Approach and Landing with an Inoperative Engine (Simulated) (AMEL, AMES)

Certain. The Area XII note requires that for AMEL or AMES the evaluator select Task E or F; Task G; and at least one other Task. Task G is not on any "or" list — every multiengine flight instructor applicant flies an approach and landing with a simulated inoperative engine.

Treat it as the anchor Task of the area and know it to demonstration standard, not just to survival standard.

Less than students expect, and that is the teaching 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. The differences are the reduced power available and the fact that the remaining thrust is asymmetrical — so a higher-than-normal power setting is necessary on the operative engine (AFH 13-34).

One counterintuitive item to state explicitly, because students assume the opposite: the direction of the traffic pattern, and therefore the turns, is of no consequence as far as airplane controllability and performance are concerned. It is perfectly acceptable to make turns toward the failed engine (AFH 13-34).

Performance-gated, one step at a time (AFH 13-34):

• 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. Performance permitting, initial flaps (typically 10°) and the descent from pattern altitude can also begin on downwind. Airspeed no slower than VYSE.
• Base — if performance is adequate, flaps to an intermediate setting (typically 25°). If performance is inadequate — measured by decay in airspeed or a high sink rate — delay further flap extension until closer to the runway. VYSE is still the minimum airspeed.
• Final — a normal 3° glidepath is desirable; use VASI or other vertical guidance if available. Slightly steeper approaches may be acceptable, but a long, flat, low approach should be avoided. Avoid large, sudden power applications or reductions.
• Landing assured — maintain VYSE 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.

The ACS tolerance: the manufacturer's recommended approach airspeed ±5 knots in the landing configuration with a stabilized approach, until landing is assured (AI.XII.G.S5).

No slower than VYSE until short final with the landing assured, and in no case less than VMC (AFH 13-20). Some multiengine pilots prefer to delay full flap extension to short final with the landing assured — an acceptable technique with appropriate experience and familiarity with the airplane (AFH 13-20).

Give the student the reasoning, not just the number. VYSE protects performance — it is where the airplane climbs best, or sinks least above the single-engine absolute ceiling (AFH 13-1). VMC protects control — the calibrated airspeed at which, following the sudden critical loss of thrust, it is possible to maintain control (AFH 13-2). Between them, blue line is the working number and red line is the wall.

On final, none of the standard factors are working against you — you are at reduced power and with the gear extended, and both of those push VMC down. Extended gear aids directional stability, and VMC falls as power falls (AFH 13-24). VMC is quietly on your side, which is exactly why students get complacent here.

Background: VMC is a fixed airspeed only for the very specific set of circumstances under which it was determined during certification. In reality, VMC varies with a variety of factors, and the value in an actual OEI event could be less or even greater than the published value (AFH 13-23). The factors, with directions, from the historical 14 CFR 23.149 conditions (AFH 13-24):

• Power — VMC increases as power increases on the operating engine.
• Inoperative propeller drag — highest with the propeller windmilling at low pitch, high rpm.
• CG — VMC increases as CG moves aft (shorter rudder moment arm).
• Weight — VMC increases as weight is reduced.
• Gear — VMC increases when the gear is retracted.
• Flaps — determined in the takeoff position (0° for most twins).
• Bank angle — VMC increases as bank angle decreases, by more than 3 knots per degree between 5° and wings-level (AFH 13-25).

The go-around reverses both at once: takeoff power on the operating engine and the gear coming up are two of the largest VMC-increasing factors on the list, applied at the lowest airspeed and altitude of the flight. That is the aerodynamic reason the go-around card below is written the way it is — the airplane's VMC is climbing toward you at the same moment its climb performance is not there.

The instructor's line for the student: every action of an attempted go-around takes back the margin the approach configuration gave you. Full certification detail — static versus dynamic determination, the 5° allowance, zero sideslip — is developed in Task XII.F.

In the one place you cannot spare the attention. The midair collision statistics point straight at this Task: the vast majority of accidents occurred at or near nontowered airports and at altitudes below 1,000 feet, most in daylight with visibility greater than 3 miles — and flight instructors were onboard in 37 percent of the accidents studied (AIH 9-11). You are in the pattern, low, slow, at a nonstandard descent rate, with a student whose eyes are on blue line.

