Multi-Engine Flight Test Report

As anyone who has done a flight test will tell you, there's a LOT going on on the  day of the flight test as this is where it ALL comes together. 

Air excercises go well if you get your ground stuff in order to boost your confidence.

My recommendation is to start preparing early with all the things you take for granted. eg. Weight & Balance (which you probably haven't done in years if you have been flying the same plane with the same operating envelope) and flight performance calculations. 

Flight performance calculations will seem like a mountain of work if you haven't gone through those from scratch at least five times. It takes an hour (or more) the first two times you go through all the calculations (remember your private and commercial exam days!?). 

You use up all your mental energy on the paperwork if you do it for the second time on the day of the test (who me?!) - this will affect your performance on the flight.

Tip: Do the entire paperwork just as you would for the flight test at least five times 2-3 weeks leading up to the flight test. This way, the calculations will be a breeze and you'd have freed up your energies for the flight test where it matters!

Day Before

You call the examiner to get a briefing on the meeting time (11 am), his/her weight (170 lbs), cost of the flight ($350) and what she/he expects (take off calculations for forecast winds, point of no return calculation, weight and balance and ceiling for the flight go/no-go (3500 ft) i.e. call the examiner if the ceiling is low to postpone the flight.

My instrutor told me to pay the $30 Transport Canada fee online and to send him the info for the application.

Day Of

You start the day as early as possible to get the calculations done. Here's where you can really speed things up if you've done the calculations lots of times before the flight test.

Flight Test

AROWJIL - you are expected to locate these in the paperwork
What's required to keep the airworthiness?
Where are the deferred items? (this journey book didn't have any - typically in the first few pages of the journey log)

Vso, Vsse, Vy and Vx (I thought he was asking for Vyse/Vxse), Va, Vmc, Vle , Vlo, Vfe...

Weight and Balance questions

ASDA what is it?

Is there a critical engine?

What is the service ceiling today (without looking at the charts - as you need to know if you are flying in mountains what happens if an engine fails)
What happens if you don't feather the failed engine?

What is the procedure for heater?

Would you get carb ice? How would you know?

What happens if both altimeter charge goes to zero? What's the process?

What would you do if there is an electrical fire?

When manufold pressure goes to high for the LEFT engine and you can't change it with the pitch - what would you do if you are 30 miles from the airport? (shut down the engine and terminate the flight - emergency landing as you might have a runaway prop)

What prevents the gear from accidently going up? (hint: it's not just the sensor - there is also a pitot tube speed sensor that's coupled to it for it to deactivate over a certain speed)

If you can't confirm your left gear is down, what's the process?

You need to shut down the L engine, what's the process (fuel off first)

A friend got asked these questions:

During flight test he asked about the accelerate and go distance. Definition +What is the
airspeed ?

Cruising speed ? How did you get that number?

A complete weight and balance with T/O, Zero fuel and Landing for 1 hour flight at 5500 PA.

If you have 2 PAX and a lot of luggage and you are overweight by 30 lbs , what would you do?
= drain 5 Gallons.

One engine operation theory:

Recall all the criteria for VMC calculation.
- bank angle into good engine not more than 5°
- Critical engine
- Maxi power on remaining engine
- Prop windmilling- Aft CoG
- T/O flaps
- Gear up

How the center of gravity affects the stability ?
Question (g) on section C. on the flight test guide. About the perf and Vmc with Gear and flaps position, prop windmilling.

Can we take off with one engine today ? Explain. 

What is the one engine rate of climb? What is the shaded area showing in the graph ( = no climb possible in dark area )

Do we have critical engine? Why ?

On conventional multi what would be the critical engine? Why ? Can you explain?

What would you do if you lose one engine during the overshoot?

What is the maximum crosswind ? 25

If we taking off 25 and winds from 300 at 25kt , what is your X-wind component? Do not use the graph.

Do you know why it is that high compared to the C172?
because need to deal with one engine inop, Rudder and stabiliser on the Duchess are very big. The result is this aircraft has better performance on X-wind than a C172.

Which wing tank feed the heater? How many gallons per hour ?

How many pumps ?

Quantity of oil?

Why do we cross-feed? = endurance.

Emergencies:

Doors open at 50 feet after T/O what would you do?

Prop overspeed = he expects prop lever back, MP idle , Rpm same on both side , if still over- speeding pitch up!

