Engine Failure and Fire Warning at 300 Feet on a Night Charter
A Piper Aztec departs Hosea Kutako International at 20:20 on a night charter to Gobabis with a pilot and four passengers. At 300 ft AGL, just after gear retraction, the right engine fails with heavy vibration and the right fire warning illuminates. IAS is 100 kt, Vyse 95 kt, and single-engine performance at the current 6,400 ft density altitude is marginal. The aircraft is 1.5 nm past the departure end of runway 08. ATC has cleared it to FL080 and handed it to departure; the transponder is set to 2000. Terrain east of the field is flat but unlit, with a 60 m mast 4 nm ahead. The only landing light is a nose-mounted 250 W unit. Two of the four passengers have never flown at night and one is already shouting.
1. State the first actions and reach a decision on continuing ahead, turning back, or landing off-airfield, with the numbers to support it.
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Fly the aircraft first. Control, then airspeed to 95 kt (Vyse) or slightly above; gear already up; flaps up; mixtures and props forward on the good engine; then identify the failed engine using the instruments and the dead foot, verify, and feather. Secure: mixture idle-cutoff, fuel off, cowl flaps closed, magnetos off on the failed side. The identify-and-verify step exists specifically to prevent the classic error of shutting down the good engine.
Numbers. At 300 ft AGL, 1.5 nm off the end of the runway, at 6,400 ft density altitude, a normally aspirated Aztec on one engine has little or no positive climb. A 180° return needs roughly 500–700 ft of altitude and a reversal at low speed; attempting it below that height, with a fire warning, is one of the most reliably fatal manoeuvres in light twins.
Decision. Continue straight ahead, clean up, and test whether a positive rate is achievable. Do not turn back. If no positive rate can be established within a few seconds, do not try to stretch the flight - select a landing area ahead immediately, avoiding the mast 4 nm out.
2. How does the fire warning change the decision rule, and how would you reason it through?
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A fire warning changes the rule from 'land as soon as practicable' to 'land as soon as possible' - the nearest surface, not the nearest aerodrome.
Reasoning:
- The fire may reach a spar, a fuel line or the wing in minutes; the drill cannot keep an engine fire out for long.
- The only survivable outcome is a controlled landing. The probability of a successful off-airport landing in a retractable twin at night is low - but it is not zero, whereas an uncontrolled fire close to the fuel system is near zero.
- Therefore, if the runway is still behind and altitude allows (say above 700 ft AGL with a positive rate established), a return to the departure runway is justified: it has lighting, ARFF and a known surface. Below that height, land ahead.
Communication: 'Mayday, Mayday, Mayday' with identity, nature (right engine failure, fire warning), intention and souls on board. Ambiguity costs time, and time is the scarce resource.
3. Set out how you would manage ATC, the passengers and the aircraft lighting from here to touchdown.
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ATC. Declare Mayday, set 7700, request ARFF response and the runway lighting at maximum. Ask for the shortest routing - a straight-in or a tight visual downwind - and ask them to keep other traffic clear; a go-around at night in a single-engine aircraft is not something to plan around. Give a position and intention update every minute so the response is already rolling if contact is lost.
Passengers. Two have no night experience and one is shouting, and an unrestrained, panicking passenger can upset a light twin's trim and balance at the worst moment. Brief briefly and firmly: straps tight, heads back, no movement until told to evacuate; the pilot's job is to fly and land, not to reassure at length.
Lighting. Keep the landing light off until about 300 ft. Above that height it contributes little, adds load to a system already carrying the fire and the remaining engine, and destroys the pilot's dark adaptation. Select it on short final to confirm the surface and the flare, land and stop straight ahead, then evacuate upwind of the fire.