Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffAxel
My 1977 P337 had a full fuel (888lbs) payload of 400lbs. It had full deice, intercoolers and air conditioning. The plane simply couldn't carry enough on long trips, so that is why I sold it. My P210 has known icing, an intercooler, dual alternators, dual vacuum pumps, air conditioning and weather radar and its full fuel payload is 750lbs. It is only about 5 kts slower than my P337 (both at 65% power) and can climb faster due to better cooling. Don't get me wrong, I loved that P337, but a P210 will do more for less if you have a lot of stuff to haul a long way.
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In my entire 40 years of flying I have only shut down one engine for cause, but every time I fly over the Sierras, Rockies, at night or in real IFR, I can't help but think about what would happen if I lost the only engine I have. I realize that the accident stats on twin piston aircraft, including the skymaster, are not better than singles but I want to believe that my piloting experience is not typical of the pilots killing themselves in complex twins. I have fown many thousands of hours in everything from cessna 150s to supersonic fighters and B-52s. I recently saw the stats on accidents in Aero Albatros jet trainers in civilian hands. The accident rate was very high for pilots with no military time but was actually zero for ex USAF, Navy, Marine fixed wing pilots. It would seem that the diciplined and constant training in the military was uniquely benificial, for low performance jets at least. Maybe I am deluding myself but I hope that my experience significantly decreases the likelyhood that the remaining engine will simply carry me to the crash site.
By the way that one engine that I ever needed to shut down was in my Slymaster. I had a broken steel fuel injection line on the rear engine. I actually didn't know what had happened, I just saw a massive increase in fuel flow to the rear engine. It was actually my wife who said "why don't you just shut it down", so I did. When I finally landed and checked the engine I could see that fuel had been spewing from a completely severed (as in snapped in two) stainly steel injector line. I may have been seconds away from a major fire on that engine and there was no way I would have seen it or known about it unless it was night time and there were clouds to reflect the light from the fire. I guess I'll get some sort of fire warning system on my next Skymaster (maybe a camera in the engine compartment?) By the way the single engine return to the airport and landing was a complet non-event, like flying a big Cessna single.