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Two engine planes don't have problems flying on 1 engine. Adding an engine is the best safety feature the plane can have. Multi-engine pilots often joke that yo

Two engine planes don't have problems flying on 1 engine. Adding an engine is the best safety feature the plane can have. Multi-engine pilots often joke that you pay for both engines when you train, but you only use one, since during training, the instructors constantly shut one down. By that point, you've already got at least a single engine land certificate, so the only thing they're training you for is that when an engine cuts out, instead of gliding to the nearest field/strip, you fly there a little crooked under power.

mikeash 13y ago
There are lots of problems flying two-engined planes on one engine. Asymmetric thrust makes flying the plane tricky. Significantly reduced thrust greatly reduces performance. Managing the engines becomes more complex since you might not treat them the same anymore (especially if one is on fire). In small multi-engine planes where single-engine flight is marginal, the safety advantage is terribly clear. You have a better chance if an engine fails, but you also have a lot more failures. It's less of a problem in large airliners, where the margins are higher and the training more thorough. The safety advantage is clear enough that all large airliners have at least two engines. Still, there are accidents that stem from a single failed engine on a multi-engine airliner: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegworth_air_disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegworth_air_disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_191 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_191 http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20060614/NEWS/60614001/ http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20060614/NEWS/60614001... That last one is not technically an airliner, but it's the same basic category, and I think it's a particularly interesting example as they had four engines, but managed to screw things up badly enough after losing just one to crash anyway.
- evacuationdrill 13y ago
  Oh, I realize how weird it is to fly on only one engine. I'm not rated for multi, but I've had some training.

mikeash 13y ago

There are lots of problems flying two-engined planes on one engine. Asymmetric thrust makes flying the plane tricky. Significantly reduced thrust greatly reduces performance. Managing the engines becomes more complex since you might not treat them the same anymore (especially if one is on fire). In small multi-engine planes where single-engine flight is marginal, the safety advantage is terribly clear. You have a better chance if an engine fails, but you also have a lot more failures. It's less of a problem in large airliners, where the margins are higher and the training more thorough. The safety advantage is clear enough that all large airliners have at least two engines. Still, there are accidents that stem from a single failed engine on a multi-engine airliner: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegworth_air_disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegworth_air_disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_191 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_191 http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20060614/NEWS/60614001/ http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20060614/NEWS/60614001... That last one is not technically an airliner, but it's the same basic category, and I think it's a particularly interesting example as they had four engines, but managed to screw things up badly enough after losing just one to crash anyway.

evacuationdrill 13y ago
Oh, I realize how weird it is to fly on only one engine. I'm not rated for multi, but I've had some training.