One Engine Inoperative
One engine inoperative is a condition where one of the engines on a multi-
engine aircraft fails and as a result, a thrust imbalance exists between the
operative and inoperative sides of the aircraft. This thrust imbalance
(asymmetrical thrust) causes several negative effects in addition to the
loss of one engine’s thrust.
One Engine Inoperative Flight Principles:
After the flaps and landing gear have been retracted and the propeller of
the failed engine feathered, a key element in best climb performance is
minimizing sideslip. With a single-engine aircraft or a multi-engine aircraft
with both engines operative, sideslip is eliminated when the ball of the
turn and bank instrument is centered. This is a condition of zero sideslip,
and the aircraft is presenting its smallest possible profile to the relative
wind.
As a result, drag is at its minimum. Pilots know this as coordinated flight.
In a multiengine airplane with an inoperative engine, the centered ball is
no longer the indicator of zero sideslip due to asymmetrical thrust. In fact,
there is no instrument at all that directly tells the pilot the flight conditions
for zero sideslip. In the absence of a yaw string, minimizing sideslip is a
matter of placing the airplane at a predetermined bank angle and ball
position. The AFM/POH performance charts for single-engine flight were
determined at zero sideslip. If this performance is even to be
approximated, the zero sideslip technique must be utilized.
Counteracting The Asymmetrical Thrust at One Engine
Inoperative Condition:
There are two different control inputs that can be used to counteract the
asymmetrical thrust of a failed engine:
1. Yaw from the rudder.
2. The horizontal component of lift that results from bank with the
ailerons.
Used individually, neither is correct. Used together in the proper
combination, zero sideslip and best climb performance are achieved.
One Engine Inoperative – Asymmetrical Yaw:
When one engine fails, a yawing moment develops, which applies a
rotational force to the aircraft that tends to turn it toward the wing that
carries the engine that failed. A rolling moment might develop, due to the
asymmetry of the lift in each wing, with a greater lift generated by the
wing with the operating engine. The yawing and rolling moments apply
rotational forces that tend to yaw and roll the aircraft towards the failed
engine. This tendency is counteracted by the pilot’s use of the flight
controls, which include the rudder and ailerons.
Due to P-factor, a clockwise rotating right-hand propeller on the right wing
typically develops its resultant thrust vector at a greater lateral distance
from the aircraft’s center of gravity than the clockwise rotating left-hand
propeller. The failure of the left-hand engine will result in a larger yawing
moment by the operating right-hand engine, rather than vice versa. Since
the operating right-hand engine produces a larger yawing moment, the
pilot will need to use larger deflections of the flight controls or a higher
speed in order to maintain control of the aircraft.
Thus, the failure of the left-hand engine has a greater impact than failure
of the right-hand engine, and the left-hand engine is called the critical
engine. On aircraft with propellers that rotate counter-clockwise, such as
the de Havilland Dove, the right engine would be the critical engine.
Most aircraft that have counter-rotating propellers do not have a critical
engine defined by the above mechanism, because the two propellers are
made to rotate inward from the top of the arc; both engines are critical.
Some aircraft, such as the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, purposefully have
propellers that rotate outward from the top of the arc, to reduce
downward air turbulence, known as downwash, on the central horizontal
stabilizer, which makes it easier to fire guns from the aircraft. These
engines are both critical, but more critical than inward-rotating propellers.
Aircraft with propellers in a push-pull configuration, such as the Cessna
337, may have a critical engine, if failure of one engine has a greater
negative effect on aircraft control or climb performance than failure of the
other engine. The failure of a critical engine in an aircraft with propellers
in a push-pull configuration typically will not generate large yawing or
rolling moments.