In the early stages of our flying careers, most of the forced-landing training took place in the wee hours. It mainly focused on the scenario of “you just lost your engine, pick a field.” We went through the motions – trimming for the best glide, turning towards an open area, manipulating the fuel selector, boosting pump, and carb heat – all the while knowing full well that the Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) was going to restore the idling engine before we got too low.
Such engine-out drills are fine to a certain extent, but they don’t instill the same level of confidence as successfully bringing the airplane to a complete stop on the ground, unscathed and intact. I’ve long held the belief that practicing some engine-failure scenarios at an airport, where we can continue the approach to touchdown, is highly beneficial. In his Mastery Flight Training blog, my friend and CFI of the Year Tom Turner addressed this topic in a recent weekly column (I strongly recommend subscribing to and supporting his work), specifically applying it to high-performance singles like Beech Bonanzas.
