Practice Like You Play (Fly) - Day 10 of the 31 Day Safer Pilot Challenge 2024

[@GreatDataVideos]

10/10. Had my oil temperature redline and had to pull the power back and assume that I had no power available. ATC directed me to a rural mountain airport, even though I asked to go to an airport with maintenance facilities. Stayed high on purpose and found out there were trucks on the runway about 1/3rd down, so I did a forward slip and was able to land it safely. It's essential to practice these scenarios.

[@wayneethier4472]

10 for 10. Before my first solo flight, my instructor made it a habit to pull back the throttle every single flight, and have me perform an engine failure. One day he did it at 3500 feet over the airport which is a class G. He said how do you want to handle this? I said let’s spiral down and land on 24. When he asked why, I said well why would I want to travel away from a perfectly good landing spot? It’s directly underneath me I want to stay within landing distance at all times.

[@rhino991]

Another outstanding video. Love it! Great advice. Something I really enjoy doing.

[@rhino991]

My spam monster started eating your videos , but I’m getting caught up.

[@SuperTexasBlues]

10/10! I am going to ask my instructor to allow me to spiral all the way to the runway once we get to that point... no better practice and REAL practice ordered the new book yesterday!

[@KCAviatrix675]

10 for 10. This video is excellent. I was volunteer law enforcement, and I can say we practiced like we played; God forbid you need to use what you practice, but it’s better than suddenly not knowing what to do. If you hesitate, you die. Practice, practice, practice.

[@jljr99]

Fine! I’ll do it! :)

[@tomalway8889]

10 for 10. I will practice a power off landing from altitude. I've done it on the downwind leg before but never from altitude.

[@dwighttaylor5107]

Awesomeness thanks you

[@RCAFpolarexpress]

10 for 10 Sir 😇👌👌👍👍WLICO SIr ( Yes Sir, this is my public declaration ) I will practice for sure after I pass my course and I will mention it to THE BEST Pilot Instructor In The World that I have ( M Paradis 🙏🙏😇) Thank You Very Kindly Cheers 😇👍👌🍻

[@mrpropertiesplus6006]

10 for 10 👍🏻

[@AndyOlsonUSA]

I got my Private in 2006 & haven't flown much since. Currently doing "Rusty Pilot" training to get current (when the weather permits). I was fortunate back then to have an instructor that did emergency landing training with me by going to an uncontrolled airport and taking the plane all the way to the ground. Even better, he let my now-wife ride along with us in the back seat, so she knows how a real engine failure would go. She asked, after the lesson "what would happen if your engine actually quit?" I could say, "exactly what we did today, except there probably wouldn't be an airport in range, so it would be a field or a road." She felt better knowing I was trained for it. My current instructor has pulled my power in the pattern too, so I've even gotten a recent refresh.

[@Mgaarons]

10 for 10. Perfect practice makes permanent!!!!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@redpanda9716]

10 for 10!! Roger That! I'm committing! Fly like you train!!

[@Ed.Taylor]

10 for 10! Challenge Accepted!! This Year!!! ET

[@johnreed8844]

I 100% have been the “yeah I just killed us” guy. I’ve done it in the pattern but never at altitude. That and the engine failure with runway left is on my list now. Thanks Jason!

[@markkleinhofmeijer8576]

Great example, Jason! 10 out of 10. There are also parallels to draw between your example and the Tenerife Airport Disaster of 1977. The captain of the KLM 747 in that incident was also a simulator instructor and was accustomed to simulating ATC clearances himself. This is considered one of the factors that led to the captain "thinking" he had a takeoff clearance. The familiarity with simulating clearances may have contributed to the misinterpretation of communication during the critical moments leading to the tragic events at Tenerife. It highlights the importance of clear and unambiguous communication in aviation to avoid misunderstandings and potential disasters.