The AIH names the failure mode for landings specifically: an instructor trying to convey a lot of information while verifying the aircraft is flown safely may cause a decrease in attention to collision avoidance or loss of situational awareness, and excessive teaching and coaching on final approach may cause missed radio transmissions from air traffic control or aircraft in the pattern. The prescribed fix is blunt — only use concise prompting on approach to landings (AIH 10-9). On this Task that means the narration ends at the commit point.

What you brief and enforce:

• Divide the scan out loud. Both are responsible to see and avoid other air traffic (AIH 10-7), but during configuration changes the student is head-down on the performance gates. Own the outside scan and say so.
• Own the radio and use it. Your airplane is flying a nonstandard, power-limited pattern that traffic behind you cannot see. Announce the simulated single-engine approach and your intention to make a full stop.
• Do not accept a maneuver entered without a traffic check. That tendency needs to be corrected immediately (AIH 9-11), and the excuse "it was an emergency drill" is the one you must not let stand.
• Sequence matters more than usual. You cannot side-step, extend downwind, or go around to fix a conflict here — which means the traffic problem must be solved before the gear comes down.

This is the highest-value discussion in the Task, and the honest answer is discouraging by design. 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 (AFH 13-35).

The reasons (AFH 13-35):

• Most light twins do not have the performance to climb on one engine with landing gear and flaps extended.
• Considerable altitude is lost while maintaining VYSE and retracting landing gear and flaps — losses of 500 feet or more are not unusual.
• If the landing gear was lowered by an alternate means of extension, retraction may not be possible, virtually negating any climb capability.

So the teaching is: make the go-around decision early, before the airplane is configured and committed, and once committed, fly the airplane to the best available surface rather than attempting to climb. Brief that decision point out loud on every single-engine approach you fly with a student.

The airplane should remain in trim throughout, but the pilot should be prepared for a rudder trim change as the power of the operating engine is reduced to idle in the roundout just prior to touchdown (AFH 13-35). All that asymmetric thrust you trimmed out disappears in a second, and the trim that was holding it is now pushing the nose the other way.

There are two accepted techniques (AFH 13-35): trim it out and be ready for the change, or reset the rudder trim to neutral on final and hold rudder pressure for the remainder of the approach — this eliminates the trim change close to the ground and avoids groping for the trim during final approach, which many pilots find highly distracting.

AFM/POH recommendations or personal preference decide it. Teach both and let the student pick, but require them to state their choice in the approach brief so you know which set of feet you are watching.

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 13-35). Contrast that with the two-engine case, where higher wing loading and drag from two windmilling propellers produce minimal float (AFH 13-20).

The ACS wants (AI.XII.G.S6–S8): smooth, timely, and correct control application before, during, and after touchdown; touchdown on the first one-third of the available runway, with no drift, and the longitudinal axis aligned with and over the runway center; and directional control with appropriate crosswind correction throughout.

Landing technique from the AFH: full stall landings are generally undesirable in twins — hold it off as with a high-performance single, allowing the mains to touch prior to a full stall (AFH 13-20). Then elevator back pressure to place additional weight on the main wheels; the nosewheel can be held off for aerodynamic braking under favorable conditions, but with a critical runway length, strong crosswind, or a contaminated surface, do not rely solely on aerodynamic braking — get the full weight on the wheels as soon as practicable, because the wheel brakes are more effective than aerodynamic braking alone (AFH 13-20, 13-21).

• Getting slow. VYSE until landing is assured — every configuration change is gated on performance, not on the position in the pattern (AFH 13-34).
• The long, flat, low approach. Explicitly warned against (AFH 13-34), and it is the setup for both a VMC event and an unrecoverable sink.
• Large, sudden power changes on the operating engine — a big yaw excursion close to the ground (AFH 13-34).
• Extending full flaps early and then discovering there is no performance left. Correction: teach the airspeed-decay and sink-rate cues as the gate.
• Attempting a go-around after commitment. Correction: brief the commit point every time.
• Losing the rudder trim change in the roundout — a swerve at touchdown. Correction: pick a technique and brief it.
• Reaching for a control on rollout. The pilot should not indiscriminately reach out for any switch or control on landing rollout — an inadvertent landing gear retraction while meaning to retract the wing flaps may result (AFH 13-21). Flaps stay down until clear of the runway unless there is a clear operational need (AFH 13-20).
• Feathering the wrong engine on the initial failure. Covered under Task XII.F, but it happens here too and the altitude available to fix it is far smaller.

