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I am writing an article about the LEFT RIGHT CONFUSION which has resulted in many accidents where pilots have shut down the wrong engine in this confusion. Many people have a real problem in deciding between RIGHT and LEFT though not much attention has been given by aviation medicine on the subject. I wonder how many of you or people you know have this problem and it wont be wrong to assume that under stressful circumstances like on board emergency a pilot may go for the wrong engine like it happened in Trans Asia Flight 235 on 04 Feb 2015 where the pilot switched off the only working engine after encountering EFATO.

Birender Yadav
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  • That confusion caused a crash of a passenger plane, a twin-engine CN-235, near Malaga, in 2001. https://www.1001crash.com/index-page-description-accident-BM_CASA235-lg-2-crash-121.html – xxavier Feb 01 '20 at 13:32
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    Hi @BirenderYadav, what exactly is your question here? – Jpe61 Feb 01 '20 at 13:43
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    Welcome to Stack Exchange! This site isn't really set up for survey-like questions like "I wonder how many of you or people you know have this problem"; we're only good at answering questions that invite answers based on research and expert knowledge. – Tanner Swett Feb 01 '20 at 15:52

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Batt Masterson once said about gunfighting that is was "the art of taking your time in a hurry". This is pretty applicable to handling emergencies in flying and, in particular, engine failures in a multi-engine aircraft. Engine failures during low speed operations are very serious and you must take timely, prompt - and CORRECT - action to prevent it from turning into a tragedy.

The first course of action is realizing that the art of flying twins is good, periodic, recurrent training on handling engine failures. This MUST be a part of any competent Biennial Flight Review in a twin and an instructor MUST hold the student to being able to handle engine out problems to at or above that required for a practical test for his/her grade of pilot certificate.

The second line of action is develop an emergency plan as part of your preflight and stick to that if something goes wrong. This will vary depending on the airport you are departing or arriving at, aircraft loadout, atmospheric conditions, etc. and has to be a part of a solid preflight process. In regards to avoiding killing the good engine inadvertently, remember the mnemonic DEAD FOOT, DEAD ENGINE. When an engine failure occurs, the aircraft will try to yaw sharply in the direction of the dead engine and opposite rudder pressure will be needed to keep the nose of the aircraft tracking straight. This means one of your legs will be doing a lot of pushing on one of the rudder pedals while the other leg is relaxed or 'dead'. The failed engine will always be on the side of the 'dead' leg or 'dead' foot.

This process should be incorporated into a cockpit flow for engine failures in critical situations. Once you note which engine you suspect of failure from rudder pressure, next VERIFY THIS. YOUR CHIEF INDICATIONS OF A FAILED ENGINE PAST THE RUDDER PRESSURE IMBALANCE WILL BE DROPS IN 1) FUEL FLOW AND 2) EGT/TIT TEMPERATURES. NEVER RELY ON MANIFOLD PRESSURE INDICATIONS, PARTICULARLY IN NORMALLY ASPIRATED ENGINES!

Finally test this by pulling each throttle back individually and noting whether there is a change in engine performance in doing so. The throttle on the failed side will not cause any change but the throttle on the good engine will produce power changes when moved.

With this information, we repeat carefully with words and pointing "DEAD FOOT, DEAD ENGINE, DEAD ENGINE GAUGES, DEAD PROP FEATHER. Verify you hand is placed on the dead propeller control, then pull this to the feather position. Finally verify your hand is on the dead engine's mixture and pull this only when the other actions are complete and the airplane still appears to have power on the good side.

Romeo_4808N
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  • "DEAD FOOD"? I'm editing that for you. – abelenky Feb 01 '20 at 13:58
  • Overall good answer, but the part about throttling back needs to revised. You don't "experimentally" throttle back each engine. When you start the shutdown drill phase, the first step is to throttle back the dead engine you've already identified. When you do this, you evaluate the result, as you said but hopefully the result is no change, and you can continue on to feather the prop yadda yadda yadda. If you're in a piston twin at gross weight on a hot day, climbing at 150 fpm at blueline speed, that last thing you want is to reduce power even for a second, on the only engine keeping you alive. – John K Feb 01 '20 at 17:40
  • @JohnK I think we’re more or less describing the same thing. However I’ll revise to include pulling the throttle to ideal once I identify it for the failed engine only AFTER I individually change power settings on each engine. – Romeo_4808N Feb 01 '20 at 18:50
  • The important thing is it's balls to the wall until you are ready to start securing and feathering. Dead engine throttle back, confirm that's the right one (by the airplane not responding), then feather, fuel, etc. You don't touch anything before that step, except to make sure everything is fully forward. – John K Feb 01 '20 at 18:57
  • and @abelenky, given some photos I recently had shared with me by a CFI friend of mine in CA, whose client hit a deer when landing his SR-22, you really CAN have Dead Food, Dead Engine! – Romeo_4808N Feb 02 '20 at 00:26
  • @JohnK This post is more focused on verifying which engine has failed as opposed to a complete engine failure procedure in a twin. – Romeo_4808N Feb 02 '20 at 00:27