Pierre was trading flying stories with Alistair when Alistair started in on a particularly juicy tale: "Well, there I was rolling down the runway for take off in my Piper Twin Comanche. Suddenly, as I was approaching takeoff speed, a cow just ambled onto the runway right in front of me! I pulled back hard on the controls and got into the air, and I swear I didn't know how I didn't graze that cow's back! heh heh, "graze", no pun intended," Alistair deadpanned, elbowing Pierre jokingly.

Sensing he was losing his audience, though, Alistair quickly continued, "But that's not all! To top it off, not 5 seconds after takeoff, my left engine quit on me!" To this Pierre raised an eyebrow in interest. Alistair gestured self-assuredly as he went on, "Thankfully, I was able to use my skill and lightning reflexes to save the situation. I immediately went to full power on my right engine and pulled up the nose up to keep the plane in the air and all I had to do was make a quick turn to land on the perpendicular runway to my left," Alistair finished with great gusto.

Pierre, with an amused look on his face said, "Well, that's a great story, Alistair, but because you are sitting here, telling it, I know it didn't actually happen."

How did Pierre know?

With only one engine left, and giving it all the power he can muster out of it, the pilot would never "pull the nose up". That would cause a stall, where the climb up the air is too steep for the weak amount of power being applied and the plane would fall to the ground. Better to level out to stay in the air on the power available.

Posted by Charlie on 2022-10-06 09:00:22