Multi-Engine Guide
Chair flying / Engine Failure After Liftoff

Engine Failure After Liftoff

The highest-stakes drill in the airplane — control first, then the memory items, then the honest land-or-climb decision made from the briefing you gave before you rolled.

Chair fly it

Pre-Takeoff Engine-Failure Briefing

  1. Runway, wind, and performance — takeoff distance, accelerate-stop, and single-engine climb for today's density altitude and weight
    Light twins are not required to have a positive single-engine rate of climb at any altitude. Know before you roll whether today's airplane will climb on one.
  2. Speeds: Vr, Vyse (blue line), Vmc (red line), Vsse
  3. Failure before rotation: throttles closed, brakes, stop straight ahead
  4. Failure after liftoff with runway remaining and gear down: close the throttles and land straight ahead
    The landing gear stays selected DOWN as long as there is usable runway or overrun to land on. Gear down means continued takeoff and climb is not recommended.
  5. Failure after liftoff with the gear up and no runway remaining: pitch Vyse, mixtures/props/throttles forward, flaps up, gear up, identify, verify, feather
  6. Climb straight ahead or with shallow turns to at least 400 ft AGL before turning back; obstacles and terrain off the departure end
  7. Who flies, who touches what, and the tolerance for any simulated failure — never below Vsse
    AFH: no engine failure should ever be introduced below Vsse; if none is published, use Vyse.

Setup

  1. Before the roll: brief the decision — what you do for a failure on the runway, and what you do once the gear is up“Engine failure briefing”
    The AFH frames this as an 'area of decision.' The briefing, not the moment of failure, is where the decision gets made. Below your commitment point the answer is close the throttles and stop or land straight ahead; above it, fly it.
  2. Leave the gear selected DOWN as long as there is usable runway or overrun to land on
    AFH: with the gear selector DOWN, continued takeoff and climb is not recommended — but that is not a reason to snatch the gear up the instant you lift off. Runway ahead is an asset; retracting early trades it away.
  3. Know that takeoff flaps virtually eliminate a single-engine climb until they are retracted

Execution

  1. Yaw and performance loss — pitch for Vyse, stop the yaw with rudder“Control — blue line”
    Pitch attitude for Vyse is lower than for Vy. Airspeed control and directional control are the whole maneuver; everything else is housekeeping.
  2. Bank 5–10° toward the operating engine momentarily to establish directional control, then reduce it“Raise the dead”
    AFH: at least 5° and a maximum of 10° of bank toward the operative engine initially, held only long enough to ensure directional control. Climb performance suffers beyond about 2–3°, so settle back to roughly 2° of bank with one-third to one-half ball toward the operating engine.
  3. Mixtures, propellers, throttles — full forward“Mixtures, props, throttles”
    Maximum available power on whatever is still making power. Set takeoff power per the POH memory items.
  4. Flaps up, gear up — in the order your POH specifies“Flaps up, gear up”
    Most checklists retract flaps then gear; some airplanes call for gear first. Follow the AFM/POH for the airframe. Drag reduction is what buys the climb.
  5. Identify — dead foot, dead engine“Identify”
    Identify from the control inputs you are holding, not from the gauges. Rudder pressure is on the side of the working engine, so the dead foot is on the same side as the dead engine. Depending on the failure mode the gauges may never tell you.
  6. Verify — retard the throttle of the engine you believe has failed“Verify”
    No change in performance confirms you have the right engine. If performance drops, that engine was still making power — restore the throttle and reconsider. Partial power is worth keeping to a safe altitude and airspeed.
  7. Feather — propeller control on the failed engine fully aft“Feather”
    All governor oil pressure dumps and counterweights plus the spring or air charge drive the blades to feather. The process may take up to 10 seconds.

Recovery

  1. Land or climb — commit and fly it“Committed”
    Runway or suitable surface remaining and the gear down: close the throttles and land. Gear up, blue line, and a climb indication: fly the airplane away. What you do not do is oscillate between the two.
  2. Climbing: straight ahead or shallow turns only, to at least 400 ft AGL before any turn back toward the airport
  3. Trim off the control forces, then run the printed checklist and the securing-failed-engine checklist as time permits
    The priority items are already done from memory. Do the rest deliberately — a rushed hand on the wrong switch is a second emergency. Other than closing the cowl flap on the failed engine, none of the remaining items affect climb performance.
  4. Declare the emergency with ATC and land at the nearest suitable airport

ACS tolerances

  • Airspeed Vyse +10 / −0 kt
  • Heading ±10°
  • Bank angle: roughly 2° toward the operating engine once established in the climb — no more than 3°, since climb performance falls off beyond that
  • Correct engine identified, verified, and feathered — no misidentification

Common errors

  • Feathering before identifying and verifying — a shut-down good engine is unrecoverable
  • Skipping verify and going straight from dead foot to the prop control
  • Letting airspeed decay below blue line while working the checklist
  • Too much bank — 10° held into the climb instead of momentarily
  • Retracting the gear as a reflex on liftoff, giving away the runway that was the safe option
  • Trying to turn back before 400 ft AGL