Gear malfunction only 2 greens.

Oil loss, recall procedures.

Questions from written:

M 41 What is the aircraft’s zero fuel weight?
M 52 What is the best angle of climb speed single engine?
M 106 Does the Vmc speed ever change?
M 107 What is Vso?
M 108 Explain how the propeller system works; how does the governer system work?
M 109 Explain how the gear system works.
M 110 Explain the heater system
M 111 How would you be able to confirm proper fuel amount?
M 112 How would you perform an emergency extension?
M 113 What is the procedure for an engine fire?
M 114 How would you treat a cabin fire?
M 115 Your alternator failure light comes on - what would be your action?
M 116 The RPM starts to increase and by pulling back on the propeller back on the propeller lever and nothing happens - what is your next action?
M 117 State the engine feather shut down procedure, restart and un-feathering?s 

Flight Test

Circuit for Full Stop (remember: instrument checks, px brief, departure brief)

I backtracked (slow afternoon at airport) (remember: px brief, entire departure checklist*)

4000 ft (ended up being 5000 feet due to clouds)

One engine failure in cruise including restart (not just calling it out - do all the procedures; execpt of course for the actual secure failed engine which you'd call out)

Single engine manuever - climb/descend/turn

Reduce Speed 80 kts, extend gear, flaps (the tip to prevent climbing when flaps come on helped)**

Approach to Stall and Recover

Stall in Clean Config

180 degree Steep Turn

Landing Config with Gear and Flaps

Overshoot

Engine Out during Overshoot***

Back to land with one engine (simulated feather position)

Learnings

Don't idle the the engines if you are descending (as you will get used to the gear warning sound - put the gear down)

***Engine Failure on Overshoot - remember to maintain climb speed after nose down to get back speed (speed comes quick - get that climb attitute right away as you add full power and power is coming back)

*Use the flow to check the critical components for pre-departure (do a GUMPS check so you don't forget the fuel pumps)

I thought I did HASEL with each air excercise, but apparently I missed it one of those times

Lookouts are very important - I did well with these

I did well maintaining altitute throughout - the instructor tip to stay on top of it helped

**Memorizing attitues and power really helps - what the climb picture should look like, what the clean stall / dirty stall recovery attitute should look like, what the 500 ft. descend / 100 kts approach with flaps attitute and power should look like.  

Staying ahead of the airplane by calling downwind when you are turning from crosswind 

Not riding the breaks (differential power instead)

Always give a pre-departure brief (even if it's only you in the plane) - after runway expiry: engine fail? mix/pitch/power/gear/flap while nose down for speed over Vmc to climb out at blue line  

Conclusion

It's always a pleasure (and a privilege) to pickup a new skill. You learn a lot by flying with experienced instructors who you havn't flown with before (and with examiners who give you feedback!)  

 

    

IFR Renewal July 2020

2014 test write-up,
and the 2018 write-up

For the 2020 write-up, scroll down to diagrams to skip the narrative! (I won't be offended)

Two years ago I flew from Kingston to Cornwall in a Cessna 182 with great anticipation to do my Instrument Proficiency Check. I was flying in Visual Flight Rules (VFR) 5500 feet above the St. Lawrence river shoreline watching pretty puffy marshmallow clouds dot the landscape.

I was headed to Cornwall Aviation Flight School where the Instrument Proficiency Check was the take place. A check that's required every two years. The outcome of the test will tell me if I can make a trip to Richmond, Virginia under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) or Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Doesn't seem like much of a difference when it's a beautiful sunny day for the entity of this five hundred mile trip. But, I'll take instrument rules over visual rules any day for this flight due to airspace complexity.

You see, the flight path between Cornwall, Ontario to Richmond, Virginia puts me through the restricted DC Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) airspace, an airspace that's much easier to navigate under Instrument Flight Rules. This post isn't about that day two years ago, so I'll cut to the end: I passed the test and made an uneventful flight to Richmond, VA and back using a fresh renewal that was good for two years.

This morning, exactly two years later, I was headed to the same destination airport, to the same flight school, to the same examiner, knowing I was going to be tested on the same stuff the same way it's been with each renewal: I'll get a briefing for half an hour, jump in the simulator for an hour to go over what will be covered in the test, break for lunch and get the actual test over with in an hour. I've documented the 2014 test here, and the 2018 test here with nuances of the simulator and procedures.

