Approach and Landing with a Powerplant Failure (Simulated) (AMEL, AMES)

The task splits its standards at the final approach segment.

Prior to beginning the final approach segment (VII.E S6):

• Desired altitude ±100 feet
• Desired airspeed ±10 knots
• Desired heading ±5°
• Accurately track courses, radials, and bearings

On the approach and landing (VII.E S7, S10, S11):

• Recommended approach and landing configuration and airspeed ±5 knots, adjusting pitch attitude and power as required to maintain a stabilized approach
• AMEL: touch down at the appropriate speed and pitch attitude at the runway aiming point markings -250/+500 feet, or where there are no runway markings, 750 to 1,500 feet from the approach threshold
• AMES: during round out and touchdown, contact the water at the proper pitch attitude within 200 feet beyond a specified point, and touch down within the first one-third of the water landing area

Note the heading tolerance is ±5°, not the ±10° you get in Task VII.D — precision tightens as you get closer to the ground.

Per Appendix 3, Area VII Task E:

• In a propeller-driven airplane other than one requiring a type rating, the evaluator will set zero thrust after you have simulated feathering the propeller following a simulated powerplant failure. You must then demonstrate at least one landing with a simulated feathered propeller with the powerplant set to zero thrust.
• For all other airplanes, follow the manufacturer's recommended procedures.
• In an airplane with three powerplants, you must follow a procedure — if approved by the manufacturer and the training program — that approximates the loss of two powerplants, the center and one outboard.
• In other multiengine airplanes, follow a procedure that simulates the loss of 50 percent of available powerplants, the loss being simulated on one side.

Less than you would expect, and that is the point. "The approach and landing with OEI is essentially the same as a two-engine approach and landing. The traffic pattern should be flown at similar altitudes, airspeeds, and key positions" (AFH ch. 13). The differences:

• Reduced power available, and the remaining thrust is asymmetrical — a higher-than-normal power setting is necessary on the operative engine
• Configuration becomes conditional rather than scheduled — each addition of drag is a decision, not a habit
• Go-around capability may be gone, which changes when you are committed

One myth worth killing on the oral: the direction of the pattern is of no consequence to controllability or performance. "It is perfectly acceptable to make turns toward the failed engine" (AFH ch. 13).

From AFH ch. 13, with the constant qualifier "performance permitting":

1. Downwind — with adequate airspeed and performance the gear can still be extended, and should be confirmed DOWN no later than abeam the intended point of landing. Initial flap extension (typically 10°) and the descent from pattern altitude can also begin here. Airspeed no slower than the engine-out best rate of climb speed.
2. Base — if performance is adequate, flaps to an intermediate setting (typically 25°). If performance is inadequate, as measured by decaying airspeed or a high sink rate, delay further flap extension until closer to the runway. The engine-out best rate of climb speed is still the minimum.
3. Final — a normal 3° glidepath, using VASI or other vertical path lighting if available. Slightly steeper is acceptable; a long, flat, low approach should be avoided, as should large sudden power applications or reductions.
4. Short final — maintain the engine-out best rate of climb speed until the landing is assured, then slow to 1.3 VSO or the AFM/POH recommended speed. The final flap setting may be delayed until the landing is assured, or the airplane may be landed with partial flaps.

Usually not, once you are configured. AFH ch. 13: "A single-engine go-around on final approach may not be possible. As a practical matter... once the airplane is on final approach with landing gear and flaps extended, it is committed to land on the intended runway, on another runway, a taxiway, or grassy infield."

The arithmetic behind it: most light twins do not have the performance to climb on one engine with gear and flaps extended, and losses of 500 feet or more are not unusual while maintaining the engine-out climb speed and retracting gear and flaps. If the gear was lowered by an alternate means of extension, retraction may not be possible, virtually negating any climb capability (AFH ch. 13).

The transport-category answer differs — a part 25 airplane has a certified approach-climb gradient with one engine inoperative (25.121(d)), flown in the approach configuration; note that the separate landing-climb requirement (25.119) is an all-engines-operating standard, so it is not what buys you a single-engine go-around — but the decision discipline is the same: decide early. A go-around begun at 50 feet with everything hanging out is a different maneuver than one begun at 500 feet.

It moves your decision point up the approach. If the airplane cannot go around from short final, then the last real decision is made at or before the point where you commit to the final configuration — and everything after that has to be right: the runway, the speed, the crosswind, and the touchdown zone.

