Engine out characteristics ?

[Paul Tuttle]

A few of us were doing a little Hangar flying a the local airport last night and one discussion was in regards to engine out flight characteristics in RVs.

While flying ultra lights I often shut the engine off and dead sticked the landing just for fun.There were some difference in how the aircraft handled so we wondered if there were any major handling surprises if you lose an engine in an RV. One thought was that the tandem versions would be effected more then the side by side models.

I haven't flown mine yet, so I said I'd ask the experts and get back to them.

[Ironflight]

Well Paul, I really think that the answer is that they fly pretty much like an airplane!

Make sure not to run out of energy to make your touchdown spot, and fly it all the way to the ground.

There was nothing remarkable about the engine-out landing I did with the RV-3 during Phase 1 - no surprises, it was pretty much like closing the throttle and simply flying it to touchdown.

Paul

[n5lp]

I haven't noticed any handling differences but compared to a running engine with a fixed pitch prop the deceleration in the flare is noticeably faster.

[Bob Axsom]

When the engine quits it is coming down. During phase 1, I had a couple of situations of lost power and it flies fine but it does not soar like an eagle. I feel you can probably make it too your selected landing site if it is within a 30 degree cone from your point over the earth. I previously said 45 but I think that is too far to try if you have a closer option. No way would I turn off the power to gain the experience.

Bob Axsom

[Vlad]

No major surprises on the 9. It sinks a bit faster and touches the runway nice and quiet Flaps deployed or without.

[Kyle Boatright]

I've dead sticked my fixed pitch RV-6 intentionally. Both at altitude and to a landing. The glide ratio is ~10:1, and the airplane offered no surprises other than the fact that it required 140 knots to spin the prop for an air-start. On landing, the airplane settled a little quicker from the flare, but that wasn't a surprise.