It didn't matter how prepared I was for this test, it's still anticipation. In a simulator they could fail any instruments and change the weather any which way they feel like with easy keystrokes. The anticipation was high.

I thought there'd be nothing new to learn except going over the use of 1940s VORs (VHF Omnidirectional Range). The technology used to navigate and to perform hold procedures which pilots don't use much since the widespread use of GPS tech in the cockpit. Regulations still want you to be proficient with these "outdated" navigation devices. (I agree with the regulations - if you have these instruments in the cockpit, you must know how to use them. You never know when there'd be a GPS outage and you will need all the resources available to you for safe navigation.)

However, what came next were lessons that were far more valuable than outdated tech. There were lessons about rarely talked about qualities (one could even say outdated qualities in leadership): Empathy and Professionalism. 

You couldn't help but notice how empathetic the instructor was. Not only did he say it was good to see me several times, but he made sure I got something just as valuable from my time - good 'ol professionalism and airmanship. He has 10s of 1000s of hours as an airline captain crossing oceans in planes that carry 100s of people. There was not even one whiff of arrogance. He treated me as a peer and showed how to construct an approach and mindset to aviation. I'm sure this was all there before as I've done this twice before with him for my renewals. Maybe knowing what was to come and being prepared allowed me to tune into the greater lessons that's been there all along.

No secret here about airmanship, there is no weird trick. Being organized, prioritizing workload and using the tools available so you can relax and enjoy the experience was emphasized. "Do this, you'll have more fun that way." was something he mentioned a few times. As examples - why sweat it when all you need to do is to push a button and let the avionics take care of it.  Why focus on all over the map when all you need to do is focus on one aspect of the map and ignore all the other irrelevant info. This frees up your mental energies to get ahead of the airplane and be ready for emergencies. Yes, "You'll have more fun this way."

I've already covered the details of this flight test in two earlier blog posts (2014 and 2018) so this time I'm going to talk about airmanship and diagram each phase of this flight.  

The only new things that were covered in this flight (which were not covered in 2014 and 2018) were three emergencies (1) Anticipate failure on the take-off roll. Airspeed dying or warning lights on an instrument. Throttle idle, max breaking pre-lift off. Runway remaining? throttle idle, land. Runway expiry, full power continue climbout. Know this is coming! (2) Anticipate instrument failures on other phases of the flight - you should be able to go partial panel - the key is to RELAX. (3) Recovery from unusual attitudes.

Now for the process - you should be able to right click and save image, or if on phone - touch and hold the image to save it to your phone (from there you can zoom in, rotate, etc.)

Departing CYOW 07 to Hold at the YOW VOR at 265 Radial

Leaving the Hold for the CYND Approach 09 VOR/DME Approach, Missed
and back to CYOW RNAV Z 32

I picked up a couple of things on map reading - 

(1) The safe alt on the VFR/IFR maps is superseded by the safe alt on the approach plates for the quadrant you are operating in. 

(2) Plate Readings

a. Departure plate: You are only concerned with the top rows (frequencies), and departure procedure instructions for the runway you are using and comm failures - READ them out, and setup your COMM and NAV instruments as you read them.

b. Nav Plate: You are only concerned with the Frequency for the VOR

c. Approach Plate: You are only concerned with the Frequency, MDA, Distances and Missed Procedures - read these out.

Put them away after each of those legs - use it like a checklist.

(3) Auto Pilot - I remembered hands off after lift off and pushing AP, then HDG, ARM and rotate UP/DOWN to change V/S.  You don't touch the controls until you land.

(4) if you CHANGE ALT (rotate knob), HIT ALT (push button)

(5) If you HEAR IT or SAY IT, ENTER IT (hear ATIS pressure, enter it, say comm freq. enter it)

(6) Setup nav equipment pre-departure - VOR and GPS (be careful of gotcha - see reading on GPS unit if it says VLOC or GPS), BARO, ALT, XPONDER Code, program approach on GPS to same airport in the event of an emergency back to airport)

(7) VOR Radials radiate OUT, and HOLDING is always given as radial (this is the OUTBOUND leg) - so 85 heading is the inbound leg (to) which becomes outbound leg (from) crossing fix into YND from YOW VOR.  So VOR 1 is to be set to 85 (inbound - to) and VOR 2 is to be set to 265 (outbound - from)

(8) Caution FROM and TO in the VOR - always set to TO when going to and FROM when going away from

It's a privilege to have flown with these examiners. The “work flows” these professional pilots employ are an excellent study. From how they look at the checklists and charts to how they interact with the equipment and crew and stay well ahead of the plane. 