[@christophvz]

10 for 10 :) Great point about practicing like you play. For loss of thrust scenarios, I’ve come to realize that we pilots tend to over fixate on the landing part, whereas the biggest threat is loss of control *before* we even get to landing. As FAA Flying Handbook Chapter 17: Emergency Procedures explains - we only need 30 ft of distance to stop and survive the 9G crash. Being highly focused on making the runway (or the field we chose) contributes to loss of control as the pilot might unconsciously bank steeper than they should (in order to “make it”), which in turn will create an urge to pull back which is extremely difficult to resist close to the ground. For this reason I practice landing site selection based on what reduces the overall risk of getting hurt, never mind if the plane will be damaged or not. In addition to real life training, I also find AATD simulators an excellent tool to practice it all the way in situations that would be too dangerous to practice in RL, e.g. LOTOT scenarios, losing an engine where there aren’t obvious “great” places to land etc. Here’s the approach I use: 1) Aim for the best available landing spot, ideally an open field, a runway, a beach, dense trees, a road, or water, in that order. Prioritize not hurting anyone on the ground before saving yourself. Runway is your second best option (unless you are in a tight traffic pattern already or in a high overhead position) because it will make it difficult to consider other options. Aim for either straight in, or low key position abeam the approach end of the runway (1,000 - 1,500 AGL), or high key position over the first third of the runway (2,000 - 2,500 AGL) to your intended landing spot. 2) Continuously reevaluate if you can make your intended landing spot and choose the second best option if you know it’s not going to work out; judge if you can make it using your sight picture (i.e. angular distance); do not attempt to stretch the glide. If it’s not working out, accept your situation and remind yourself that your biggest risk is losing control of the airplane. So don’t.

[@scapilot1980]

Thanks for touching on the topic of possibly OVER shooting a landing spot during an engine failure. I'd venture to say that about 95 percent of people never even consider this a possibility because the natural tendency is to always assume you'll not have enough glide distance to get to your intended point and end up undershooting. During my ppl check ride, my examiner had me go all the way down to roughly 60 feet agl during my engine out and even though I declared the hard deck at 500 feet, he urged me to continue. Once we were climbing back out he said the reason he stresses such low recovery altitudes is because it's nearly impossible to dictate accurately at 500 feet whether you'd have made it or not. Winds change so much getting lower, mechanical turbulence becomes a factor and your sight picture at 100 feet is drastically different than 500 feet. I actually had to dump full flaps and perform a slip to make an approach that, at 500 feet looked easily obtained. I'm so grateful for this dpe for this experience to really get an accurate gauge on how much things really change in that last 400 feet before recovery. And for opening my eyes up to the possibility of how likely it is that you can just as easily overshoot your intended target to land as you can undershoot. Get out there and train like you fight.

[@dh-flies]

10X10 I'm hooked now.... Can't quit.

[@markfacer2296]

10/10. When teaching or practicing Commercial maneuvers, perform the Steep Spiral over an appropriate airport and take it all the way to the landing! This also teaches you where to start the maneuver as you plan to end by landing on a specific runway.

[@e.l.walker5050]

TennesseeTurkey is 10 for 10. Go Jason!

[@mwlphelps]

10/10! And I've actually done this! During Private training, one of my instructors did the old engine fail when we were out on maneuvers and he was at first impressed that I picked a local airport as my "B"est place to land. He said most students don't even notice the airport. Then he said, "OK, do it!" And I did! He also had me try a real "impossible turn!" That one I didn't make it back to the runway, but the experience was great.

[@trevorbailey2557]

10 for 10, Jason I had a genuine forced landing when my engine dropped a valve and I was 1500 feet and 90kts over the county town three and a half miles from our airfield, having nothing but a sick engine and next to no thrust my training kicked in and was able to coax my trusty Jabiru back to the airfield landing 90degrees off the wind but made the best landing I have ever made, this is probably we practice often and as my old instructor used to drill into me "it's not IF the engine goes quiet it's WHEN it goes quiet" This was the third "emergency " landing in my flying years one from fuel guage faulty reading and another from ignition plug fault, Great series keep up the fantastic work, Trev from the UK.

[@stuartrogal4053]

I had the good fortune to be based at an airport (W29) that had a runway replaced. For three months, the flight school and my airplane relocated to a grass field (3W3). The students, as well as I had great practice with soft field landings, takeoffs and even emergency decent to an actual landing on the grass. It was an invaluable experience.

[@michaelgerety3035]

10/10 -- These are great to keep a safety-conscious mindset.

[@mauriciomorenocajiao]

10 for 10, Mr. Schappert!! I do promise to make at least one simulated engine failure landing per month. A sudgestion to pratice power off landings, is to take some glider lessons, in a glider you are always in emergency. That gives you a lot of confidence.

