Yes, that’s right, if you have no idea what’s below that doesn’t make much sense. But of course it does if you want to reach a runway… you’d fly a bit slower with a tailwind and a bit faster with a headwind to maximize the glide performance.
From my side, I can hand on heart state that I used to regularly practice forced landings from 2000 AGL onto the runway of my destination airstrip, if the traffic in the pattern allowed it. Circumstances permitting, I also liked to throw in little challenges, such as starting at a significantly lower altitude or displaced from the runway, or having to make a non standard circuit due to (e.g.) a ruddy great cloud sitting over part of my planned descent route.
The only thing which I can’t practice for is the shock and inaction of that moment when it all goes wrong and I realise this is not a drill……however flying a Cirrus means at 2000 feet AGL, I have other options ;-)
… Yes, it is good to have another option. There were TWO SR22s coming down by CAPS in the last two days in the US! Scary, I think.
The first one was an EFATO in 500 ft or a little less in Wisconsin, the guy (COPA member and serious pilot) broke his ankle and wrist because the plane hit too hard (maybe because the chute had not openend completely) … the other one I don’t know yet, other than that the engine stopped …
It doesn’t “help” much that there were 23 fatals Bonanza accidents in 2015 in the US, some of them due to engine failures too.
Yet another thread converted to the Cirrus.
Can you start a separate thread on this?
The Cirrus chute has practically zero relevance to the topic.
I have only the phone now so can only delete posts.
It was just an answer to the last posting. No need for a new CAPS discussion.
I practice with every BFR (actually do one every year so it can be technically called an AFR). Admittedly not often enough.
The best practice is to fly with another pilot and get them to pull the throttle for you when they wish. It is far more realistic!
Better still with a mate is to just do this every so often to each other when you fly together, the more unexpected the more realistic!!
You can’t make it totally unexpected because of shock cooling. I am happy to do it if the CHT is below about 300F to start with, and you never cruise like that.
IMHO, a fairly reasonable practice for getting into some field down below is to fly tight glide approaches whenever possible. Very few people do that, and a lot of the time you can’t anyway (because of B52 traffic in the circuit)…
As a CRI i did just that on a BFR with one guy, but without announcing it, but I didn’t make a new friend that day. Ok, i pulled out the key :-)! but we were 5000 feet above a long runway, still the guy got very nervous. I underestimated that effect, and i told him i’m sorry later, but i had done so many engine out landings by that time that i was not aware how scary this is for some other pilots.
The one other time i did that was with my wife, when she still had her PPL, same altitude, same airport. She was completely cool and simply established a nice gliding approach… her blood pressure did not go up one percent … I am always joking that the only person on board who is scared is ,e me we fly together :-) Two months ago i flew her through IMC for 90 minutes, including an ILS in IMC, and her only comment was “good job” … (although it wasn’t that great because i flew through the Loc slightly …)
If you do it on a hot summer day, with 20 degrees in 5000 feet shock cooling is not a problem. But i am not so convinced about the shock cooling theory anyway..