That is why the ACS grades planning as a risk element (VII.E R1, "planning for a powerplant failure inflight or during an approach") and why the briefing you give before the approach should state the commitment point explicitly. In a crew airplane: "with the engine out, we are committed at [point]; below that we are landing."

Start from the legal floor and add margin. Under part 121, an engine failure or a shutdown to prevent possible damage obliges the PIC to land at the nearest suitable airport, in point of time, at which a safe landing can be made (121.565(a)) — with the narrow three-or-more-engine relief in 121.565(b). "Suitable" then gets defined by the day:

• Runway length for a possibly higher approach speed and degraded braking or spoiler function
• Weather and approach type — an ILS you can fly manually beats a circling minimum with one engine out
• Wind — a strong crosswind from the side of the failed engine adds a rudder demand you are already spending
• Aircraft rescue and firefighting and the ability to stop on the runway rather than clear it
• Terrain and the missed approach you may not be able to fly

Ask for the runway you want and say why. The controller cannot infer your performance limits.

When you can. SAFO 19001's landing distance assessment at time of arrival — normally begun around top of descent and completed no later than the commencement of the approach — adds a safety margin of at least 15 percent to the actual landing distance.

• Emergency carve-out: during emergencies such as engine failure, the crew needs to know the absolute performance capability of the airplane — the actual landing distance without an added safety margin — because that number feeds the decision of whether it is safer to remain in the air or to land immediately (SAFO 19001, pointing at the PIC's 91.3(b) authority).
• Use both numbers: the unfactored capability defines which runways are possible; the 15 percent-margined distance defines which are acceptable.
• Closing rule: except under emergency conditions, do not attempt to land on a runway that does not meet the assessment criteria and safety margins.

The assessment machinery itself — RCAM, runway condition codes, braking action reports — is covered under Task III.B.

Expect a rudder trim change as the power of the operating engine is reduced to idle in the round out (AFH ch. 13). If the airplane is trimmed for asymmetric thrust and that thrust disappears, the trim is now pushing you the wrong way, a few feet above the runway.

Two accepted techniques (AFH ch. 13): fly it trimmed and be prepared for the change, or reset rudder trim to neutral on final and hold the rudder pressure for the remainder of the approach — which eliminates the trim change close to the ground at the cost of a tiring leg. Many pilots find groping for the trim on short final "highly distracting." Use the AFM/POH recommendation, or your own stated preference; the examiner wants to hear that you anticipated it.

Because you removed drag. "With drag from only one windmilling propeller, the airplane tends to float more than on a two-engine approach. Precise airspeed control therefore is essential, especially when landing on a short, wet, and/or slippery surface" (AFH ch. 13).

That float is what the -250/+500 feet touchdown tolerance (VII.E S10) is really testing: excess speed over the threshold turns into runway consumed. In a jet the penalty is quantified — excess approach speed increases the minimum stopping distance required by 20 to 30 feet per knot on a dry runway and 40 to 50 feet on a wet one, and each excess knot extends the flare by approximately 250 feet (AFH ch. 16).

For a transport-category airplane, AFH ch. 16 gives the criteria:

• In the landing configuration by 1,000 feet AGL — gear down, landing flaps selected, trim set, fuel balanced
• On profile before descending below 1,000 feet, on an optimum glidepath angle of about 3°
• Indicated airspeed between zero and 10 knots above target by 500 feet AGL
• Descent rate matched to groundspeed — a rule of thumb is half the groundspeed times 10, so a 130-knot groundspeed gives about 650 fpm; typical rates fall between 500 and 700 fpm, and an excessive vertical speed may indicate a problem with the approach

"Every approach should be evaluated at 500 feet... If the approach is not stabilized at that height, a go-around should be initiated" (AFH ch. 16). With an engine out, that gate arrives while the go-around may still be available — which is exactly why it exists.

Two elements that applicants forget under relief. Maintain positive aircraft control throughout the landing using drag and braking devices, as appropriate, to come to a stop (VII.E S12) — with asymmetric reverse thrust or asymmetric braking, directional control on the rollout is a live problem, not a formality. And coordinate with crew, if applicable, and complete after landing checklists (VII.E S13).