Starting with a learners mindset and paying close attention to pros furthers airmanship and professionalism. This took me back to my engineering days when a peer taught me how to solve complex math problems - mindset and frameworks matter.

Choose to work the smart way. By selectively ignoring you are more focused and get better outcomes. Don't get me wrong - knowing the entire charts inside and out as example, affords you the ability to focus on what's important.

Turns out this is really a lesson on strategy. We all have these charts in our line of work, and selective attention gives us greater outcomes. "Do this, you'll have more fun that way." 

Multi-Engine Rating Lesson 3

No ground lesson today.  I got to the hanger early to pre-flight.  We took on fuel and we were off.  My pre-printed labels came in handy for passenger briefing (give prior to start) and take-off briefing (give after run-up)

I learned something new - passenger briefing as a flow.  Let me explain. Starting off from the back to the front goes much easier.

Starting from the back:

• Baggage limits and stowing, first aid kit in the back, fire extinguisher between the seats in the front, exits left and right, and exit through baggage compartment, ELT, 

...to the Front:

• Stay clear of controls, no smoking, no talking when radios are active. Make sure your seats are secure/upright, seat belts are on and the doors are locked.

Taxi onto runway:

• Steeper turn onto active so that I have most of the runway available

Departure:

• Rotate at 71
• Count commit time
• Retract Gear, Flaps
• Reduce climb angle to 90, Climb Power (at what Alt?)

Cruise:

• You'll be doing a lot of cruise checks - so better do it from memory (with checklist handy)
• Watch for your altitude 

Steep turns:

• Lookouts
• Clearing Turns
• Get into 45 degree turn right away
• Maintain altitude and know when to roll out (10 when left, 15 when right? - also know when to add/remove power to maintain altitude)

Reduced Speed Flight:

• Do HASEL checks (need to recover 2000 ft above - so if ground is 500 ft, 4000 is a comfortable height) 
• Have the Engine checks go faster

Stall Entry (Transition to a Clean then Dirty)

• Power down to 15" - watch for sink (hold attitude up to bleed off airspeed, adjust alt with power)
• Add Gear, go to 16" to maintain (adjust alt with power)
• Add Flaps, go to 17" - your nose is going to go down (put nose down, but don't gain speed - compensate with power)
• Cruise Check

Recover from Stall

• First nose down to build to 71 kts
• then add power (not abruptly)
• Cruise Check

Engine Outs

• Remember to ask for Feather
• Know the checklist for restart (no fire/no oil)
• Reduce speed to 85 (to save the engine from burning up)
• Cruise Check

Overshoot

• Counter intuitive, but push down nose to build speed to 71 kts (Vxse)
• ONLY then mix, power (abruptly), prop, gear up, flaps up
• If adding power without airspeed then GAME OVER!
• Climb out at 85 kts
• Cruise check

Landing with one engine

• Mix, pitch prop
• Leave gear down
• Feather 
• 85 kts
• Left hand for air speed, Right hand for power (expect to use rudder)

Multi-Engine Rating Lesson 2

Having diagrammed out the cockpit helped as I knew where everything in the checklist was (no longer searching for the carb heat or cowl and its position!)

The concepts were also not brand new - knowing what to expect helped.

The first thing I did before flying was to spend an hour on the ground with my instructor confirming the speeds from the POH (to be committed to memory) and details in the first two of the four question/answer worksheets (Multi Engine, Limitations, Landing Gear and Electricals).  I clarified a few things (Accelerate Go/Stop, Commit Time, Clarification on Take Off Briefings)

We were then off.

Taxing was still a challenge - I need to accelerate with one engine (opposite engine) to get the tires moving, then power down while turning - and straighten before I intercept the yellow taxi line.

Air exercises seemed to make more sense:

• All checks in to be made in "Flow"
• Steep turns (with visual checks and clearing turns)
• HASEL checks
• Stall - Clean, Dirty, Recovery
• Reduced Speed 
• Engine Outs

What became clear was that I need to commit certain checks to memory so that it can go faster (cruise check, engine recovery - i.e. after the identify, verify, gear down checklist)

I needed to lookup Steep turns as it goes fast on a Multi (need to get into 45 degrees quick and hold that altitude and regain heading quick)

Engine outs were easier but I need to be faster with the checklists.

