Flight Time–Mutli-engine Flight #4

The goal for today's flight was to sure up the single engine procedures. To help with that, I tried 'flying' the Beechcraft Baron in Microsoft Flight Simulator. I was able to simulate engine failures and adjust the levers, but without the feel of the yaw, it just wasn't the same. The only true way was to keep practicing in the Duchess.

My flight today was 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. I arrived at the Melbourne airport early to calculate the preflight numbers. When Nick arrived, he signed off on my numbers and I pre-flighted the plane.

After departing Melbourne, we flew to the practice area. I commented to Nick that one thing was missing from the previous flight - directional control. I had realized, after the fact, that maintaining heading was a very important part of single engine operations. With that said, we began practicing simulated engine failures again, but this time, with an additional focus on directional control. Rather than trying to focus on the heading indicator, I chose specific clouds as my direction indicator. This worked well for me, as I was able to keep my eyes outside the cockpit.

After a few simulations, we headed back to Melbourne. Along the way, Nick pulled the throttle one more time. This time, we flew single engine all the way back to the traffic pattern. I contacted Tower while crossing over the abandoned airfield and was told to enter a right base for Runway 9R, following a Cherokee. Nick told me to restore normal flight, so I balanced the levers and prepared for landing. As is always the case with a fast plane, we started closing the gap between ourselves and the traffic ahead, so I stayed wide on my base leg. When I turned onto final, I knew we were too close to the plane ahead of us. I added flaps and reduced power, but that wasn't going to be enough. Nick asked Tower if we could do S-turns for spacing and Tower said yes. I began turning left and right to increase the distance from the plane ahead, all while being sure to keep the plane coordinated and at the proper speed. At 300 feet, I reestablished the plane on the centerline and prepared to either land or to go around. By that time, the plane ahead had landed, but was still rolling out on the runway. Then we heard Tower say to the plane on the runway, "Keep your speed up, I have an airplane hovering over the numbers waiting for you to clear the runway." It was clear to us that Tower expected us to land, so at 50 feet, I leveled off, added a little bit of power, and floated along until the Cherokee cleared the runway.

After this flight, I feel more confident with my ability to recognize and handle a single engine situation. I have enough time in my 10-hour block for one more flight. Hopefully that will be enough time to complete an Instrument Proficiency Check. If not, that's fine. I will fly in simulated instrument conditions and get more comfortable with precise flying and communicating with ATC.

With this flight, I have exceeded 600 hours of flight time. This time last year, I had less than 500 hours. My current goal is to reach 700 hours by the end of this year.

The flight track is below.

Flight track

Flight Time: 1.4 hours
Multi-engine time: 23.8 hours
Total Time: 600 hours