The light twin has long straddled the line between the added security of its second engine and the control challenges presented if one engine quits.
Since the first of its kind—the Wright Flyer, if you go back all the way—airplane designers have addressed the tension between power and control in a variety of ways. Some with centerline thrust, such as the Cessna 336 and 337 Skymaster, and others with pilot support, such as the Beechcraft King Air’s latest autothrottles—both under supplemental type certificate and standard in new models—taking flight in the one-engine regime into “easy day” territory.