The ACS splits the roles: the applicant sets the engine controls, reduces drag, identifies and verifies the inoperative engine, and simulates feathering the propeller, after which the evaluator should then establish zero thrust (AI.XII.G.S2).

On the instructor's side of that handoff, the AFH gives you the words: after the learner retards the propeller control toward FEATHER, the instructor promptly moves the propeller control forward and sets the appropriate manifold pressure and rpm, then announces the state — "I have the right engine; you have the left. I have set zero thrust and the right engine is simulated feathered" (AFH 13-36). It is vital that the learner be kept informed of the instructor's intentions, because any ambiguity as to who is operating what systems or controls increases the likelihood of an unintended outcome (AFH 13-36).

Where it happens matters too: at altitudes below 3,000 feet AGL, engine failure should be simulated by reducing throttle to idle and then establishing zero thrust (ACS Appendix 2), and all in-flight simulated engine failures below 3,000 feet AGL should be introduced with a smooth reduction of the throttle so the engine stays running and instantly available (AFH 13-35).

Deliver it as the explanation phase — objectives, lesson content, performance expectations, evaluation measures, and coverage of appropriate safety procedures — before the flight, and end by encouraging questions about any step the learner does not understand (AIH 9-5). For this Task specifically:

• Objective — fly a stabilized single-engine approach to a landing, with configuration gated on performance.
• How the failure will be introduced — smooth throttle reduction, verbal call, and where in the pattern. A clear understanding must exist as to how simulated emergencies will be introduced and what action the learner is expected to take (AFH 13-35).
• The zero-thrust handoff script, so it is not a surprise in the pattern.
• Completion standards — approach speed ±5 knots, touchdown in the first one-third, no drift, aligned with the centerline (AI.XII.G.S5, S7).
• The commit point and the go-around policy — who calls it, at what altitude, and what happens after.
• Positive three-step exchange of controls (ACS Appendix 2).

The general rule behind all of it: surprising a multiengine learner with an emergency without a thorough briefing beforehand creates a hazardous condition (AFH 13-35).

Keep the narration on the gates, because that is what distinguishes this approach from a normal one:

1. "Failure simulated — VYSE, identify, verify, simulate feather. I'm setting zero thrust, I have the right engine."
2. "Blue line. Bank two degrees toward the good engine, ball a third out — that's zero sideslip, that's our climb performance."
3. "Downwind abeam. Gear down and confirmed — I have the performance for it."
4. "Ten degrees of flap. Watch the VSI. Still VYSE."
5. "Base. Twenty-five degrees — but only because the airspeed held. If it had decayed I'd have waited."
6. "Final, three degrees, tracking the VASI. No big power changes. Committed here — we are landing on this runway."
7. "Landing assured. Now slowing below blue line, final flaps, and I'm ready for the trim change as the throttle comes back."

The demonstration must conform to the explanation and be flown in the same sequence it was explained; if it does not, acknowledge and explain the deviation immediately (AIH 9-5). Since learners generally imitate the instructor's performance, demonstrate it exactly the way you expect them to practice it, safety procedures included (AIH 9-6).

The instructor occasionally artificially limits the amount of manifold pressure available on the operative engine, to experience the performance expected at higher weights, altitudes, and temperatures; airport operations above the single-engine ceiling can be simulated the same way (AFH 13-36).

This is a real instructional problem to solve for: the majority of multiengine training is conducted in four-to-six place airplanes at weights significantly less than maximum. Single-engine performance, particularly at low density altitudes, may be deceptively good (AFH 13-36).

And the answer it explicitly rejects: avoid loading the airplane with passengers to practice emergencies at maximum takeoff weight — this practice creates an unnecessary training hazard (AFH 13-36).

