MEP on DA42 report

Yes, I know it “all” and have been flying the Seneca 2 as well with this panel light issue. Been told many times as well during training. Still, I think it is a design issue and somehow could not get it at that one critical moment. In any case, I landed safe and will never ever forget it again.

@jujupilote

Live shutdowns are not mandatory on test anymore and can be done for training and test in an approved sim as part of an approved course. I think this was driven by ATOs and manufacturer recommendations not to do live OEI – I vaguely recall the DA42 had(has?) such a recommendation. Shame really, I did one in the Duchess only a few months ago on my revalidation test.

Thanks for the info Balliol.

Video of a very thorough flight review in a DA42, including a engine out, restart and approach on one engine (in California) :

No, the video is the right one :) See around 11 minutes for the engine out.

Balliol wrote:

I vaguely recall the DA42 had(has?) such a recommendation

I don’t recall seeing any on the POH (and certainly did a shutdown/restart during training)

I’ve been told alternate air is required in the DA42 POH in icing conditions. Someone here posted a few years ago that he got a double engine failure in -15C (at a high altitude I think) and the engine restarted when he got down to a few thousand feet. The mechanism is probably the same as the TB20 one which gets a stoppage at -15C also. Neither involved the use of alt air.

From the DA42 AFM:

I was told for fuel injected engines to not worry about alt air and use it the same way as carb heats: infrequently pull it in normal flights and permanently pull it when flying in cold/humid air, this seems to be consistent with POHs

AeroPlus wrote:

Yes, I know it “all” and have been flying the Seneca 2 as well with this panel light issue

Same on Arrows, the green lights switches completely off when light panel is on, the latter is difficult to see/diagnostic during a good VFR day (you go for “gear troubleshooting” page, and on step 4 you get a reminder of what you already know and feel bellow )

The DA42 has to be re started within two minutes if you demonstrate a shut down airborne.

Some national regulators (eg Poland) still require a full shutdown and re start as part of the MEP course, but not necessarily the check ride.

Ibra wrote:

Same on Arrows, the green lights switches completely off when light panel is on

They don’t (if they did, you would never get a gear down indication when landing at night), but they dim enough to not be visible in daylight.