Page 26 - February 2015 Volume 19 Number 2

Twin Proficiency: by Thomas P. Turner Checkride CAKing Air B200 impacted the Flight Safety International building after departure from Wichita, Kansas. The pilot, the sole aircraft occupant, was fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed. Three building occupants were fatally injured, two occupants sustained serious injuries, and four occupants sustained minor injuries. Visual conditions prevailed.The airplane departed Runway 1R and was instructed to fly runway heading. One minute later the pilot declared an emergency and stated that he “lost the left engine.” According to witnesses, after the airplane departed runway 1R, a left turn was initiated and the airplane’s altitude was estimated less than 150 feet above the ground. One witness observed the airplane shortly after it became airborne and heard a reduction in power on one engine before it entered the left turn. Another witness saw the airplane from about 20 yards away. He said the airplane was in a left turn and approached the hangars east of FSI, then the wings were level as it flew west toward FSI. The airplane’s landing gear [was] down, the flaps were extended, the rudder was neutral, and the right engine was at full power.In the final seconds before impacting the building the airplane was on a heading of 240o in a gradual, descending left turn. Both propellers were rotating. The nose of the airplane struck the roof of the building before a large explosion and post-impact fire.Common comments I’ve heard include “this isn’t supposed to happen in a turboprop,” and “a King Air should have no trouble climbing out on one engine, especially with onlyone person on board.” The NTSB preliminary report, unusuallydetailed for a “prelim,” describes a 90o or greater heading change immediately after the engine failure, followed by a gradual turn in a shallow descent until impacting the building...not the classic loss of control scenario, but more as if the pilot experienced an initial loss of control but then regained at least some control over heading and bank before riding the airplane into the building. The landing gear remained down, flaps were extended and the propeller was apparently not feathered. Read the NTSB’s preliminary report and make your own (preliminary) judgment about this departure from the standard Engine Failure During Takeoff procedure.Not only did the pilot perish, but persons on the ground doing the right thing – training, and providing quality flight training, including Russian language translation duties, – died or were hurt in the crash as well. The student in the simulator had traveled halfway around the world, in part (no doubt) because simulator training is so much safer than instruction in an actual aircraft.Given what we know, and the apparent deviation from the engine failure procedures we all practice, I struggled to find a good lesson as a result. Only after much time thinking about this crash, an answer came.There are a number of skills and maneuvers evaluated onPractical Tests (“checkrides”) that, for many pilots, seem to have no direct application to flying after the pilot certificate or rating is earned. Some of the evaluated Tasks we might call“circus tricks,” skills seemingly learned for the sole purpose of successfully passing the checkride. Flight at Minimum Controllable Airspeed (“Slow Flight”), S-Turns Across a Road, Lazy 8s, and Turns on Pylons are among those evaluated Tasks that might appear to be checkride circus tricks. Certainly they24 • TWIN & TURBINEFEBRUARY 2015i