After this lesson, at home, I printed out the checklists, indexed the POH (as the PDF pages are different from the physical book), created labels on take-off briefing, speeds and safety briefing.

I did some hanger flying so that I can be quick at the checklist items.

Multi-Engine Rating Lesson 1

The first multi lesson starts off with a ground class.  You'll get a TON of material to read before your first ground lesson.

It's best to get a lesson plan organized and not try consume all of it all in one go.  I decided to focus on a couple of things - the Introductory Power Point and a few chapters of the Sharper Edge Multi Engine book.

1. Start off with the pros and cons of twins

Cons:

• Engines twice as likely to fail (as you have two)
• Flies like a pig with an engine out (50% horse power reduction but 80% reduction in performance - yup, you might not even be able to climb with an engine out)
• Longer runway to land
• 2x more fuel burn (for typically only 25% increase in speed; so you get only 15 min. time savings going on a two hour trip)
• 2x more maintenance (you have two engines, two starters, two alternators, retractable gear)

Pros:

• Smoother ride due to higher wing loading
• Faster climbs
• Greater safety during night flying
• Instrument flying greater safety
• Inhospitable terrain greater safety
• Nicer visibility
• Quieter cabin
• Commercial flying - you can go Night and IMC (not allowed in piston single)

In a nutshell, despite the cons(mostly related to costs), a full blown emergency in a single becomes a non-event (if proficient in emergencies) and it's good PR (your friends and family have a better peace of mind) I've also been told that a high performance single won't have the range as you'd get in a twin when you add in FIKI capabilities (so check your typical mission)  I heard that Air Canada and WestJet are canceling their flights if you are canceling when you fly a Cessna 340 (pressurized and known ice)

2. Next, you'll learn about "critical engine" (unless you are flying engines that both rotate clockwise, there isn't a critical engine)  You might have one side driving electricals though.

3. Aerodynamics 

• You are getting more lift on the wing where engine is (so expect sink when you pull back power - you'll have to carry power right up until touchdown) - otherwise high sink, hard landings
• Speaking of aerodynamics - this is a bulk of the training on the twin - what happens in the event of a dead engine in various scenarios:
• on take-off run
• on take-off and climb
• on cruise
• on approach to land

I won't repeat the engine out details here - but reaction to a dead engine has to be committed to muscle memory by repeating 1000 times.

I found it useful to sit in the plane and go over it over and over again so that it's automatic - something that should be done between lessons 1 and 2.  What's also useful between lessons 1 and 2 go through all the checklist items (from start-up to shut-down) so you are not searching for buttons while in the air when you should be looking out and concentrating on heading, altitude and the workload.

You'll learn about the importance of Vmc (commit that to memory along with lots of other speeds) and the priority (#1 Priority is to maintain control, #2 Priority is to get performance from good engine)

4. Flight Test Standards

You'll go through what's required for Transport Canada flight test standards - all the oral aspects (what's Vsse, what is zero fuel weight and why is that important, what is commit point, how do you calculate accelerate stop/go distances), air exercises you'll be doing (reduced speed flight, stalls - clean and dirty, steep turns - with the importance of lookouts and HASEL), emergencies, flight planning details.

5. Now it's time to fly!

Starting with the walk around and going through every vent, antenna, gear hydraulics, oil/fuel levels.  Next, the startup procedures and taxing (which is a whole other challenge with two engines - don't ride the breaks!).  You'll then take off (nuances during take-off is to do a lookout every 1000 ft), cruise and get into air exercises, engine failures before you come in for a landing. Don't expect landing to be easy - as it requires full trim as you approach and land - faster speeds than what you are used to in a single.

Phew. Day 1 is quite exhausting as you are introduced to a whole bunch of new concepts, then you are thrown into the air with no familiarity of where everything is.

Before my 2nd lesson I decided to remember on where everything is by sketching it out.

It got much easier by Day 3 due to a lot of reading (terminology isn't as new anymore after the Day 1 intro) and "hanger flying". Unpacking everything (from the practical/oral to the flying) one at a time helped a lot.