I’ve just bought the book… bedtime reading for me for a while 
It looks very readable.
Doing some single engine training in the US and the tips in this book worked very well.
I think engine out, when it actually happen, requires practice, practice and practice up front. Your survive ability is inverse proportional to the square of the stall speed (unless you can find a 500m+ tarmac or a golf court somewhere), hence the touch down and the stall speed of your aircraft decides 99% Then stuff like fixed landing gear vs retract also play a part. It is often said about microlights, that in an engine out event, you can simply put the aircraft in a tree, and climb down. It has happened several times when there are no obvious place to land. Of course, not a recommended procedure, a good portion of luck is needed and a “good” tree, but when there are only trees for miles and miles, what can you do? In a normal GA aircraft, this would mean death or severe injury, and it’s difficult to see any other survival strategy than a chute (personal or BRS).
I had an engine out once in a Piper Pawnee. At first I did everything “by the book” (gliding straight to the airfield at best L/D). But then, mostly because of the added drag of the windmilling propeller (which is surprisingly large), I had to reject my plan of landing up-wind on 25, I wouldn’t make it. This was on the start of downwind, so I had to make a U-turn to get to final 07, then another to get the nose pointing down the runway. No “GA procedures” for that, but I had lots of alt, and I had “done” it thousands of time years ago when flying RC (for the same reason ) So I just did it the way I had done thousands of time before, like a reflex more or less.
What I mean is that whatever you have read means very little when the shit hits the fan. You just do what you know works. For me it was simply to “burn” off alt and land the damned thing (when my initial procedure didn’t work). It was no more than that, no procedures, no analytical thinking. I’m not sure if this is even possible to learn in a typical instructor/student kind of setting. I know I would be way too much stressed by simply doing the procedures correct and trying to remember everything like transponder code, re-starting procedures and all these things that means very little in the process of getting down alive, but is always commented in some way by instructors.
Maybe simulators will work in this respect ? I think some large amount of practice is needed.
Anyway, what is this book about ? Any resume coming ?
What I mean is that whatever you have read means very little when the shit hits the fan
That may be true in the situations where you get an engine failure close to the ground.
For enroute failures the options should be better – if you can see the destination (runway or a field) and implement the said procedure.
Anyway, what is this book about ? Any resume coming ?
Patience
If you have ‘stored’ a procedure in the back of your mind, or have practiced a situation, it will come back under stress and be of help, leaving more free neurons available for making urgent decisions. I had read this book about forced landings, not having practiced any since nearly 50 years. On my last IR profcheck/ SEP CR the examiner wanted to see a SFL. I did it and put it on the runway from 3000ft. What saved me was the 500 ft per 180° turn rule as well as the 4 wire and 8 wire concept.
This book is a class job, waiting for more from the same author.
Peter wrote:
That may be true in the situations where you get an engine failure close to the ground.
Or, when approaching ground then – oops, this won’t work. This could be due to several factors: wind, weather, a wind milling propeller you have not taken into account, a power line crossing your chosen emergency landing field, what looked like a nice grass field, ended up being a bog when looking from 500 ft. When I had my engine out, I didn’t notice it. I was fast descending from a long tow and didn’t notice it before leveling out. If I had noticed it earlier, I would have no problems gliding to the intended runway. IMO some amount of improvisation has to be done in a real situation, and it will always come in the last seconds when you realize things aren’t exactly as you thought 10 thousand feet up.
Unless you have a nice field, preferably an airfield, at your disposal, then it is the last 10-20 seconds maybe that decides if you will survive or not. Everybody can do a gliding landing to a nice field given it’s within gliding distance, but it’s of no use if you don’t actually have a nice field to land on. That’s why the invention called “twins” saw the light of day, and later BRS. You can survive in a Cub and similar aircraft almost anywhere, the same goes for microlights, and probably also with a bit more luck in a C-172, but in a Lancair? Maneuverability at slow speed is the key here, as well as last second improvisation, but this requires training, lots of training.