[@jereberhard5529]

10 for 10! Yes, I do this with my learners on EVERY Flight Review, I log it as "Simulated Engine out Emergency TO THE GROUND"...Sim EOE to the ground. We use both paved and unpaved runways. I had one pilot who was sure that HE did not need the practice, yet when we did it, he always came up short. We practiced until he could do the Sim EOE to the ground reliably. He was sure that he would never need this maneuver. 2 weeks later he had an oil line break... he landed on a field and the only other thing that happened was that he got dust on his wheel pants. The mechanic replaced the broken oil line and the airplane was flown out. Since then he has been ever so complimentary about having that maneuver in his pilot toolbox. jer/ Eberhard, Colorado/Utah/Idaho mountain flying.

[@tbahr5572]

FYI, I do this at my airport once a month, and will continue to do the same. I shooting for the High Key, Low Key, and landing power off. This comes from my military flying days. Getting the correct sight picture is very important. I have a crossing grass strip so I can do this all four directions, wind permitting. Great course. Lead on Jason.

[@LuisGrolez]

10/10 best training yet. Yes I’m committed.

[@ToddCrowson]

10 for 10. I have done this many times with my instructor and will continue to practice this maneuver.

[@steved0x]

10 for 10. When I was on my PP checkride in 1999, the examiner pulled the power and asked how to handle. I trimmed the plane (C-152) for best glide, pointed out a few fields and described my approach, but then I said "the airport is right over there, so if this were a real engine out, I would go there". He said OK let's go. I made the radio calls (luckily it was a clear pattern so no conflict with other traffic) and glided in for a nice landing. Fun times.

[@PilotJoey]

Safer Pilot Challenge has been a great series over the years, but this year so far has been exceptional! 9/10 here (missed one day but caught up!), and committing to doing a spiral to landing on soft field practice with a CFI in 2024! (dang you sure know how to drive engagement haha!) There's no telling how many pilot lives you've saved with these videos.

[@BlueFantasy1]

Also 10 for 10. I’ll make that commitment. I am endorsed to fly solo within a 50 mile radius of my home airport in preparation for my checkride, but will spend the needed funds to perform the maneuver with my CFI onboard. ~Mark. G.

[@FearMyGuitar]

Ten for ten!

[@danlibby8366]

Yes Jason I will practice emergency landings all the way to a safe touchdown at a remote field. And I will giggle the entire time! They are a blast!

[@kurtstrachota3969]

10 for 10. Love practicing these.

[@michaelj.mcmurray540]

10 for 10: I had to play catch-up for this one. I will have to say, as a wrestling coach, the right drills and mental preparation are the combination that develops muscle memory. And that is why this yearly series is so important to my overall journey toward aviation mastery.

[@evanhansen9357]

10 for 10; great series again. I do practice engine out emergencies regularly as I fly my 1947 Aeronca L16A (Champ). I have had 3 for real engine outs in the pattern since I learned to fly, and restarting a hand prop engine is not an option! All the landings were successful, engine restarted on the ground after solving the problem. Added to my pre-landing check list “primer in and locked” as this was the issue. As a retired Law Enforcement officer, this video hits home as we always “Trained the way we fight” Great lesson, see you at Oshkosh this summer, Evan

[@jeromiegolab4533]

10 for 10 and LOVING this content! Thanks Jason for covering so many great topics!

[@alsj61]

I have been a LE officer and now I am a LE trainer. Nothing truer here. We in LE took from the aviation industry "finishing the emergency". The AV community used to train airliner pilots in sim training for emergencies, the pilots would successfully work the emergency but then not be able to land the plane. Sim training changed to include landing the plane. We now discuss "landing the plane" in all training events. My "crisis rehearsal" training in LE seems to be serving me well as a pilot. No emergencies yet, and hopefully none in the future. I hope my training regiment serves me well if I do.

[@jeffreysommers7759]

10:10-Have always wanted to practice engine failure to the ground. I will push for this in 2024. I love the focus on handling emergencies. If we, as pilots, feel comfortable that we handle any issue that arises, our passengers will sense that and feel that much more comfortable flying.

