Single Engine Taxi

[skymstr02]

Just think of this--the only cooling air going to the rear engine comes in thru the scoop on top of the cabin. The only way that air flows into that is to be pushed by the front prop, or air/ground speed. The rear prop doesn't suck enough air to flow around the cylinder cooling fins. You could be damaging the engine by localized heating that is not read on instruments on the panel.

Taxiing in with the front engine running is no more dangerous than taxiing in in a 182 or a 210.

[Dale Campbell]

I fly from a short and somewhat dirty field. The runway is paved but nothing else is paved. I start both engines on my concrete pad in front of hanger that I know is clean. I sit there until the engines get into the green. I then put the front engine at idle and use the rear engine to power me to the runway. I do my run up where the runway is clean. After landing I shut down front engine as I leave the paved runway to taxi back to hanger, so front engine does not kick up dirt and drive it into rear prop.

[John Hoffman]

That was my thought re. shuting/or idiling the front engine. Being able to taxi with that rear engine mounted up high is just another Skymaster standard benefit.

[stackj]

We tend to taxi out on the front engine only if we expect a long delay.

We arrive (to the line person) using only the rear engine. This is a short run on the rear only and is for the protection of thr line person. (Oh, by the way... they sometimes look at you a little funny when you shut it down a long ways away from them. We have had the lineman turn around and walk away--- then suddenly realize that you are still moving - and without a front prop turning)

[Ernie Martin]

Jim's tale of the lineman reminds me of two about the Skymaster. Both happened in the Bahamas, on remote islands.

Landing at one airport, where a landing fee applied only to twins, the collector looked out at the aircraft and asked "What's that a single or a twin?" and I said (with a straight face) "It's a single -- the one in the back is a spare."

On another trip, the lineman asked "How come one engine facing one way and the other facing the other way?" and because of the way the question was posed I couldn't pass up this answer: "I use the front when going East, the back when going West."

Ernie

[jchronic]

Thanks for the responses, gentlemen. I couldn't imagine why there would be a problem, but when I found this forum, nothing like asking those with more experience. In addition to taxi-out/taxi-in, we do a fair amount of ground repostioning with our survey airplane, taxiing hangar to terminal to pick up our scientist crew in the morning and vice-versa after the mission. Seemed unnecessarily cumbersome to start both engines for that.

[Roger]

I taxi around a bit on the rear to get from the fuel depot to the hanger, etc.. Overheating hasn't ever been much of a problem. That being said, the one thing I always do is shut off my avionics master before I start/re-start the 2nd engine, just to prevent a power surge from frying something. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

It is a bit of a pain because all the radios, gps's etc.. have to come back on line