Directional control and appropriate crosswind correction are graded throughout the approach and landing (VII.E S8), and control application must be smooth, timely, and correct before, during, and after touchdown (VII.E S9).

Use the two symptoms AFH ch. 13 names as the test for inadequate performance: decay in airspeed or high sink rate. If either appears when you add drag, stop adding it and delay further extension until closer to the runway.

Build the habit into a callout: before each change, confirm you are at or above the engine-out reference speed, on or above profile, and that the power available is not already at its limit. If the operating engine is at maximum continuous and the airplane is still sinking below path, the next flap setting will not fix it — the runway needs to come to you differently, by shallowing the path or by asking for a longer final.

The one configuration item that is not reversible in many airplanes is the gear when extended by an alternate means (AFH ch. 13). Treat it as final.

• Asymmetric thrust — a persistent yawing and rolling tendency that grows with power and shrinks with airspeed; you hold it with rudder and a small bank toward the operating engine
• A higher minimum safe speed — the minimum control speed and the engine-out climb speed set floors that a normal approach never has to think about
• Reduced deceleration — one windmilling or feathered propeller means less drag and more float (AFH ch. 13)
• Higher power on the good side — which is exactly what makes the yaw worse when you need power most, on a low approach
• Trim sensitivity — every power change is also a directional change

Add the transport-category items: with an engine out you may lose a hydraulic system, a generator, and a bleed source with it, so spoilers, thrust reverse, anti-skid, nosewheel steering, and flap rate may all be degraded. The approach speed you fly and the flap setting available come from the AFM's abnormal procedures, not from the normal landing page.

Because this is where multiengine airplanes are lost. The AFH's summary of the accident record is unambiguous: there is a very high success rate for engine-inoperative landings when the airplane is landed under control, and a very high fatality rate in stall-spin accidents when the pilot attempts flight beyond the performance capability of the airplane (AFH ch. 13).

The specific mechanism on an approach is a low, slow, dragged-in final where the pilot tries to arrest a sink rate with power on one side. The yaw increases, the pilot corrects with aileron, drag rises, speed decays, and the airplane departs at an altitude with no recovery room. The countermeasures are all upstream: fly the 3° path rather than a flat one, avoid large sudden power changes, hold the engine-out speed until the landing is assured, and go around early or not at all (AFH ch. 13).

The ACS grades crew coordination in S2 and S13, and it is what makes the difference between a controlled arrival and a busy one. A usable brief covers:

• The state — which engine is out, what is secured, which systems went with it
• The airport and runway — why this one, the approach, the expected wind and surface condition
• The speeds and configuration — the AFM's engine-out approach speed and flap setting, and the gear point
• The commitment point — where a go-around stops being available
• The go-around, if one exists — the initial altitude and heading, and who does what
• Callouts — 1,000 and 500 stabilized gates, and the "committed" call
• After landing — where you plan to stop, whether you can clear the runway, and whether you want equipment rolling

The evaluator may be occupying a required duty position and must perform the CRM functions you brief and request (FAA-S-ACS-11A, Appendix 2). Use them.

You will be maneuvering at nonstandard speeds, possibly at a nonstandard pattern size, quite likely on a straight-in that other traffic does not expect, and with the crew's attention split between the airplane and the failure. Mitigations to name:

• Tell ATC or the CTAF what you are doing and what you need, in plain language — "engine out, straight-in runway 27, need the runway"
• Ask for traffic to be kept clear rather than assuming a declared emergency has done it
• Keep one pilot's eyes outside in VMC while the other manages the failure
• Use TCAS and ADS-B In deliberately, and remember your own maneuvering may be generating alerts for others

• Configuring on schedule instead of on performance — full flaps at the normal point, then discovering the airplane cannot hold the path
• Flying a flat, dragged-in final to avoid a high sink rate, which costs both landing distance and every option you had (AFH ch. 13)
• Slowing below the engine-out reference speed before the landing is assured — the tolerance is ±5 knots (S7), and the floor matters more than the ceiling
• Forgetting crossfeed is still selected — terminate it and return the operating engine to its main tank supply before landing (AFH ch. 13)
• Being surprised by the trim change in the flare as power comes to idle (AFH ch. 13)
• Floating past the touchdown zone and busting the -250/+500 feet tolerance because the approach carried excess speed
• Letting the rollout drift while attention shifts to the checklist — S12 grades directional control to a stop