Engine out during takeoff. Best practice?

[Gyronaut Jones]

Hey guys I haven't started training yet but have been going through online work via the Gyropedia. I've been up in a Gyro twice and as a newbie a part of flying that is concerning is engine failure especially during takeoff.

I'd like pose a hypothetical scenario: You begin the initial climb out and around 75ft-100ft your engine dies. Let's assume you have infinite amount of runway ahead of you. What do you do in that limited amount of time?

What is the closest to the ground you can be where an engine out isn't as dire? (Again assuming infinite runway)

 

[bugflyer]

Hey guys I haven't started training yet but have been going through online work via the Gyropedia. I've been up in a Gyro twice and as a newbie a part of flying that is concerning is engine failure especially during takeoff.

I'd like pose a hypothetical scenario: You begin the initial climb out and around 75ft-100ft your engine dies. Let's assume you have infinite amount of runway ahead of you. What do you do in that limited amount of time?

What is the closest to the ground you can be where an engine out isn't as dire? (Again assuming infinite runway)

Just land.
smiles,
Charles

 

[Gyronaut Jones]

Just land.
smiles,
Charles

Simple enough! Lol

 

[rcflier]

Since you climb out at the same speed (ca. 65 miles) as your final,
you'll be in a fine position to make a perfect landing ahead.

You'll practice it in training. And keep on doing it afterwards.

Cheers
Erik

 

[TyroGyro]

Get the nose down!

 

[wolfy]

Airspeed is king, anytime your below about 200' keep your airspeed up above about 50. So including takeoff.
If you have airspeed you have the best shot at a successful landing.

 

[Gyronaut Jones]

Since you climb out at the same speed (ca. 65 miles) as your final,
you'll be in a fine position to make a perfect landing ahead.

You'll practice it in training. And keep on doing it afterwards.

Cheers
Erik

That's a great point!

 

[loftus]

The advice here is not really different to what one learns in FW flight training, nose down for best glide speed. Fortunately the gyro gives you a significantly better buffer against a stall, so even if you did not have unlimited runway, you would have a better chance of a successful landing at a much lower airspeed in a gyro than a fixed wing. Gyros don't stall, but they do come down hard when airspeed is too slow or one is behind the power curve.

 

[Doug Riley]

So the way to have a non-event when your engine quits on takeoff is to delay climbing out above a foot or two until you have 45-50 or more mph of airspeed. With that speed, if things get quiet, you simply move the stick forward as needed to hold that same speed and coast on in. Move the stick back again when the ground is a couple feet away, flare and set down.

 

[Gyronaut Jones]

So the way to have a non-event when your engine quits on takeoff is to delay climbing out above a foot or two until you have 45-50 or more mph of airspeed. With that speed, if things get quiet, you simply move the stick forward as needed to hold that same speed and coast on in. Move the stick back again when the ground is a couple feet away, flare and set down.

That makes completely sense and brings it into perspective. Thank you

 

[WaspAir]

At some point in your training you should encounter an H-V diagram, which has height on one axis and speed on the other. For rotorcraft, there will be a shaded "avoid" area that shows combinations of speed and altitude that do not provide enough energy (considering combined kinetic energy from speed and potential energy from height, plus stored energy in the spinning rotor) to make a safe landing if the engine suddenly quits. Taking your 75 foot example, if you are at 70 knots when the engine fails at 75 feet, a landing probably won't be a problem, but if you are at only 25 knots at that height, it might be a very different story. The exact values will vary from one model to another, but the general shape of the graph will look similar. If you fly low, you will want speed, while flying slowly you will want height.

The speed advice you have been getting will result in a climb profile to keep you out of that "avoid" area.

 

[WaspAir]

 

[Gyronaut Jones]

At some point in your training you should encounter an H-V diagram, which has height on one axis and speed on the other. For rotorcraft, there will be a shaded "avoid" area that shows combinations of speed and altitude that do not provide enough energy (considering combined kinetic energy from speed and potential energy from height, plus stored energy in the spinning rotor) to make a safe landing if the engine suddenly quits. Taking your 75 foot example, if you are at 70 knots when the engine fails at 75 feet, a landing probably won't be a problem, but if you are at only 25 knots at that height, it might be a very different story. The exact values will vary from one model to another, but the general shape of the graph will look similar. If you fly low, you will want speed, while flying slowly you will want height.

The speed advice you have been getting will result in a climb profile to keep you out of that "avoid" area.

Great info, thank you!

 

[GyrOZprey]

I routinely practice pulling my throttle to idle - at various heights on climb-out (when at airports with nice long runways) - as did my primary CFI to me in the last flights before solo and also on flight reviews! This is to condition the reflex of getting that nose down quickly & setting up 55kt approach speed.
The beauty about gyros is how little space ahead one needs to make that landing ! Do this regularly from different heights and you will get good-"eye" for how much space you need to make the landing in the area ahead.

As many here have re-iterated - make sure you have an optimal climb-out speed & not flogging it up on power alone- behind the power-curve!