Once I asked my instructor what I should do if engine quits over a forest, and he used to repeat the old adage, "Find the smallest, cheapest thing to hit and do it at the lowest speed possible."

landing off-airport in snow can be a whole other issue most people are totally unaware of and unprepared for. there are many different types of snow. Snow can conceal obstacles, downed trees, ditches, rough fields, etc. And it can be far deeper than you think. It could be solid ice, wet and heavy, light and fluffy, and worst it can be ice crust layer on top and fluffy below the crust. this WILL likely flip your plane upon breaking through the crust. A snowy field could also turn out to be a frozen lake with thin ice (very dangerous). Another reason I prefer roads.

One reason why these new small electric planes are great for flight schools (couple schools near me slowly getting them) . Very easy to use and fly just like a little cessna (1 lever for power) 45-60 mins flight times, Perfect for practising engine failures as there is no motor running and prop can be left to windmill for drag or not, without having to shutdown the IC-Engine.

I think this is the best "engine failure lesson" I ever seen. Clear, simple, complete, no frills. Great !!!

In my earlier years I flew Gliders, Sailplanes. If you have a low level cable break, you need to pitch down from 20 degrees nose up. My first practice engine failure in a Warrior I lifted myself and instructor of our seats, my pitch over was so rapid. He said most people are far too slow. He told me to slow down.

Agreed, with engine securing prior to landing. But be aware that shutting Everything down can cause problems. Shutting off electrical could disable flaps, radios, etc. stuff you may still need. Make sure to think about this ahead of time and adjust checklists appropriately.

Very good and complete coverage of engine failure. Because most engine failures are on takeoff, I emphasize low altitude orientation over high altitude orientation. High orientation is best glide. Low orientation is airspeed, and not altitude is life. Think in terms of zoom reserve airspeed like Vcc rather than best glide. Level in low ground effect acceleration on takeoff and pitch only enough to just clear obstructions rather than fly well over is what gives default zoom reserve or Vcc airspeed. Because of crop dusting and pipeline patrol with a 200' AGL waiver, eleven of my thirteen engine failures were low orientation and it was this extra airspeed for maneuvering that gave me the flexibility to survive. They were six second deals. Best glide airspeed or even looking at the airspeed indicator is a distraction. Vx or Vy, almost never appropriate, are way too slow at 200' for much flexibility. Turn at whatever bank angle will make the survivable LZ in the very near hemisphere in front of the wing while allowing the nose to go down as designed. Do not pull on the yoke to maintain altitude. The airplane cannot stall itself, a pilot pulling on the stick is required. Just there just now. It is a six second deal. I was almost always high and fast to this very near LZ requiring full flaps and full forward slip in the turn to target. So the high altitude orientation is what you will experience on the checkride. What I am talking about at low altitude is more likely what we will get in real life. Turn at 1 g (no back pressure on stick) and you will not stall. Don't stall and you will likely survive. Don't climb so fast you are likely to stall onto airport property. Just maneuver the airplane well (airspeed) where it is. Again, good job with complete coverage of the subject.

thank you! i am scheduled to do my first lesson on emergency procedures tomorrow in the simulator. Great information and I feel a bit more prepared to handle these issues! cheers everyone!

Once again…you answered all my questions in prep for check ride! I will be so over prepared and that is exactly what I want.

Extremely well put together vid! Good work. I taught my students to memorize the engine failure, engine fire, and electrical fire checklists then reference them when things are a little more under control. Gotta do memory items when they get to the airlines anyway so teach em early I say.

At around 5:20 you suggest that a windmilling propeller has less drag than a stopped prop. A windmilling propeller has more drag, not less than a stopped prop.

Great stuff as always. I’ve got my check ride coming up soon and this is a great reminder.

8:00 What's interesting is that my instructor taught me to not go spot-shopping, but if I see a better spot on my descent, to definitely go with the better one. However, the chief instructor, when he was doing my checkride pre-check said I needed to pick a spot and stick with it because that's what the DPE expects (and he was right, the DPE wanted to see if I would make the spot I originally selected). But honestly, this notion always seemed like a really good way to pull into that Great Big FBO in the Sky.

