Have you ever declared an emergency?

Left engine coolant lost on DA42 but I didn’t declared emergency, I just asked priority in landing after shutting it down.

There are probably other factors at play:

1. A twin, particuarly a new one or one not used for training, is likely to be flown a lot (compared to a privately owned SEP flown for 50-100 hours pa). So even if the failure rate per hour flown is * 2, it might might lead to a higher number of occurances that otherwise expected.

2. When it comes ot maintenance, I wonder is there an element of “Well, if it does fail, it’s not the end of the world. At least there is another engine.”
While it might not be the motivation in not doing certain maintenance, it might just be the tipping point for some pieces which are borderline anyway.

I think a reasonable proportion of people who have an engine failure in a single wouldn’t be around to post there experiences on this forum. :)

Peter, the O2 bottle was inadequately secured and bounced free in a bit of turbulence thus damaging the valve. It did concentrate the mind though!!!!!!

I’m not sure if your question is addressed to professional pilots, but since you asked…

My logbook shows I’ve recorded 63 flights as emergencies (since 1972). Most of them occurred between 1975 and 1988 when I was in the RAF, going through training then flying the Harrier GR3 and T4.

Many of them were straightforward system malfunctions: radio failures (4), hydraulic failures (4), undercarriage indications or stuck up (8), control restrictions (3). Some were more serious – fumes in the cockpit (1), the engine flaming out or surging (3), and birdstrikes (9). Two of the birds joined me in the cockpit:

The photo shows a Harrier T4 after a bird smashed into the front seat (I was in the back). The bird destroyed my instruments, set off the miniature detonation cord which blew the rest of the canopy off, some of which then punctured the fuel tanks and went down the engine. That was an exciting few minutes.

There were also smatterings of electrical failures and tyre bursts on landing.

Since I joined the airlines I’ve had four rejected take-offs, all at quite low speed, one of which was caused by a fan blade failing. Airliners are so reliable nowadays that most problems are passenger-related – my last was in May when we returned to Shanghai after take-off with a passenger heart attack.

My A36 has been totally reliable (430 hours so far). No so other light aircraft. On one occasion my student touched down in a Pitts Special and the tailwheel fell off!

All in all, probably three Maydays and thirty or so Pans.

That looks a bit messy Chris!

Dublinpilot

You could add a 3rd factor as to why twins might suffer more engine failures:

Twin engines are much more tightly cowled than singles. This is particularly relevant in large turbo engines. The same engine in an SEP has the whole width of the fuselage for packaging.

Other reasons I have seen bounced around the internet over the years have been

- more engine vibration, due to “weaker” engine mounting frames, so stuff “falls off” more often
- more control linkage issues, due to the much longer control cable runs
- different attitudes to maintenance, due to the “spare engine” (this one often posted by ME pilots)
- since mfg ceased many years ago for most ME types, the average age of the fleet that flies a lot is higher for ME than SE

Only one actual MAYDAY for me. Cessna 152 just turning crosswind after take off, engine stopped dead. We glided round and landed across the airfield (was grass). It was a blocked oil feed to the front crankshaft bearing so crank had just welded itself stuck. We put out the radio call but as it was A/G no-one in the club had heard. We left the aircraft dumped on the airfield and walked back in whereupon a few club members in the tea bar said ‘how come you’re back so quick?’ !!

No real emergencies, but a couple of “interesting” events.

I started flying gliders. I was getting the hang of it well and became slightly too cocky in making the final approach “just right” (I was 23 at the time). During a solo flight shortly before getting my license, on short final to an airfield with a line of trees a few hundred metres before the threshold, I felt a sinking “whoop” and the runway disappeared behind the trees. I slammed the airbrake closed and climbed. Fortunately I carried some extra speed because of the rather strong winds and made it over the treetops at what could not be much more than stalling speed. I heard a scraping noise and then pushed the stick to the panel. The last part of the final was in ground effect and I touched town right at the threshold… My instructor calmly said that I could have been a meter lower and still make it. (This was in a Bergfalke III glider.)

Another time I was flying over the sea to Visby at about 4000 feet when my single NAV stopped working. This was before the time of GPS and the aircraft didn’t have an ADF either. I asked the tower for QDM to guide me to the airport. Gotland is really large enough that dead reckoning would have worked well, but it felt good to have reassurance that I was on the right track and not on the way to Poland.

The third time I was departing Groningen for Biggin Hill. Something had felt not quite right during the taxi, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Once in the air I realised that the turn coordinator was indicating the wrong way (and also giving very large indications). During the ground checks I’ve only noticed the turn coordinator move and didn’t think about the direction. (I hadn’t even imagined that failure mode.) Since I was flying IFR and the turn coordinator was also my standby gyro instrument, I had to turn back. The tower asked if I wanted them to “roll the equipment”, but I declined.