Instrument Approach and Landing with an Inoperative Engine (Simulated) (AMEL, AMES)

Less power, and it's asymmetrical — the operating engine needs a higher-than-normal power setting to compensate (AFH 13-34). Otherwise, "the approach and landing with OEI is essentially the same as a two-engine approach and landing" — same altitudes, airspeeds, and key positions. What changes is your margin: every configuration change is now nearly irreversible, so each one is made deliberately and only when performance supports it.

With adequate airspeed and performance, on schedule — but each step is performance-gated (AFH 13-34):

• Landing gear on the downwind leg, confirmed DOWN no later than abeam the intended point of landing
• Initial flaps (typically 10°) and the descent from pattern altitude, also on downwind if performance permits
• Intermediate flaps (typically 25°) on base if performance is adequate; if airspeed decays or sink rate builds, delay further flap extension until closer to the runway
• Final flap setting may be delayed until the landing is assured, or land with partial flaps

VYSE remains the minimum airspeed throughout.

Glidepath: a normal 3° glidepath is desirable, using the VASI or other vertical path lighting if available — slightly steeper approaches may be acceptable, but a long, flat, low approach should be avoided, and so should large, sudden power applications or reductions.

Speed: maintain VYSE until the landing is assured, then slow to 1.3 VSO or the AFM/POH recommended speed (AFH 13-34).

Plan on no. "A single-engine go-around on final approach may not be possible… once the airplane is on final approach with landing gear and flaps extended, it is committed to land on the intended runway, on another runway, a taxiway, or grassy infield." Most light twins cannot climb on one engine with gear and flaps extended, and "losses of 500 feet or more are not unusual" while you maintain VYSE and retract everything. If the gear was lowered by an alternate means of extension, retraction may not be possible at all, "virtually negating any climb capability" (AFH 13-35). Brief a commitment point before the approach.

Two things surprise pilots in the flare.

Rudder trim change: as the operating engine's power comes to idle in the round out. Be ready for it, or use the common technique of resetting rudder trim to neutral on final and holding the yaw with foot pressure — which removes the trim change close to the ground and the distraction of groping for the trim wheel.

Float: "With drag from only one windmilling propeller, the airplane tends to float more than on a two-engine approach." Precise airspeed control is essential, especially on a short, wet, or slippery surface (AFH 13-35).

• Altitude ±100 feet (or minimum sink rate if applicable), airspeed ±10 knots, selected heading ±10° (CA.X.D.S7)
• Final approach segment: vertical (as applicable) and lateral guidance within ¾-scale deflection (CA.X.D.S9)
• Establish a rate of descent that arrives at MDA or DA/DH in a position from which a descent to a landing on the intended runway can be made, straight in or circling (CA.X.D.S8)
• Comply with the published criteria for the aircraft approach category if circling (CA.X.D.S11)
• Execute a landing and complete the appropriate checklists (CA.X.D.S12, S13)

Ask for: the approach the airplane can fly — a straight-in with a long final, minimal maneuvering near the ground, the nearest suitable airport — and declare the emergency; "if an ATC facility is available, an emergency should be declared" (AFH 13-33). The ACS requires you to request and follow an actual or simulated ATC clearance for the approach (CA.X.D.S6).

Refuse: anything the airplane cannot do on one engine, including a tight circling maneuver or a late runway change that forces low-altitude maneuvering with gear and flaps out (CA.X.D.R4).

Trading the approach for the engine. The memory items are already done and the printed securing checklist is accomplished "deliberately and without undue haste" — airplane control is never sacrificed to complete a checklist (AFH 13-32, 13-33). If your attention leaves the needles to fuss with the dead side, you will exceed ¾-scale deflection (CA.X.D.S9) or arrive at DA out of position, and the task is over regardless of how neatly the engine was secured.

The whole engine-out flow, so the final approach segment is only flying (CA.X.D.S1–S5, AFH 13-31):

• Recognize the failure and maintain positive aircraft control
• Set the engine controls, reduce drag, identify, verify, simulate feathering — evaluator sets zero thrust
• Flight controls in the manufacturer's recommended combination for zero sideslip (about 2° of bank toward the operating engine, ball one-third to one-half toward the good engine), trimmed (AFH 13-29)
• Manufacturer's emergency procedures and the appropriate checklist complete
• Operating engine and aircraft systems monitored and adjusted — temperatures, cowl flaps, fuel

Then brief the approach, the commitment point, and the missed approach you hope not to fly.

As early and as clean as you can. Every second past DA with gear and flaps hanging costs altitude you may not have — expect 500 feet or more of loss while establishing VYSE and cleaning up (AFH 13-35).

1. Power up on the operating engine
2. Pitch for VYSE
3. Stop the yaw with rudder
4. Drag up one item at a time, in AFM/POH order, holding zero sideslip

Climb straight ahead or with shallow turns — turning flight degrades already marginal climb performance (AFH 13-32). The real defense is the decision you made in the brief: identify the point past which you are landing.

Because it combines every adverse factor — low altitude, low airspeed, high power, and the airplane configured with gear and flaps extended. "A takeoff or go-around is the most critical time to suffer an engine failure. The airplane will be slow, close to the ground, and may even have landing gear and flaps extended. Altitude and time is minimal. Until feathered, the propeller of the failed engine is windmilling, producing a great deal of drag and yawing tendency" (AFH 13-30).

This is precisely why the engine-failure-after-takeoff memory items include gear and flaps even when they are already up: "the memory items also apply to more than one circumstance. In an engine failure from a go-around, for example, the landing gear and flaps would likely be extended when the failure occurred" (AFH 13-33).

Bias heavily toward the straight-in. Circling puts you at low altitude, in a turn, configured, close to the ground — the exact combination behind loss-of-control and CFIT accidents (CA.X.D.R4), and turning flight further reduces single-engine climb performance (AFH 13-32). If you do circle, you must comply with the published criteria for your aircraft approach category (CA.X.D.S11), keep the bank shallow, delay the final flap setting until landing is assured, and stay at or above VYSE until then (AFH 13-34). A longer taxi after landing on the straight-in runway costs nothing; a circle to minimums on one engine can cost everything.

It does not have to. Fly "similar altitudes, airspeeds, and key positions as a two-engine approach," and note that "the direction of the traffic pattern, and therefore the turns, is of no consequence as far as airplane controllability and performance are concerned. It is perfectly acceptable to make turns toward the failed engine" (AFH 13-34). What you avoid is the improvisation — an extended downwind that drains altitude, a tight base that demands steep bank, or a low flat drag-in on partial power. Fly a normal pattern precisely, with the configuration gates tied to demonstrated performance rather than habit.

They get worse, because two of your defenses are gone: you are head-down under the hood or in the clouds, and you have no ability to maneuver aggressively to avoid anything. Vigilance to "see and avoid other aircraft" is still required "when weather conditions permit, regardless of whether an operation is conducted under instrument flight rules or visual flight rules" (14 CFR 91.113(b)). What that means here:

• Declare the emergency — it buys priority handling and gets ATC to move traffic out of your way rather than the reverse (AFH 13-33)
• Say what you cannot do. A traffic-driven sidestep, a late runway change, or a hold is a performance question now, not a convenience question
• Break out and look. At minimums, and on any circling segment, the scan goes outside for traffic and terrain
• On the go-around, "if the go-around was initiated due to conflicting traffic… consider maneuvering to the side to keep the conflicting traffic in sight" (AFH 13-23) — but weigh that turn against the climb performance you do not have

Your safety pilot or instructor is a resource, not decoration: brief them to clear for you throughout.