Ibra wrote:
More interesting question for IFR, if engine failure happens overhead will you pick opposite runway and fly it’s ILS with 25kts tailwind & then circle to land?
For the truly brave, go to the correct ILS but capture the 8-9° false glideslope :-)
The day I see someone suffer an IMC engine failure in an SEP, position the aircraft onto an ILS, have the wherewithal and ability to capture the false 9 degree slope and then fly this reversed indication slope to a successful landing is the day that I admit to Skygods existing.
Pirho wrote:
The day I see someone suffer an IMC engine failure in an SEP, position the aircraft onto an ILS, have the wherewithal and ability to capture the false 9 degree slope and then fly this reversed indication slope to a successful landing is the day that I admit to Skygods existing.
The 9° slope should have normal indications. The 6° slope would have reversed indications. IIRC.
Perhaps I’m thinking too simple here – but on my emergency-checklist I have a small distance/height table for 1,2,3,5,7 and 10 NM from target @ best glide.
In the (unlikely) case of an engine failure in IMC I would not even consider flying kind of a “ILS with wrong glide slope” but just would select direct to the airport (if in range) and check with the table if I’ll make it.
The 9° slope should have normal indications. The 6° slope would have reversed indications.
I did once try flying the 9 deg GS with a the autopilot. It rapidly got quite unmanageable in terms of speed… The 6 deg GS can be flown if you are fully configured (full flaps and gear) at the FAF; there are 5.5deg GSs out there somewhere.
I am not sure you could fly any IAP with no engine, in a normal SEP. I believe the TBM flies a 3 deg GS at a very low power setting, so maybe that can? Big jets probably could, too. Maybe @loco could test it? 
Peter wrote:
The 6 deg GS can be flown if you are fully configured (full flaps and gear) at the FAF; there are 5.5deg GSs out there somewhere.
The Sion, LSGS, IAP (rwy 25 IGS) has a Glide Slope of 6 degrees, so you can go and there and test whether you can glide it. And the IAP requires:
“Any ACFT to be operated under IFR at Sion AP shall be able to comply with the published IFR procedures”, but they are worried about you going too fast.
Apart from first looping the aircraft before intercepting the ILS…. the reality for the more humble….
This happened recent over Belgium and the PIC decided to pull the chute while having plenty of Runways available in gliding distance. Going through a cloud deck with a failed engine not knowing the base could have been part of the decision process, donno:
https://www.aviation24.be/miscellaneous/accidents/light-aircraft-crashes-wolfsdonk-belgium/
Flying a non chute V35 and reflect over this when flying for hours over a clouddeck IFR I would deploy my LDG gear just before going through the clouddeck in IMC (depending on the weather conditions off course) , pointing the aircraft to the nearest landable/ crashable runway (any) first, hoping with my electric STBY to go through the clouds stabilized without heading change. If possible you go through the cloud deck very close the airfield. I would keep my legs down as you need the battery to deploy the gear, the longer you wait the less chance there is to have enough batt juice to deploy (cranking manually in this scenario hardly realistic). With gear down much less chance to loose control in IMC (this is a difficult one as you may loose your option to make it to the nearest runway). Once below the cloud deck maybe 1500 AGL you have seconds to decide where put it… survivability is higher with gear down as it will work as vertical crash G-load absorber. All depends on the friendliness of the weather/ terrain once your VMC again….you may be lucky or not………Flying an instrument approach with any sel invented GS with a failed engine seems to me wishful thinking hardly realistic. This is why I have SD running always at least you can estimate relative quickly if you more or less going to make it yes or no to the RWY centerline within gliding distance …With gear down the Bo glides like a brick….So conclusion engine failure in IMC with a low cloud deck your options are very limited… fly it till you can’t anymore. Reduce your horizontal speed as much you can with full flaps and hope the gear as shock absorber will keep you alive if the terrain is no flat…..Yes with a cirrus you could pull the chute with a potential higher survivability
Peter wrote:
I did once try flying the 9 deg GS with a the autopilot. It rapidly got quite unmanageable in terms of speed… The 6 deg GS can be flown if you are fully configured (full flaps and gear) at the FAF; there are 5.5deg GSs out there somewhere.
In a touring machine with 1:10 max glide at VBG, I think you can’t just achieve 9deg GS 1:6 glide ratio on the faster side of the drag curve above VBG even power off or side slip (of course you can’t deploy gear or flaps above white arc) even by going near VNE in clean config, while you can achieve achieve 9deg GS 1:6 glide ratio on the slow side of the drag curve bellow VBG with flaps & gear power off
You can’t transit between the two regimes unless you have power or abandon glide slop power off, so yes you have to be configured slow near the stall at the FAF before dropping the nose down with gear and flaps to get that 9deg or 1:6 path
I found the AP does disconnect when flying slow on high power or engine off in the backside of the drag curve bellow VBG, either it can’t cope with auto-trim fast mouvements or the amount of force required to keep the pitch high, in POH there is usually specific a min speed value for the use of the AP, I personally would not want to take control back if AP disconnect in the slow/fast draggy configs completely out of trim
I think off airport landing in a SEP is well survivable as long as you are visual at 1000ft agl and have some time to sort yourself up, if cloud-base is less than 300ft agl, it has the same chances of survivability as any EFATO at 300ft agl from unfamiliar airfields ?
If one wants the debate on cloud-base & visibility required for “100% safe SEP IMC flying”, then 2500ft agl ceiling & 10 km visibility are the good numbers, anything bellow is iffy anyway even in VMC, restricting flying to that would make any SE-IR paper worthless….
One has to believe that they will always walk away as long as they are flying their SEP wing level at slow 60kts speed bellow 300agl whatever in front of them, if not they better get an MEP rating and fly a twin, the risks are the same as in VMC vs IMC just a matter of when then that random event happens and it has to be mitigated the same way IFR or VFR, in the planning phase: there is not much new data out there while flying 
Peter wrote:
I believe the TBM flies a 3 deg GS at a very low power setting, so maybe that can? Big jets probably could, too. Maybe @loco could test it?
According to documentation, TBM flies a 4,15 degree glide without power. Testing at low altitudes is tricky because unfeathering the prop takes a while.
Well, there is a software for SEP’s with engine failure developed by x-plane inventor Austin Meyer which claims to be able to provide guidance to suitable landing sites off and on airport.
If I had an Ipad, I’d give it a chance. It may well be an answer to reduction in fatalities for those in seps without a shute and who fly them at night or low IMC.
