Emergency Landings
Unlike other maneuvers that are taught during primary flight training, learning how to perform an emergency approach in landing is not intended to aid you in mastering other flight maneuvers. The purpose of learning how to perform this maneuver is so you have the knowledge and skills necessary to safely bring the airplane back to the ground in the remote chance you should experience a complete or partial engine failure during flight, just as important as your ability to fly the airplane, your ability to recognize the situation remain calm, assess your options, and apply.
When performing an emergency approach and landing, there are some key things to remember. The first is that you have to assume that you will not be able to restart your engine. The second is that you want to be able to glide as far as possible to maximize your landing site options.
And finally you will need to select a landing area that will allow you to safely put the airplane on the ground with as little damage to the plane as possible. Too many pilots waste valuable time right after they lose their engine trying to get it restarted when they should instead be figuring out where they are going to land the plane.
Once you have the plane trimmed up correctly under heading towards a landing area, only then should you worry about getting the engine restarted. This is even more important when you're at lower altitudes because your options are going to be limited and you may have very little time to determine where you are going to land. The first thing that needs to be done is to trim the airplane for its best glide speed. If you have flaps in, retract them. After the plane is trimmed for best glide speed and cleaned up, you will need to look around to assess your situation. There are two things that you will be looking for. You need to know the speed and direction of the wind and you need to find a suitable place for landing to determine the wind speed and direction. Use the skills you previously learned in ground reference. If you choose a landing area that is upwind from your location it will have to be closer than if you pick one downwind from your location.
Another thing to consider when selecting an off airport landing site is the type of surface you will be landing on. A long, hard surface is the ideal type of landing site to choose, but usually you will only find that at airports and on roadways.
The next best type of surface you can land on is a long smooth grass field. Whether it's an airport with a grass strip or a 50 are sod farm, having either one of those options would be the next best thing to landing on a hard surface runway. But unless you are lucky enough to find one of those options, the most common suitable landing site will be farm fields.
If there is an area that has a number of fields close together that are all large enough to satisfy your landing requirements heading, there may be your best option that way if need be. You can switch to a different field if there is an issue with the one you initially selected. Many times, a field that may have looked ideal for a landing site ends up having obstacles or hazards that you couldn't see from a distance.
Once you've selected a landing site the next thing to do is determine how you will set up your approach. The idea is to get yourself in a position where you can fly your approach almost as if you had lost your engine on the downwind in the traffic pattern. The reason you want to do this is because it will make it easier for you to plan your approach from a pattern that you are already familiar with.
The downwind should be flown the same distance from the field as you would fly from the runway in a normal traffic pattern. Do not extend the flaps at the abeam point. Instead, wait until you turn base and reach the low-key point. Here you will have to decide how your flight path looks. If your flight path looks good, hold off on adding flaps. If you feel you are a little high, go ahead and add ten degrees of flaps.
The most common cause of engine failures is fuel exhaustion. An engine failure is considered a distress call, so be sure to use the phrase mayday and not pan, which is used for urgent communications. There is very little someone on the ground can do for you in the case of an engine failure. Do not allow yourself to get into a drawn-out conversation with someone trying to walk you through what they think you should do. The basic information you need to get across is who you are, where you are, and what your situation is.
If you can provide an accurate description of your location and intended landing site that should make it easier for them to find you. As a rule of thumb, once you are a 1000 feet or lower you should be concentrating on flying the plane and preparing for the landing engine failures are a very rare occurrence in general aviation, but they can't happen. That is why the FAA mandates training and emergency approach and landing scenarios, so if it does happen to you you will have been thoroughly trained and know exactly how to respond. Like so much of aviation training, pilots spend a lot of time becoming proficient at things they hope they never have to do. Such is the case with emergency approach and landings, but the hour spent training for this possible situation will be time well spent and you will be a better safer pilot for it.
When performing an emergency approach and landing, there are some key things to remember. The first is that you have to assume that you will not be able to restart your engine. The second is that you want to be able to glide as far as possible to maximize your landing site options.
And finally you will need to select a landing area that will allow you to safely put the airplane on the ground with as little damage to the plane as possible. Too many pilots waste valuable time right after they lose their engine trying to get it restarted when they should instead be figuring out where they are going to land the plane.
Once you have the plane trimmed up correctly under heading towards a landing area, only then should you worry about getting the engine restarted. This is even more important when you're at lower altitudes because your options are going to be limited and you may have very little time to determine where you are going to land. The first thing that needs to be done is to trim the airplane for its best glide speed. If you have flaps in, retract them. After the plane is trimmed for best glide speed and cleaned up, you will need to look around to assess your situation. There are two things that you will be looking for. You need to know the speed and direction of the wind and you need to find a suitable place for landing to determine the wind speed and direction. Use the skills you previously learned in ground reference. If you choose a landing area that is upwind from your location it will have to be closer than if you pick one downwind from your location.
Another thing to consider when selecting an off airport landing site is the type of surface you will be landing on. A long, hard surface is the ideal type of landing site to choose, but usually you will only find that at airports and on roadways.
The next best type of surface you can land on is a long smooth grass field. Whether it's an airport with a grass strip or a 50 are sod farm, having either one of those options would be the next best thing to landing on a hard surface runway. But unless you are lucky enough to find one of those options, the most common suitable landing site will be farm fields.
If there is an area that has a number of fields close together that are all large enough to satisfy your landing requirements heading, there may be your best option that way if need be. You can switch to a different field if there is an issue with the one you initially selected. Many times, a field that may have looked ideal for a landing site ends up having obstacles or hazards that you couldn't see from a distance.
Once you've selected a landing site the next thing to do is determine how you will set up your approach. The idea is to get yourself in a position where you can fly your approach almost as if you had lost your engine on the downwind in the traffic pattern. The reason you want to do this is because it will make it easier for you to plan your approach from a pattern that you are already familiar with.
The downwind should be flown the same distance from the field as you would fly from the runway in a normal traffic pattern. Do not extend the flaps at the abeam point. Instead, wait until you turn base and reach the low-key point. Here you will have to decide how your flight path looks. If your flight path looks good, hold off on adding flaps. If you feel you are a little high, go ahead and add ten degrees of flaps.
The most common cause of engine failures is fuel exhaustion. An engine failure is considered a distress call, so be sure to use the phrase mayday and not pan, which is used for urgent communications. There is very little someone on the ground can do for you in the case of an engine failure. Do not allow yourself to get into a drawn-out conversation with someone trying to walk you through what they think you should do. The basic information you need to get across is who you are, where you are, and what your situation is.
If you can provide an accurate description of your location and intended landing site that should make it easier for them to find you. As a rule of thumb, once you are a 1000 feet or lower you should be concentrating on flying the plane and preparing for the landing engine failures are a very rare occurrence in general aviation, but they can't happen. That is why the FAA mandates training and emergency approach and landing scenarios, so if it does happen to you you will have been thoroughly trained and know exactly how to respond. Like so much of aviation training, pilots spend a lot of time becoming proficient at things they hope they never have to do. Such is the case with emergency approach and landings, but the hour spent training for this possible situation will be time well spent and you will be a better safer pilot for it.