Video of 337H engine out test

[Jerry De Santis]

Hi Dale,

Yes, I read all those reports but like I said, she had better lawyers. They made the case revolve totally around engine performance and not the pilot's decision making process. Example, she was 10 miles from the airport she wanted to go back to. She was losing about 250 feet per minute. She was flying at blue line (about 102 mph) and she was at 3000 feet. You do the math. If she were to request direct back to airport, it will take about 3 minutes. That will be a total loss of 750 feet. Lots of alt left to land safely. You know as well as I do, it doesn't matter who was right or wrong, trial by jury is a contest between attorneys and has nothing to do about truth.

I knew the skymaster will stay flying...in my flying experience I had to shut one engine off on five different trips. Each time telling the control tower I want direct to airport any runway.....why, when a skymaster is flying on only one engine, you are in a single engine aircraft with a bad glide ratio. What I don't understand is why are so many pilots so reluctant to declare an emergency.

[Roger]

This reminds me of the case several years ago when a commercial airliner hit a bridge due to icing because the pilots didn't use full power when needed. They had been trained to never use full power because it shortened engine life. Since then I believe all ATP's have been retrained to use "all power when necessary" without regard to engine life.

Apparently she didn't get the memo.

[Dale Campbell]

On the head temperatures. The day was 55 degree F when I did my test flight and the temp stayed close to normal. Look at video again and you can see on the right side of my panel. The temp on head and exhaust on instrument is normal. I have 12 probes on each engine.
My flight instructor was a witness for defence and used my video for demo. From what he said, when engine failed they did not use full power on good engine. They also circled before heading back to departure airport which was many miles away. They did not head to the nearest airport that was 10 miles away. The proof was in the radar that was tracking them. He showed me the radar printout. They also changed their store on the feathering of prop and weather the cowl flaps were left open on rear engine that had failed. When I did my testing at near gross at 6000 ft, I did not have the advantage of tubo charger. I was lucky if I could get more than 23 inches of manifold pressure. I could still keep airspeed at or above 100 knots and also climb. The 337 is still one of the safest aircraft today. You just need to fly it right and use your head. I was taught, if 1 engine fails, do not pause. Just push both throttles to fire wall. Then do not rush, take your time and determine which engine is failing by looking at fuel flow and temperature gauges. Then if you see tach is about the same, and it will be because the dead engine will windmill almost as fast as good engine. Slowly pull the throttle on the engine you think is dead to make sure you choose the right throttle. Then if you are right try the boost pumps on that engine and make sure you are on the right tank and you have fuel. If you can not get it back to life then again make sure you have the correct prop control and proceed to feather prop slowly. Next declare an emergancy with ATC and get help to the nearest airport. Do all that right and you will walk away to fly your 337 again. That crash was not the fault of the mechanic. Most pilots will agree, it was poor judgement of the pilot in command.