[@JonMulveyGuitar]

Great 30 day challenge Jason. Now even the wife is asking “ Are you practicing your power off landing’s?” 😂

[@billfoster8643]

10 for 10 in 2024!

[@RNRFLYN]

10/10 My instructor (my Dad) made me always do power off landings. That way I knew what to do if an engine quit.

[@jeffm4046]

10 for 10! Yes, I will commit to practicing this year! ...

[@nelsonbrandt7847]

10/10: I teach steep spiral to power off 180 to all my students, even PPL. I’m also a glider CFI, so you can imagine what my favorite maneuver is for my airplane students.

[@kevintrapkinsable]

10 for 10. When I get as far as flying, I will promise to do a power off landing!

[@joem.7307]

10/10 🫡 and I recently did a power off landing at an airport with my instructor… you’re 100% correct… getting it to the ground that last 500ft is where the money is made. Thankfully, my CFI is awesome and we got it down with some forward slip action on final.👌🏼👍🏼

[@OHNOKite]

10 for 10. This year's challenge vids have been great!

[@astralbody]

10/10 great vid. I have done an emergency practice to an airport landing. I'm the oddball and have told my cfi nope I wouldn't have made it...can only improve if you're honest with yourself. I love doing emergency procedures tho... I'm committed to doing more practice to a landing though 👍🏻

[@seemakhan1773]

10 for 10 🎉. Yes Jason,I will commit to an emergency landing from certain altitudes. Thanks for the great tips!

[@mustaphahabib2703]

While I was a student pilot last year and doing a mock check ride with a check instructor, he “killed” my engine at 5500ft, 20 min into the planned XC. There was about a 40kt tailwind and an airport 5 miles behind me and another airport about 9 miles ahead. I was told to pick which one I wanted to head to, I picked the one further away due to the strong tailwind in that direction. It was a choice I wasn’t sure about in the moment but it turns out I would have only barely made it to the closer airport with very little margin to spare. On the other hand, the tailwind really carried us to the further away airport at which point I had to ask the tower for a spiral down to the runway as I still had about 2000ft to lose. It also happened to be the first time for me spiraling down to the runway and the wind certainly made that tricky. Anyhow, I was able to get set up on final and had to do a bit of a forward slip to get it down and landed just slightly beyond the 1000ft marks. That was one of the most stressful landings I had to do during training but it was certainly the most rewarding and gave me a lot of confidence in my response to a somewhat real world scenario.

[@skyfall2442]

10 for 10. Emergency prodecures is something I practice a lot in my home build flight simulator.

[@MohamedAhmed-rz9sd]

Yes I’m committed to making a power off emergency landing all the way. Thank you.

[@darrellsimpson6926]

10 for 10, thanks for all of your work in GA.

[@AnthonyW8193]

10 for 10 good way to always be prepared.

[@jeffelia2617]

Yes I do that regularly each year. Great to practice.

[@c.amarisrobinson4037]

10 for 10! I was lucky enough to do a couple of simulated emergency landings all the way to landing (on a runway) during my training. But your reminder about the last 500 feet has inspired me to keep this on my personal practice list.

[@josephwriley]

10/10!

[@dannhennells2681]

10 for 10, I commit to practicing a power off this year at least once. I remember from my ppl, we would do power off on downwind to touch down. It's farther than you think it is once half way there. Thanks again Jason, this is good

[@Jerry-nw1ds]

10 for 10 Thank you Jason !!! Really Great Teachings !!!

[@philvasquez4542]

10-4-10! Great video! Practice like you play! Excellent!👍🏼

[@wildkiwi1295]

10/10! Great reminder. I’m in!

[@4alphazulu]

Day 10 of 10, Jason! Keep up the amazing work!!!

[@MikeyMihas]

10 for 10 - Good stuff MzeroA!

[@BenedictCorpuz]

10 for 10. Yes, Jason. I’ll ask my instructor this year to practice a precision landing from altitude this year.

[@JoseSilva-vp3wi]

10 for 10! Very interesting video!

[@johnd744]

As a Law Enforcement Officer, we call that "Muscle Memory" and YES !!!!! It's real.

[@daveeverhart7720]

10 for 10, Jason! I have a BFR coming up soon. I would like to practice this maneuver with my instructor. Thanks again for this great series. Look forward to it each year.

