Hand on heart, be completely honest with yourself- do you ALWAYS conduct a Pre Take-off safety brief, if not, your psychology may be the end of you.
RACWA’s Student Pilot Guide gives an example of a Take-off Safety Brief (page 63 of Revision 1.21):
“If I have an engine failure before take-off I will close the throttle and apply sensible braking. If I have an engine failure after take-off I will lower the nose, land within 30o on either side of the heading, and select flaps as required.”
This is a very simple brief aimed at our student pilots, are there other things to be considered? Definitely and possibly something to raise discussion in a future article, particularly actions following a partial engine failure, however for this week, just considering the basic psychology behind the importance of the brief.
In my mind, the brief is not just a brief, it is a personal commitment that is made before take-off (and remembered for every touch and go). Why commit, because it is highly probable that a natural response to an engine failure on the upwind leg will be a fatal one, this response being, attempting to turn back to the runway.
Now John Snare’s lesson in psychology. I do say this tongue in cheek, my only experience with psychology was visiting one, I was there for 8 hours and that was just for the quote. To put it mildly, if you do ever experience an engine failure on the upwind leg, your first action will most probably be denial- nup, this isn’t happening to me. Once your mind processes the fact that it is happening, your next action is to put it colloquially without using offensive language- your bowel sphincter may become quite relaxed, this is not a nice situation to be in.
Now- for the untrained pilot or pilot who has not conducted and BELIEVED their safety brief, in front of the aircraft lies the unknown, and behind lies the safety of a well-prepared airfield- the temptation to turn back is immense. If the temptation dictates, factors such as allowing the airspeed to decrease whilst in the denial and upset tummy phase, a very high rate of descent during the subsequent gliding turns (2 turns will be required, the turnback to intercept about 270o then alignment, 90o in the opposite direction), the increased stall speed from the Angle of Bank and very, very importantly, the forward or peripheral view of the ground coming up to smite thee- YOU WILL STALL, AT BEST THIS WILL BE IN A HIGH ANGLE OF BANK WITH INCREDIBLY HIGH VERTICAL SPEED, AT WORST YOU WILL ENTER AN INCIPIENT SPIN WITH THE RESULTANT YAW POINTING YOUR NOSE DIRECTLY AT THE GROUND. No lift and gravity combine with an incredibly hard ground, no matter how good your
stall/incipient spin recovery technique is, it will not work, and the ensuing accident has a very high probability of being fatal.
However… from your training and discipline, you have conducted and believe in your safety brief/commitment. You will still experience the denial and gastrointestinal issues however, you will lower the nose and MAINTAIN CONTROL OF YOUR AIRCRAFT that is you will AVIATE. Now that you have the aviation under control, you can NAVIGATE. By limiting your manoeuvring to 30o you will eliminate the probability of stall/incipient spin. Areas will be available, e.g. parklands, open spaces (particularly if away from towns and cities), quiet streets, etc., etc. you do not need an airfield, once on the ground you can use whatever means available to stop the aircraft, if your aircraft is subsequently damaged, to be honest, who cares as long as no one is injured, the probability of significant injury is very low.
If possible, and aviation and navigation are all OK, then you can COMMUNICATE, doesn’t have to be pretty, just say what you can and prefix with MAYDAY to get everyone’s attention. Now just from my vault of personal experience. I vividly remember conducting a stall at a low level, circa 500 feet, when undertaking training for a low-level endorsement. At this stage in my flying, I already had approval to conduct aerobatics down to 500’, my thoughts regarding the stall, so what!
As an instructor I have practiced huge numbers of stalls and never lose more than 50’ I can fly at 500’ upside down, this will be easy peasy! Believe me, it was not, the ground really, really does start rushing up even though in a C152 wings-level stall the Rate of Descent is only 700 to 900 feet per minute. I had to force myself to pitch the nose down to recover, repeating my opening linehand on heart. I am almost 100% confident that if I were conducting a steep descending turn after having an engine failure on the upwind leg, seeing the earth getting rapidly bigger, I would be incapable of maintaining an attitude low enough to prevent a stall/incipient spin, I would inadvertently pull back on the controls, I would perish. The turn back after engine failure on upwind is often known as “the impossible turn”, I hope that this article supports this notion however, just don’t take my word.
A great video to watch is at
Until next week. Smooth landings,
John Snare
Safety Manager
