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Pilot's story of a double engine failure in a C421
Great story written by Cessna 421 pilot, Brett Godfrey, detailing his double engine failure in night IMC over mountainous terrain. (www.brettgodfrey.com) More...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
NTSB, not FAA. Duh.
First off, great job on flying the airplane and getting home safely. I am just a 172 driver but wonder if there is any reason he would not have wanted to lean the right engine? I can understand firewalling everything as part of the engine-out scenario but shouldn't he have leaned once established in single-engine cruise?
Also, re the Stoen story, he altered the N-number on the airplane but I checked into it a bit back and the FAA has a different story - they cite pilot error re fuel management. FWIW.
Also, re the Stoen story, he altered the N-number on the airplane but I checked into it a bit back and the FAA has a different story - they cite pilot error re fuel management. FWIW.
Matt, no problem with the direction of the turn, just seems like it should have started closer to or over the field, if not to the south of the field.
cparks, i'm pretty sure he said he could see the field and was under the clouds prior to the turn. In IMC i'm with you. Sitting here, we really do not know the exact conditions, ATC was probably setting him up for exactly what he did, possibly being in IMC. He may have just seen the airport prior to the turn and judged it not wise to adjust the inbound flight more to the south for a closer turn. Either way, thankful we are discussing a flight that ended so well.
Again, I'm very reluctant to comment about this outstanding piloting job. I'm just offering my input and saying out loud what i will be taking away from this story. Also soaking up all other comments made. I'm still learning. :)
cparks, i'm pretty sure he said he could see the field and was under the clouds prior to the turn. In IMC i'm with you. Sitting here, we really do not know the exact conditions, ATC was probably setting him up for exactly what he did, possibly being in IMC. He may have just seen the airport prior to the turn and judged it not wise to adjust the inbound flight more to the south for a closer turn. Either way, thankful we are discussing a flight that ended so well.
Again, I'm very reluctant to comment about this outstanding piloting job. I'm just offering my input and saying out loud what i will be taking away from this story. Also soaking up all other comments made. I'm still learning. :)
As to the direction of the turn to final, I was taught in Flight Dynamics in engineering school to always bank into the operating engine. Seems like a 270d right turn was the right call.
Also, I'm not sure how get homeitis contributed to the problem. It was a hardware malfunction that would have happened the next day too.
Also, I'm not sure how get homeitis contributed to the problem. It was a hardware malfunction that would have happened the next day too.
[http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20001212X21552&ntsbno=MIA00LA225&akey=1 Link to billbenham's N1477D NTSB report]
So you check your fuel flow and everything else you can check on a suspected dead engine before feathering, right? Of course this is provided that you have a little extra time as did this pilot when he lost the left side. So why not do the same thing when he lost the right side? Then he might have noticed a high fuel flow and tried leaning a bit and might have gotten power again. I said might have. BTW I have 1600+ hours multi-engine and 300+ hours in Cessna pressurized twins and I've actually totalled one out at 12000 feet over central Mississippi. You can read all about it in NTSB under the tail number N1477D.