One engine good, Two engines better?

Not necessarily!

Saturday, I was back in the Sim at Waikato Aero Club, watching Trevor get back up to speed with Multi-Engine flying...

Light twins don't traditionally cope too well with an engine failure... and watching what happens when one dies was certainly a wakeup call!

As the old saying goes "When one engine fails on a twin-engine aircraft, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."

In a single engine aircraft, when it all goes quiet, you're basically a glider and the aerodynamics are pretty much the same (minus of course the thrust). The aircraft will generally fly pretty straight... but, of course, not so much level! ;-)

In a twin, when one engine goes out, everything changes. The thrust line is now offset from the centreline of the aircraft (asymmetric thrust), with the result being that it wants to constantly yaw left or right, depending on which engine has died, as one side of the aircraft is trying to fly faster than the other!

You're then left trying to troubleshoot while trying to maintain control of an unstable aircraft... and for added fun, you can try it with only reference to instruments!

The idea of keeping aviation as a 'fun hobby' is starting to look more and more appealing! :-/

Following the sim session, I almost scored a ride in the back of WIT (WAC's newish Archer III), but unfortunately, they were pushing a little close to maximum weight as it was full of fuel :(

Meanwhile, I'm hoping to catch some nice weather soon so I can get the Cross-Country Syllabus completed and tick another of the CPL boxes!