Really really really awesome video. Something that I think you could also touch on is the approach speed to landing. My chief pilot just taught me recently that you want to fly your Vg allllll the way till you are leveling off for the flare. With a prop not windmilling creating the spiraling slipstream (prop wash) over the elevator you are going to hit the ground HARD if you try to rotate at your normal approach speed. You lose a ton of elevator authority. He explained it much better than I did but hopefully you get what I’m trying to say.

All of the first 50 or so landings I did were dead-stick. yes, I did my initial training on gliders. Dead stick landings I can handle. I suggest all pilots do a few trips in gliders, you will definetely improve your landing skills.

Great video. I haven't got to this point in my training but now I have a good idea of what to expect and the discussion to have with my instructor.

Excellent video Josh. Always good to keep those emergency procedures well practiced. Looks like you are getting some good cold weather flying in up there. Keep up the excellent work. Safe skies my friend 🇺🇸🛩️

I passed my Checkride today because of you. Appreciate all the great work you do, please keep it up. (I’d love to see an instrument series) I’ll definitely be ordering some merchandise soon

It depends. If you are in the cruise, the very first thing that you should do is trade some of your horizontal velocity for altitude. Pull back on the stick. Yes, you do this BEFORE anything else. Those couple of hundred extra feet could just save your bacon. Edit: if you’re flying a single with a constant speed unit FULLY COARSEN your propeller to reduce induced drag if you think you won’t make that field. It WILL stretch your glide. Yes, I know your 172 doesn’t have one.

Great review and good checklist recommendations. Excellent instructing. Thanks.

Great video Josh! Hope all is well brother!!

I love your videos. I just started flying after a 38 year absence. So many more resources available online today not to mention simulators like X-Plane. PS check the spelling of “mixture” :-). Thank you for the lessons

Josh, Thank you for yet another great content! I really like the fact that you incorporated your military training in this video! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I can really appreciate the clarity this gentlemen explains everything

I teach the checklist memorization too. At both flight schools I was at we did the same. we even made custom checklists for the flight schools. And everything was black and white, but all memorization parts of the checklists had red borders around them. We tested students on the memorized portions of the checklists, and made them recite them at random any time we liked. part of this came from my time in helicopters, where you need both hands to fly and don't have time in emergencies to look at your checklists. so for helicopters we actually memorized all of the procedures/checklists, as well as most of the POH, as you weren't going to be consulting them in flight when you may only have less than 10sec to land. I do this with my own aircraft too. I create far superior custom checklists that are 10x better than any provided for the aircraft I fly, and have them on a kneeboard (I Never fly without a kneeboard, another helicopter habit).

Thank you for this!!!! I just sent to my instructor and asked if we could do this soon....🙌🙌

Just excellent, thank you!

Thanks for another great video!!

We just recently had an engine/power failure scene in Nashville Tennessee. Family of five and no survivors but the pilot landed right beside the interstate in a grassy area and saved a bunch of lives by not landing where a bunch of vehicles were traveling.

Very good video, but a couple of observations. 1.) if an engine failure and you are on Both try Left and Right individually, it could be a switch problem where only both is effected! If you go to Left or Right, you may get your engine back.. Slightly less power, but not by much (Lower Power, is better than No Power)! 2.) Keep in mind that different planes handle different ways. For example, mine that I am primary training has Fuel Injection (No Prime) an is Complex with a Constant speed prop. Added steps to the checklist. I subscribed to your channel!

I just want to thank you guys for all the different scenarios you put out there for us guys that are learning and women thanks again

I had an engine failure on take off in a 1959 C-150 I had been flying for about 1000 hours over 4 years. I knew this airplanes slow flight characteristics as I used the aircraft for photography and surveys. It was cold that morning, 23 degrees f. With a direct crosswind. The preflight and startup were normal. Taxi and run up seemed normal except for a very slight drop in rpm on the carb heat. Take off was always brisk and a cold day ROC of about 700 FPM came rapidly with a control input to maintenance runway heading was held. At about 350' indicated and past half the 3200' runway the engine quit suddenly. No surge, no warning. Here's the headline: push the nose down and keep speed up the second the power goes out. In the seconds after engine failure I was reaching for carb heat astonished the thing quit. The airplane was nose high bleeding off airspeed at 300' . Only when I heard the stall horn did I snap the nose over. I was about 200 feet off the CL to the right side of the runway . The left wing was stalling as I was trying to squeeze a left turn to the safety area at the end of the runway. The plane was almost fully stalled but didn't have altitude enough to roll off and did lift her nose a bit. The left wing and nose contacted the two feet of crusty snow . I walked away from it. The stall horn saved me. Your comment about muscle memory is IMHO spot on. Fly on!

