Aviator90 Episode 41

[music]

Man 1: [0:31] Welcome to another episode of Aviator 90 from Angle of
Attack. So we finished our cross country flights and now it is time
for some abnormal and emergency procedures. This way, I can show
you a bit of what you need to do in the event that something very
unexpected, unpredictable and dangerous happens.
[0:52] So this episode, we are going to be talking about what is
called the impossible turn. The impossible turn takes place after
you take off from a runway. It is very dangerous and not
recommended you actually do turn. We will see why here in a second.
Let’s jump right in the cockpit and I’ll show you, first, what not
to do.

[1:15] So here we are on the runway and I’m going to perform a
takeoff, just like any other day. You can imagine that this isn’t
really going to be a takeoff like any other day, but you can
pretend like it is. So we’re just going down the runway as usual
here, keeping center line and dancing the center line on that
takeoff. So here comes the rotate speed. Just let back or so,
nicely.

[1:43] And then, just like any other takeoff, you’re going to climb
straight ahead or even turn to a heading to where you are going.
This is your typical departure; you take off, track center line,
and you head out. There’s really nothing to it. Now, the aircraft
is just climbing normally. No great climb rate out of it, even down
here, sea level. So really, everything, so far, is going as
expected and we are heading to our destination, which I honestly
don’t know where it is today because I am not planning on getting
there.

[2:31] So, we are probably about three or four miles from the
airport now, maybe even less. And we just had an engine failure.
The natural instinct for a pilot is to turn back where he just came
from, to the runway. So I’m going to get a favorable air speed
here. We could have stalled out, but I knew it was coming so I
pushed the nose forward. If you were facing this in real life or
just unexpectedly, it would probably take longer to react because
you’d be in shock. So, turning back toward the airport here. We
haven’t yet fallen out of the sky and, typically, in the real
world, that would have already happened and that’s why it’s very
dangerous. Generally, you want to land straight ahead. I’ll show
you why you don’t want to go back to the runway here.

[3:28] So we are trying to limp our way back, just trying to milk
that air speed and get there and it’s not working out. We are
definitely not going to make it back to the air field no matter how
hard we try. And lights out – you just crashed. And, more than
likely, you and everyone else onboard is fatally injured. That’s
how serious this procedure is. You guys don’t mess around and you
choose to pick an air field in front of you, or at least within 45
degrees, or so, of your field of vision.

[4:09] So let’s see how it should be done now. And we will go
through the normal procedure of an engine failure after takeoff.
This will show you guys exactly what the safe way of doing it is.
And although this isn’t a favorable situation, it’s not what you
want to happen to you, it’s something that you just have to deal
with. So, I’ll just continue to bump down the runway here and here
comes the takeoff. Nice and fun there.

[4:43] As usual, just like the last video, I am climbing straight
ahead on a straight outbound departure at my climb air speed. I’m
getting a pretty good climb out of it now. I’m getting 1500 feet
per minute, which isn’t bad at all. There’s still full power. I’m
just continuing along. It’s a pretty typical departure, just like
the last one – nothing special, nothing’s out of the ordinary,
nothing is expected.

[5:21] There goes the engine again. Now, what do you do? You push
forward, as always. You get that glide air speed out of your
aircraft. And you have no choice but to pick something in front of
you. I see power lines directly in front of me. I could go to the
right, but I’m going to go to the left here. I definitely don’t
want to be messing with those power lines. And I have no choice now
but to pick a road or a field. So I see that nice hay field to the
right there, the light one, and I’m going to land there.

[5:52] That looks perfect for what I need to do. It’s beyond the
river so I don’t have a chance of overrunning into the river. There
aren’t any power lines nearby. No trees. So now we are just in
panic – not necessarily panic mode. I don’t want you guys to panic,
but we are in an intense situation where you’ve got to focus your
skills and get the aircraft down.

[6:13] So once you know you have absolutely made the air field and
you can get there, you can put in your flaps. Do that now, if you
haven’t already. And then we will just slowly, ever so slowly, come
down here. More than likely, your wheels are going to dig into the
ground, but, more than likely, also, you and everyone else on board
will be OK. So just ever so softly, just like a soft field landing,
and there we go. And we can roll out nicely.

[6:43] And that is the way that an emergency landing after takeoff
should be done. Word to the wise, do not do an impossible turn. I
hope you guys learned a thing or two from this lesson. It’s a
pretty important lesson to learn. You should just land straight
ahead and deal with the consequences there rather than try to turn
back to the runway and ruin everything for everybody.

[7:12] That’s it for this episode. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Next
time I will be teaching you guys more about off-field landing and
emergency landings. But this time, that will be en route. So until
next time, throttle on.

Transcription by CastingWords