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buffoonery” happen when the engine goes silent. This is a sad testimony because those first few responses are critical when an engine goes silent.
A real-world engine-out scenario creates far greater anxiety than a training scenario, and the accident record of landings after an engine- out scenario in the PA46 and TBM world is not exemplary. Although you might think that the pilots in the PA46 and TBM world would be the best of the best in handling sin- gle-engine emergencies, the actual accident data shows that poor deci- sions made shortly after an engine failure can doom the possibility of a successful outcome. Some pilots turn the wrong way, some select inferior airports when exemplary airports are well within gliding range, and some pilots mismanage airspeed so that a successful glide to safely land at an airport is impossible.
I use several training scenarios to train engine-out landings near my home airport near Lufkin, TX (KLFK). Those scenarios usually be- gin with the airplane above 10,000ft MSL and many airport options within the gliding range. Some of those air- ports are short-runway (less than 3000ft) options with rough asphalt, and some are multiple runway air- ports with crash-rescue on the scene. I ensure that the location where I administer the engine failure af- fords many options, and sometimes the pilot chooses the lesser option. In fact, most of the time, the pilot chooses the lesser option. I can’t tell you how often a pilot chooses the “nearest airport” when a much better airport is easily within range. Or, a pilot completely disregards strong upper-level winds and cannot glide to a seemingly in-range airport, only to end up short of the runway. The decision combinations can be mind- boggling, and most minds are truly boggled in an engine-out sequence.
And then it happened. In late 2021, I started to have pilots show up to training with Smart Glide installed as part of their new panel upgrade. It changed the game. These pilots want- ed to see if Smart Glide would find the runway that afforded the greatest
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options for safety, and Smart Glide proved its worth by repeatedly guid- ing the pilot in distress to the best option. The plethora of data that Smart Glide filters continually to de- termine the best airport is far more robust than would be available to a pilot “in the heat of the battle” when the engine goes silent. Although you are certainly the pilot-in-command while flying, the airport selected by Smart Glide is usually the correct airport to select. When the engine goes silent, a pilot needs to decide which airport to turn towards, but that pilot also needs to know what airspeed to fly. The answer is best glide speed. So, SmartGlide pitches the airplane for the preprogrammed POH-listed best glide speed.
Best glide speed is found at the bot- tom of the drag chart, where parasite drag and induced drag intersect. It is the speed that a pilot should ini- tially fly in an engine-out scenario. If the airplane is flown any faster than best glide speed, parasite drag increases exponentially, and the air- plane won’t glide as far. If flown any slower than best glide speed, induced drag increases exponentially, and the airplane won’t glide as far. Best glide speed is where the airplane can glide the farthest. Sort of...
To avoid getting nasty grams from any of my astute and wise readers... yes, I know that best glide is actu- ally an angle of attack (AOA), not an airspeed. And best glide speed can change based on weight and winds. If all of our airplanes had AOAs, I’d ad- vise flying “best lift over drag” (Best L/D) AOA instead of an airspeed. But, most pilots reading this article don’t f ly airplanes with AOAs installed, so POH-published best glide speed is a good airspeed to fly. Certainly, in the “heat of the battle” after an en- gine out, best glide speed is an excel- lent speed to fly initially as you gain situational awareness. Then, you can adjust for the airspeed you desire to fly based on the conditions and con- figuration you are presently flying.
As you would guess, in both en- gine-out training and real-life engine- out scenarios, many pilots fail to fly a proper airspeed when the engine-out
episode happens. Flying the wrong airspeed reduces glide distance, and that glide distance might be all the difference in determining a success- ful outcome. The old adage in aviation is, “There’s nothing more precious in an engine-out scenario than altitude above you and runway behind you.” When the engine goes silent, you’ll want all the energy that altitude af- fords you. Spend that energy wisely. Smart Glide helps you by pitching the airplane for best glide speed.
Once a pilot can glide to the se- lected airport and range is no longer in question, I am a huge proponent of flying a slightly faster airspeed than best glide. There are many reasons for this decision, but the biggest is safeguarding an airplane from a stall. As the earth begins to fill the wind- screen, the natural tendency for ev- ery human is to pull back on the yoke. Most botched engine-out scenarios land short of the runway in a stalled condition. Almost every engine-out stall scenario ends up with a fatal ac- cident. The point is airspeed control is critical. Don’t stall the airplane.
An airplane being operated under Smart Glide will fly directly to the airport chosen. When within 4 miles of that airport, the GTN will alert the pilot via aural and visual cues. When within 2 miles, the cues become more prominent. When this occurs, the pilot should be over the airport, and the pilot can take over and navigate the airplane to a safe landing.
The FAA is adamant about a pilot being able to spiral down from a “high key” (a position of undetermined alti- tude over the airport) to a “low key” (1000-1500ft abeam the runway on a left downwind) and then land the airplane. Private pilot students are appropriately trained to glide an airplane from a left downwind to a successful landing. Commercial Pilot students learn “180-degree precision approach and landing” and “steep spi- rals,” both maneuvers required by the Airman Certification Standards during the Commercial Pilot Practical Test. The FAA Flying Handbook teach- es how to do this with precision. The FAA Glider Handbook teaches the same method. Yes...it is a tried