One of the best I've seen around

Better do the troubleshoots in a sequence, not crisscross. It total engine fail start with fuel valve, if partial start with carb heat, then lean mixture a bit and sequence, pass thru seat belt and start again like a circle around, That is called A Round Check. I did that since 1994.

Nice video!

18:00 you had me at C4, lolll

super nice video for great back to basics! thanks! wish you were here in florida! lol

I haven't maintained my ratings, but since living in Nebraska one of the best pieces of advice on engine out landings was to land the same direction the corn rows run!

Hi. Thanks for this video. Very instructive. I've been talking a lot with my instructor about the impossible turn recently, and in my eyes the problem with your calculation is that you didn't really factor in the distance from the airport while climbing. In addition your take-off weight is relevant. In my opinion an impossible turn while on the departure leg can only work if you have a reasonably long runway - basically a runway that is so long, that you're still over it when you reach 400 ft AGL. My home airfield only has an 1800ft grass runway. When I reach 400ft AGL I'm already half a mile or so from the threshold. AND if I were flying at MTOW I would be even farther away because my climb speed would be lower. So no matter if I'm 400ft or 1000ft AGL, I will not make it back to the airfield as long as I'm still on the departure leg, because with each foot I climb I get farther away from the runway. Now if the engine quits on crosswind while I'm already close to pattern altitude, the thing is different, because 1. I don't have to turn the full 180° anymore and lose less altitude in the turn 2. I can cut across directly to the runway and will fly a shorter distance back, than I did flying out. The third point I would need some advice: glide speed. As far as I know the best glide speed in the POH is calculated for MTOW, right? So if I were alone in the plane with tanks only half full, my best glide speed should be lower than the one in the POH, since I would need less speed to stay aloft, or am I on the wrong track here?

If you decide to attempt the impossible turn you should consider the crosswind. If there is any crosswind you should make the turn into the wind. This will keep you closer to the runway. Turning to the downwind side will take you further away and might make the turn impossible without more altitude. The only reason I can think of to not do this is if there was a parallel runway in use that posed a threat if you were to get too close.

On most general aviation aircraft, full nose up on the trim wheel is very close to the best glide speed. I like to test that in each new plane I fly, and of course have checklists with the correct v speeds readily accessible.

Excellent! 👍👍

So funny when I first started watching the video I thought man these guys are awfully calm and cool and collected for having just lost an engine lol!

Very interesting as usual. This time, most of it is part of basic PPL training, but it's always good to listen again. That said, you gave some additional personal information like you always do, which is great. Speaking of the famous U-turn, I would try to do it on the side where the wind is coming preferably. Of course we should already be into the wind on takeoff, but I'd guess that 95% of the time there is a crosswind component, so tacking in that direction will keep the airplane closer to the runway. What do you think?

You never said you were unlatching the doors when you implemented your scenario...now you're stuck in the metal coffin under the snow... RIP free pilot training

Did a LOTOT yesterday on my BFR in my 1945 172 (0300 - 145 HP.) Added 6 seconds reaction time. Took me 600' to make the 180 deg. turn. However, IMO, just cause you make the turn doesn't mean you are going to make the runway so CFI recommended 1000' to attempt the impossible turn.

16:13 and 400ft is BEST case. you're flying in winter. and reaction time? i'd say 500ft or more to be safe. Edit: i see you address some of this. but do Not forget higher DA conditions, unfavorable xwinds, and time to flare.

thanks for the very informative and useful video as usual. Would you be so nice to provide details on techniques on how to approach/use a best spot to land? My understand is that I should cross the landing spot at 1000ft AGL and then start downwind, base and final. But I struggle to identify this spot when flying "high" as I just see fields (so potentially suitable landing spots) that are far from the plane and I'm unable to approach them being above the right spot at the right altitude. (I hope my question was clear). tnx

God bless you brother 👍

A stopped or low power producing (carb ice...) engine - that carb heat needs to come on right away - same time as you are controlling the attitude and looking for your spot. For a non-injected engine don't wait - get that carb heat on now!

