Why is "dead foot, dead engine" still around?

DE727UPS, thanks for the welcome, sorry I'm not the same fella from the other forum.


Berkut, I am currently flying the Dash 8-100/300 for a regional carrier here in Canada for a few more weeks and let me tell you that apart from the FMS, it is a bare bone analog aircraft....Just like any piston twin you would diagnose an engine problem by looking at the Torgue gauge (Manifold Press in a piston), RPM Gauge, EGTs, Oil Temp and Press and so forth....The benefit is that there are 2 of us in the aircraft so one guy files and the other handles the problem....I know you wouldn't have this luxury in a single pilot pilot twin but, if something bad happens, always fly the aircraft first and then take a few extra seconds to look at the gauges.....it happens in the sim all the time, the crew starts rushing and ends up shutting down a good engine....we are all human and mistakes do happen. In my current airline we don't have any real method of diagnosing the engine problem besides looking at the steam gauges...then the calls are "Malfunction....Max Power" and then the PNF states the problem...e.g. "Engine Fire Number 2"
In a few more weeks I will be starting a with a new company flying the B737NG which obviously has a few more bells and whistles than the Dash 8, so it will be interesting to see if that A/C has a more fail safe (or idiot proof for me) system of diagnosing engine failures.
 
Center_Mid said:
If you're near or inside the IAF in IMC while single-pilot IFR, your workload is intense. Two-person flight crews can rely on CRM and a four-eyed scan, but the guy flying solo in the Bonanza can't. I would think that a quick, automated callout and prop lever indicator for an engine failure is within our technological capacity and could be a critical time saver.
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I'm thinking the guy in the Bonanza is going to know real quick when he's got an engine that's failed. ;)
 
Center_Mid said:
My question is, why don't piston twins just have a big, in-your-face warning system that tells the pilot which engine has failed?
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The main number one reason is, you gotta keep your eyes outside looking down between those trees to keep dodging the trees and power lines while you "clean up" the dead engine.

You gotta have a system of recognition and correction that allows you to execute it without relying on any inside the cockpit information for that once in a lifetime opportunity of an engine failure on a minimum runway trees on the end takeoff.
 
They've made "low thrust alert" systems for piston twins for years. I used to fly a cruddy old 310Q that had one. Again though just like everything else electronic things fail especially when they get old. So certainly having one could help but relying solely on that would be a mistake. It used to flash both engines or sometimes just one at random times. Would have if I just started pulling levers because of the lights.

Dead foot, Dead engine works really well if you follow the procedure. To Verify before shutting down. I haven't had a complete failure in flight but have had several partials where I followed the procedures and it worked 100%of the time.

SkyHigh I think the same is true for any multi plane if it has a prop overspeed. But having had one of those yawing effect of a prop overspeed is nowhere near as aggressive as an engine failure and its pretty appearent whats goin on. Again though like you said take your time and make sure your doing what you think your doing.
 
"Identify, Verify, Rectify" I use dead foot, dead engine or I touch whichever knee is up.

The only engine instruments to be trusted in pistons anyways are the EGT and Fuel Pressure, the rest of them will not react fast enough to the failure to show a trend.
 
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