This post is for a lesson I had last week. Uni breaks tend to mean lots of uni assignments unfortunately…on the bright side, only three weeks left!

We did some more circuits today on 31R and boy did they suck. I’m not sure if it was the weather or the new runway or something else that caused me to trip up, but my landings were pretty darn hard. During the lesson, we also looked at Engine Failures After Take Off (EFATO) and Go-Arounds.

One of the key rules about aviation is to always follow this set of priorities – aviate, navigate and communicate. In other words, make sure you’re flying the plane safely, you know where you’re going and then let everyone know of what you’re doing. This is especially true in emergency situations. You don’t want to find yourself talking to ATC after an engine failure, only to find out that you’ve lost 1000ft in altitude because you let the aircraft stall on you. So, in the event of any emergency, fly the plane first!

In the case of an engine failure, the first thing is to immediately lower the nose attitude and trim for 65kts. Whilst doing this, run through the engine failure (CFM) checklist. This is:

Carby heat ON
Fuel ON
Magnetos, Mixture, Master BOTH/RICH/ON

After these checks, time permitting, an engine restart can be attempted. However, most time there will be insufficient time to worry about this, especially after take-off. As such, the first priority is to look for a suitable landing field in front of you within 30 degrees. Things like ovals, beaches or other natural features that would be relatively large and smooth. Preferably also away from populated areas.  Roads are possible too, but is probably not a good idea around Moorabbin especially when you include the consideration of power lines.

If you can’t find anything within 30 degrees, try 45 degrees. If there’s nothing within 45 degrees, try for anything on the windscreen. The trick is to avoid turning as gliding turns are highly inefficient and a lot of altitude (read: time) is lost.

Then call ATC. Last thing to do.

As for go-arounds, it is a matter of making a timely decision to do so. Then, by applying full power and trimming the aircraft for 75kts, the aircraft should start climbing. Once a positive rate of climb is established (500ft/min and climbing), start releasing the flaps in stages. As each stage of flap is retracted, there will be a sinking tendency as the aerofoil size has been decreased. Ensure that there is always a positive rate of climb before retracting a stage of flap.

During all this, flying should be to the dead side of the circuit (i.e., right hand side where left hand circuits are in operation). However, at YMMB where there are parallel runways, the go-around circuit is slightly to the side of the circuit (so, ‘inside’ the normal circuit). Whilst climbing, look around, especially at the runway, for traffic. Do not turn onto crosswind until past the threshold at the end of the runway. After this, fly a normal circuit.

Of course, tell ATC that you’re going around – but most importantly, aviate, navigate and communicate.