Windmilling prop produces tons less drag than "frozen" one? That is what I said to my instructor and he told me to do some resarch as he was confident that I was wrong. Is there any chance we can get a brief explanation of this phenomena?

Could you make a video with tips for emergencies in the city? I haven't seen many videos on this topic and think it would be a great help

I teach road landings. but NOT with powerlines. tight roads with parallel lines are often too tight for the wingspan (I actually make students tell me the airplane wingspan and how wide the given road is). And then there are perpendicular crossing powerlines. but many roads have no powerlines. And where I live, many places it's either dense trees or a country road, no fields at all. You take the road if you can. And when their are fields, there are hazards there too. i come from a farming family, and I can tell you that certain fields can be as bad as trees if you land in them wrong. Some fields look great form 2000ft, but at 100ft you're seeing your life flash before your eyes. Another reason I take roads if I can, as the odds of success are higher. pilots have an easier time thinking of a road as a runway than an abstract field of unknown size and that is often very short (most fields will be less than 1mile long in its longest direction not counting trees on either end that shorten your usable distance, meaning less than 5000ft at most, much too often it might be closer to 2000ft).

This is a very good video and thank you for making it. I believe there is one error early on however. A windmilling prop causes MORE drag than a stationary prop, and therefore your glide distance is actually longer if the prop stops completely.

I would add "trim for best glide" to start.

Vglide is with windmilling prop unless manual says the contrary. Most props stop at around 60 knots, That is under the Vglide for most 4 seaters. Dont try to stop the prop except on 2 seats or less LSA's with Vglide 60 knots or less. The wings drag will be increased by trying to stop the prop on most 4-6 place airplanes and Vglide distance be cut. Also you are closer to the 3o bank stalling speed and many have stalled turning final with stopped prop. Most LSA's can, but most 4 seaters cant turn safely with stopped prop at 60 knots.

“Send help, I like cookies” 😂your videos are the best and very informative. Thank you very much!

You said stuck propeller creates more drag than windmilling. Could you confirm that? I thought that windmilling prop creates more drag. I also heard about technique to reduce airspeed first to stop the prop spinning and then slowly increase airspeed. If prop didn’t start to spinning again, you would be able to glide further away (or longer time - I don’t remember).

Back in the 1960s Cessna did an experiment and determined that a "stopped prop" would add approximately 20% more distance to the glide. A windmilling prop still caused drag. Cessna's chart is based on a windmilling propeller. They didn't provide one for a stopped propeller. So, if you know that your engine is really dead, and there is no chance it can be restarted, (fuel exhaustion) consider stopping the propeller. It could be the difference in reaching the emergency landing place. How to do that? Just pitch up a little until it stops, it won't take long. Also, my chief pilot was a P-51 pilot during WWII. He taught me that should the engine quit at altitude, to immediately steeply bank to the left and to the right and look straight down. Sometimes the best place to land might be right below you. Then you can slow down to an airspeed slower than the best glide, that is, the maximum endurance airspeed. This airspeed is slightly slower than the best glide and will keep you aloft for a longer time. This may buy you some time to determine to problem just in case there is a chance for a restart.

Regarding your example calculation of 700ft required to successfully perform an "impossible turn," do you have an estimate of how much additional height you should probably require to take into account the difference between an idling engine (ie. the observed altitude loss when practising the maneuver with an engine still generating a small amount of thrust) vs. a dead engine (ie. the actual altitude loss you'd encounter in a real engine-out emergency). Would adding an extra 50-100ft account for this small difference, or could it be more significant than that? Same question for a stuck prop emergency too I guess, as you mentioned it would result in even greater drag.

Thanks

That was a killer video! No pun

to be serious this was a very good educational video and engine quits 1. I plan a will my flight sim computer and flight tools go to Free Pilot . 2 everything else goes to a good will . 3. money wellll to free pilot training to buy a better video card. and that will cover some of it due to the high cost of video cards lol

Don't worry...I watched a free pilot training video. I'll try that with the DPE on my checkride. You need a shirt or something with that on it!