[@MicahMesser]

10/10 I did several emergency spirals to the airport for practice. Definitely the last bit that matters

[@SpokesAndWings]

10 for 10. I commit to practice a full power off decent to the ground in 2024.

[@justinbeltramo359]

10 for 10. This was a lesson we were taught back in the Army. Realistic training is critical

[@jamesjohnson6309]

10 for 10 and im committed! solo is thursday!

[@tonyharnett3169]

10/10 - Yes Jason I'm committed to making a power off landing from altitude to the ground this year!

[@ronsflightsimlab9512]

We call them "Training scars" ... Love the video!

[@AaronH1223]

10 for 10! Feel like we just started yesterday.

[@JBalloonist]

10/10. Last year during my 182 checkout I was able to do a power off landing to our clubs home airport (despite it being a busy day! ). Everyone in the pattern was super accommodating (helps that half was our club).

[@tjchorseshoeing]

10 4 10 Yes, Jason, I'm committed to practicing this maneuver this year better yet this month!!

[@timkey2041]

I am 10 for 10! I did a spiral down from 4,500 to landing at my BFR last month... Done it!

[@GaryScavella]

10/10, yes Jason I will commit to power off landing, thanks for all your efforts and support

[@RonDegraffenreid-pp7qp]

10 for 10 Committed!

[@stevenrynski1107]

Thanks Jason 10 for 10!

[@balvirmand7125]

10/10 yes, Jason I commit and I commit to practicing on my Sim in more realistic scenarios

[@GVSolo]

10 of 10. As I mentioned on a previous video, altitude is perhaps your best friend when it comes to an emergency landing. Always fly as high as possible especially during cross country flights. Yes you can easily lose altitude anytime you want to. But during an emergency altitude that is lost is altitude you may never gain back.

[@macalcdc]

10 for 10 so far. Awesome stuff Jason

[@t.w.hicksinc.4127]

Love the new book. Sent it to my instructors that I have had over the years!

[@raycintron8466]

10 for 10. Great video Jason

[@Tushka154]

10 for 10 from Hungary - I’m committed to make a power-off landing from altitude to the ground.

[@LilianaWest]

10 for 10! Love the series. Thank you!

[@markp3309]

10 for 10! Yes Jason I plan to practice a power off landing from altitude!

[@thurmondcapps66]

10 for 10 Thanks, Mastery, Robert Greene, Thanks

[@craigwitt100]

10/10. Performed the simulated engine failure on my Private checkride years ago all the way to the paved airport. Definitely remember it and it was more challenging than I thought since we had always powered up around 500 feet in practice. Well worth the practice.

[@Denise-l4s]

10 for 10 😊🛩. Jason....I am definitely committed to practicing a power off landing from altitude to the ground. My Instructor is the best and has made me practice this every single day that we have been flying for the last 2 weeks. Getting better, but not there quite yet. Still working on it. THANK YOU for your videos.

[@grillmaster264]

Ironically, the example you used today happened to be in real life. I had an actual engine failure at 3500 feet. I was right over an airport and greased the landing. It was the second best landing of my life. 🍺🍺

[@derekmathews9159]

10 for 10…..Jason, I commit to practicing my POL all the way down and will even practice at our local grass field.

[@Fiftyx60]

10 for 10. I commit to practice a power-off landing this year!

[@jiteanomi4092]

I'm 10/10... great lesson today.

[@montywhitman5159]

10/10 so far so good! Never actually practiced from altitude through a complete landing…..3 miles out aye? Roger that!

[@PilotDiggerdavid]

And yes I have and have read your Mastery Book! You gave me an autographed one at Oshkosh last year!

[@frankdaniels8077]

10 for 10! My old CFI would sometimes have me flying along to our home airport, and tell me to remain at our altitude. He would then kill the engine, and say "land it." I would do just that, and learning how to make all of the necessary adjustments to make it happen was excellent training. Just last Sunday, I was doing an FAA wings flight with him and we practiced broken throttle cable landings. I had never attempted that before so it was an excellent training exercise.

[@FredGraber]

10 for 10 here. I have done a power off landing from 4500 ft. 7 miles from the airport. I made it back with vey little altitude to spare. It is very different from adding power back in at 550. I would highly recommend everyone to try this. It wouldn't hurt to do it with a CFI the first time or two.