Anyone who’s taken more than a couple of flying lessons has been exposed to simulated failure of a single-engine airplane’s powerplant. For ab initio students, the first engine-out drill often is a demonstration that the airplane won’t fall out of the sky and that the situation can be managed to successfully get on the ground and walk away, even if you can’t use that particular airplane again anytime soon. As pilots gain more experience, certificates and ratings, the engine-out drill takes on much greater significance, and can even make or break a checkride or flight review. Pardon the pun, but that goes double for multi-engine airplanes.
Unfortunately, pilots often don’t take the drill seriously—I know I’ve been guilty of that—which ends up diluting its value as a training exercise in several ways. In fact, the engine-out drill has greater significance than many pilots acknowledge: It’s an important test of muscle memory, of recalling so-called bold-faced checklist items, of judgment and of airplane control. And depending on how and when your instructor initiates the drill, it may be completely worthless. That’s important, since the purpose of an engine-out drill is to practice what’s necessary to restart it and find a place to land if you can’t.