A windmilling propeller creates more drag than frozen prop so you would glide further with a stuck prop, even fixed pitch where you can't feather it.

the thing I struggle with is definitely picking a landing spot when doing a PFL

Not sure if I heard…ELT- ON & cockpit door unlatched. Excellent training, thanks for posting 😊

Is going around 100ft really going to give you that much better training than 500ft? Does the benefit outweigh that risk? I ask that because the last time we did engine out drills in a 5 year old Cessna 172 the engine ran very rough upon applying full power (to the point that we considered our practice engine out might be a real one), probably from prolonged gliding at idle. During commercial training you are taught to clear the engine during steep spirals to prevent fouling or excessive engine cooling- and that needs to be done at any time you are in a prolonged idle such as gliding down from 3K.

I think a windmilling prop creates more drag than a stuck prop, even if it’s fixed pitch?

Flying eyes sponsorship Congratulations

Panic? How hard is it to get one of those parachutes?

We practise our students to recite the emergency checklist by heart whenever we ask them to, e.g. during taxi or during magneto checks.

Any chance you could do an engine fire in flight and engine fire during start video?

Suppose you are climbing out in your Cessna 172, and at 500ft AGL, the engine not only quits, but locks up, and the prop isn't turning (engine torque = 0). If you stall the plane, will it roll, or will the nose pitch straight down? Great video, thanks for posting!

To prevent most engine failures one must remain grounded

Could you explain the difference between best glide speed and minimum sink speed? Under what practical circumstances shall minimum sink speed be used?

can you change your intended field on the checkride?

what about L/D + half head wing to increase distance, and 180 turn in 45 bank (best time ratio)?

I need to get back in the air!!!

Incidentally, it is also impossible to perform a no flap landing. However, you can perform a no flaps landing all day long.

4:52 A windmilling propeller produces a higher drag coefficient than a stopped prop. Your glide distance increases when your propeller is stopped, not when the propeller is windmilling. Cessna gives you the worst-case glide ratio under the assumption that you do not try to forcibly stop your prop from windmilling

Is there any difference between an engine at idle speed (training) versus an engine off with a windmilling propeller? I’m a former LEO and I understand training isn’t always a real life scenario but as close as we can get.

I thought i learned somewhere a wind milling propeller produces more drag than a static propeller, as the energy is spent cranking the engine.

Would it be a good idea to teach the co-pilot (in case it's not a real pilot) how to start the engine so in case of engine failure he can try to restart it?

I always learned CARB heat first next proceed with ABC

I love the 172H. 0300, great engine. But a stuck prop makes your 172 glide better, not worse. Believe me, I tried. Why? A turning prop is like a big wooden disk in front of you, because a turning prop means a turning engine with a lot of internal resistance. I’m pretty confident this applies to all planes with an internal combustion engine. Other than that, good item. And train this situation for real. Not on a cold day - shock cooling is never a good idea, check your poh - but do stop your engine, if needed by gradually pulling up to stall speed. And prepare your aircraft for a restart: carb heat in and mixture full rich. Have fun!

Night time procedure. When you start to lose altitude turn on landing light and if you don't like what you see turn landing light off.

rotating prop (windmilling) produces much greater drag than frozen prop

Aims community College won't let me graduate without memorizing the first like 5 steps to all emergency procedures. After this vid, I totally respect that requirement

I’ve done this on sim and not that easy o ur goal was to loose not more then 300ft to 400 that’s exactly what you said … we tuned directly 1000 ft after take off at times 600

Watch your speed, lower the nose, fly straight, find a field or open area, land gear up, insurance co. owns it now, you go home for dinner. Oh, and take some AQP training while you watch Dan Gryder Probable Cause. Happy Flyin'.

yes, to practicing around a runway... my instructor pulls the power out on me if i go too far before turning base to teach me "you want to turn your base where you can make it to the runway in case of emergency" -- edit after watching more video: I also like cookies

14:08 impossible turn at 400 agl is crazzzyyyyy

That Godzilla scene woke me up!

If you lose your engine you absolutely can not control your aircraft! But if your engine falls to run then you got some options. A windmilling prop produces more drag then a stationary prop.

Land? How about trying to restart that engine first?

I lost an engine in an M model 3 times before it got fixed. It will surly remove all trust of the engine for a while.

From my experience Rotax engines won’t windmilling even when they are completely fine :/

If I'm not near civilization, I would turn on my ELT shortly before landing. This assumes you have a remote ELT switch on the panel. You do, don't you?

Engine-out procedures for private pilot training often starts in the first hour of instruction.