Timbuff10 said:
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Good job of shutting down the engines the way he did. I wonder if that was part of his checklist? I was wondering if he would do that before he landed or if he would keep the engines going in case he needed to go around.
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Monday morning quarterbacking, but I'm not sure I agree with his decision on feathering the props. In my earlier post I put a link to an AvWeb article talking about a C-310 that stalled and crashed short of the runway when the pilot feathered the props (to save the engines with a nosewheel that wouldn't extend) but was on a standard approach path rather than having excess speed or altitude.
(Here's the link again.)
A turbine engine is different than a piston engine, and I don't know what is involved with a sudden engine stoppage due to a prop strike, but I doubt if there are any safety issues involved. Just monetary issues. The King Air operating manual has no advice on gear-up landings at all.
I do know, however, that a 100 series King Air will drop like a rock if you pull power off completely during landing (props forward). We keep 400-600 pounds of thrust until after touchdown, otherwise we're almost guaranteed to "drop it in". I suspect that in order to fully feather the props in the scenario we are talking about the pilot would want to be high, or fast (or both) on final approach, pull power to idle, then feather the props. I can be pretty sure that they'll see high descent rates during the time that the power is idle and the props are windmilling (prior to feathering), but I don't know what the descent profile will be when both props reach feather. I've never flown with both props feathered, and I doubt this guy did either. Bottom line, in my opinion the guy was being a test pilot, and gambling their lives on getting the profile right with
no possibility of a second try. I'd rather keep the power on because I
know how the plane is going to fly in that configuration, and all of my options (including a go-around) are still available.
Here's a quote from Rick's article that sums it up:
That lead one of our more experienced pilots and flight instructors to remark that a gear-up landing is considered an emergency. Sandy commented that a landing without an operative engine is also an emergency. She wondered whether the pilot of the accident aircraft had ever practiced a landing with both engines shut down and the props feathered. She suspected he hadn't. She then wondered why in the world a pilot who was facing an emergency would intentionally create a second one, especially one he had never, ever practiced.
Even though turbine engines are 10 to 20 times more expensive than piston engines, that doesn't change the equation: (my life) > (cost of engine).
