-engine planes [which have no engine when the engine fails] and 2-engine planes [which have 1 engine left when one engine fails].
I was surprised to learn - when an engine fails 1-engine planes have a better safe-landing track record than 2-engine planes.
Why?
Why would propellerless single-engine planes have better safe-landing results than 2-propeller planes with one propeller not working?
Was it something to do with engineering, pitch and yaw and all those things?
No.
It was due to a human factor.
Specifically, it was due to FOCUS1.
Put simply, when a pilot is flying a single-engine plane and the engine fails the pilot immediately shifts full attention to finding a safe landing spot and finding it immediately. Immediate landing is the singular FOCUS. When a pilot is flying a 2-engine plane and one engine fails the pilot faces a less-urgent situation. With less urgency, some pilots seek ideal or almost-ideal landing sites. And, that splitting of FOCUS increases the risk of crash landings.
So...
When your propeller stops turning...you gotta FOCUS!
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