Second Multi Flight

After the first flight in a Beechcraft Duchess, I was mostly able to locate the required switches, controls, etc. for flight with both engines running. I even flew a couple of ILS approaches into Paine Field, which went very well. I still need to master the Garmin 430 in Northway's Duchess (while the 430 is similar to the G1000 in concept, it's not really enough to look at the 430 for five minutes and expect to be able to operate it at a level proficient enough for IFR flight), but overall, I think the flight went extremely well.

The second flight was when Milen and I started to work on engine-out procedures. We did some procedures for identifying the failed engine -- both visually and under the hood. Basically, Milen would pull the throttle back and I was supposed to say which engine failed. This was easy if the engine failed suddenly (lots of yaw), but it was not as easy if the engine failure occurred gradually; I think that was an important point in the demonstration, because in real life, engines do not fail instantaneously.

After I got the identification of the failed engine nailed down, we proceeded to do the actual engine failure procedures -- that is, practicing bringing mixtures, propellers, and throttles forward, cleaning up the flaps and the gear, identifying and verifying the failed engine, etc. We practiced these procedures on the ground before starting the flight; however, I must say that in the air, everything seems to feel differently. On the ground, the engine failure isn't quite "real". But, in the air, it just feels different -- at least to me. When you're losing altitude, and you've got to manage the engine failure and keep the plane upright at the same time, there is certainly a tendency to rush things. Rushing is obviously not good, and it takes a lot of practice to get the right pace -- not too slow, but not too fast, either.

The final maneuver of the lesson was the single-engine ILS. I can't say it went as well as the normal ILS: I was "all over the place." Fortunately, neither the glideslope nor the localizer went full-scale deflection -- so theoretically, it was within standards -- but it still looked scary. I like it much better when both needles just stick to the center. :-)

So, we've got our work cut ahead of us -- but Milen is confident that a couple more flights, and I'll be ready for the checkride!