Applied to this Task, the answer is simple: a single-engine approach ends in a full stop. You have neither the performance margin nor the spare hands for anything else.

More broadly, the AFH treats the touch-and-go question as genuinely contested and lands on caution. The use of the touch-and-go landing and takeoff in multiengine flight training has always been somewhat controversial. The value of the learning experience may be offset by the hazards of reconfiguring the airplane for takeoff in extremely limited time as well as the loss of the follow-through ordinarily experienced in a full stop landing (AFH 13-36).

Specifics:

• Touch-and-goes are not recommended during initial aircraft familiarization in multiengine airplanes (AFH 13-36).
• A full stop-taxi back landing is preferable during initial familiarization (AFH 13-36).
• The multiengine airplane uses considerably more runway to perform a touch-and-go than a single (AFH 13-36).
• Solo touch-and-goes in twins are strongly discouraged (AFH 13-36).
• If performed at all, learner and instructor responsibilities should be carefully briefed prior to each flight: following touchdown the learner ordinarily maintains directional control with the left hand on the yoke and the right hand on the throttles, while the instructor resets the flaps and trim and announces when the airplane has been reconfigured (AFH 13-36).

Because drag is what determines whether you have options on the way down, and options are what you are trying to preserve until the commit point. A feathered propeller streamlines the blade with the relative wind so parasite drag from the propeller is at a minimum — in a typical twin, a single feathered prop contributes a small part of total drag (AFH 13-3). A windmilling propeller is the opposite: it is the highest-drag configuration, which is also why VMC is highest with the critical engine propeller windmilling at the low pitch, high rpm blade angle (AFH 13-24).

Then teach the control input that converts that reduced drag into performance. Zero sideslip presents the airplane's smallest possible profile to the relative wind and is achieved by aileron and rudder used together in the proper combination — used individually, neither is correct (AFH 13-27). With no instrument that directly indicates it, use the substitute: a bank of about 2° toward the operative engine and one-third to one-half ball deflection in the absence of specific manufacturer guidance (AFH 13-32), and remember the zero sideslip ball position for straight flight is also the zero sideslip position for turning flight (AFH 13-29).

Two parameters, guarded absolutely: airspeed and bank angle. The AFH assigns exactly that duty — for spin avoidance when practicing engine failures, the flight instructor should pay strict attention to the maintenance of proper airspeed and bank angle as the learner executes the appropriate procedure (AFH 13-18).

The reason is the mechanism: to spin, the airplane must be stalled, and at the stall a yawing moment — from rudder input or asymmetrical thrust — can initiate spin entry. Awareness should be highest during any condition of high asymmetrical thrust, particularly at low speed and high AOA (AFH 13-18). A slow, banked, high-power single-engine final is precisely that condition. And there is no recovery to fall back on: no multiengine airplane is approved for spins, and their spin recovery characteristics are generally very poor (AFH 13-18), with recovery requiring considerable altitude (AFH 13-18).

So the guardrails you brief and enforce: a stated minimum airspeed (VYSE until landing assured), a stated maximum bank, and a go-around/termination altitude. Name a deviation once. Take the controls the second time — with the positive three-step exchange (ACS Appendix 2).

Descent planning, because the engine you have left is the only one you have. A hurried, last-minute descent with power at or near idle is inefficient and can cause excessive engine cooling; as a rule of thumb, if terrain and passengers permit, plan a maximum of a 500 fpm rate of descent (AFH 13-20). Some airplanes require a minimum EGT, minimum power setting, or cylinder head temperature in the descent, and combinations of very low manifold pressure and high rpm settings are strongly discouraged by engine manufacturers — if higher descent rates are needed, extend partial flaps or lower the gear before retarding the power excessively (AFH 13-20).

The instructor's parallel duty on the simulated-dead engine: with zero thrust set, the cowl flap is normally closed and the mixture leaned, with an occasional clearing of the engine, and avoid high power applications immediately following a prolonged cool-down at a zero-thrust setting (AFH 13-36). Plan the termination so that you never need that engine back in a hurry — because on this Task, the go-around you cannot fly is the one you promised yourself you could.