Top five common errors

Most people love the new speed and complexity that come with stepping up to a larger airplane. However, because things are no longer quite so simple, many applicants struggle on this checkride. Here are the problem areas:

1. Lack of understanding of multiengine aerodynamics
   In other words, how does the airplane behave when one engine fails? The main concepts here are VMC, or minimum controllable airspeed on one engine, and the term “critical engine,” or the engine whose failure most adversely affects aircraft handling and performance. If you can explain those two, along with having a good understanding of systems and performance charts, you should be well on your way to passing this portion of the checkride.
2. Not familiar with aircraft procedures
   On your private pilot checkride, did you use a checklist to remind you to use full flaps for a power-off stall? Of course not. You were too busy staying heads-up and managing the aircraft. Multiengine maneuvers should be just as well ingrained by checkride day. This aircraft has more power and speed than a typical single. So, any period of inattention will mean larger deviations from altitude and course. Also, when an engine fails, you need to be able to do the immediate action items in your sleep. If there were ever an aircraft to chair-fly, this is the one.
3. Poor airspeed control
   For most checkrides, you can make a mistake and the examiner can give you time to correct your error. However, slowing below VMC speed during an engine failure may lead to a nearly unrecoverable rollover. So, when you experience an engine failure in a twin (either in real life or on the checkride), and more and more rudder is required to hold your heading as you pitch up to maintain altitude, know that you are headed for the Tower of Terror (my favorite ride at Disney, not my favorite in an airplane). You need more airspeed! Make sure the gear and flaps are retracted and you have full power on the operating engine. If you still cannot maintain the safe single-engine climb speed, lower the nose and accept an altitude loss rather than loss of directional control.
4. Instrument skills
   It may have been a while since you did your instrument training. However, a single-engine instrument approach is a required task on most multiengine checkrides. Hands down, this is the busiest part of the ride. You are flying an instrument approach, dealing with an engine failure, talking to ATC, and preparing for a single-engine landing. So, make sure you are proficient with instrument skills and that you are familiar with the avionics/GPS on your particular airplane.
5. Forgetting to retract the landing gear
   Yes, you read that right. It’s no joke, this is the single most common reason an applicant is not successful on his or her multiengine checkride. Here’s the typical scenario. Multiengine checkrides take place at a higher altitude for safety, somewhere in the vicinity of 5,000 agl. So, you have completed all the maneuvers, and now it’s time to descend to shoot the required instrument approach and single-engine landing. Seems like a good time for the emergency descent, right? For most light twin checklists, that includes bringing the power to idle and dropping the gear. When we get to the predetermined recovery altitude, the checklist says to simply add the power back in and retract the gear…except for some reason (I suspect they’re already thinking ahead to the instrument approach), many applicants forget that they still have three large drag-producing devices hanging out in the wind. When we experience an engine failure on that instrument approach and the busy pilot forgets the gear is still down, airspeed quickly degrades. Before we know it, we’re flirting with loss of directional control. Please remember to retract the gear after an emergency descent.

Now that you know some of the specific reasons the task saturated applicant struggles on the multiengine checkride, hopefully you can avoid the same mistakes. But take heart, no matter which checkride it is, nobody expects you to be perfect. The FAA standard calls for a competent pilot who notices their own mistakes and makes a prompt correction. That’s something we can all strive for—to be self-aware pilots who get safer each time we fly. FT