Engine failure on final

And I have done many flight reviews with students that reduce power
abeam the numbers and then desend to about 300 feet while extending
there downwind to landing traffic. Then the fly the base and long
final at 300 feet.

A much better technique is to fly the extending downwind, base and
maybe even part of final at a 1000' AGL. Once within gliding range,
then reduce power. At least at 1000' feet you should have 20-30 seconds
to consider you options of where you are going to land should the
engine fail. At 300' your going to hit what ever is directly in front
of you.

Brian

On 24 Jan 2005 06:02:38 -0800, "Brian" wrote:

A much better technique is to fly the extending downwind, base and
maybe even part of final at a 1000' AGL. Once within gliding range,
then reduce power. At least at 1000' feet you should have 20-30 seconds
to consider you options of where you are going to land should the
engine fail. At 300' your going to hit what ever is directly in front
of you.

Well, that puts you at a different altitude than everyone else in the
pattern (especially at 7B3 where p.a. is 800 ft AGL . And if I read
the second sentence correctly, you're not within gliding range until
you're on final, so if your engine quits you will go plop.

Why look around in search of a landing place when you've got an
airport in sight? Why not fly the pattern so that you can glide to the
runway from downwind or base?

(As posted, if I knew how to fly a 45 within gliding distance, I'd do
that too! The only things around 7B3 are houses, trees, and a
one-track railroad bed.)





-- all the best, Dan Ford

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A much better technique is to fly the extending downwind, base and
maybe even part of final at a 1000' AGL. Once within gliding range,
then reduce power....

But you WERE withing gliding range when you were abeam at the 180, if
you flew a proper downwind leg. Unless circumstances *force* you to
extend the downwind, it is poor practice to do so.

vince norris