← Train

Private pilot · ACS PA.IX.F · lesson pack

Engine Failure After Liftoff (Simulated)

This lesson is written for multi-engine land or multi-engine sea. You picked single-engine land: speeds, altitudes and procedures differ, so follow your POH/AFM and your instructor.

Why this one matters

An engine failure just after liftoff is the most dangerous moment in a light twin: low, slow, heavy, and with most of the climb performance gone. Pilots die trying to climb when the airplane can't, or letting the speed decay below VMC. A briefed plan, disciplined blue line, and the willingness to reduce power or land ahead make it survivable.

1 · Know these cold

  • •First control: prompt rudder against the yaw and bank toward the operating engine (5-10° at first to stop the turn, then about 2-3° with the ball one-third to one-half out toward it). Then pitch for blue line, or VXSE or VMC + 5, whichever is greater, until clear of obstacles.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes; Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), PA.IX.F.S2, S5)
  • •If full rudder and bank toward the operating engine can't stop the yaw, you are below your real VMC: reduce power on the operating engine and lower the nose until control returns, even if it means landing ahead.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • •With the gear still down and runway or overrun ahead, close both throttles and land straight ahead. Gear and flaps come up only once you are committed to continue.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • •The airborne flow, as the POH gives it: control first (rudder, bank toward the operating engine), pitch for blue line; mixtures, propellers, throttles forward; gear and flaps up once you are committed to fly; identify ("dead foot, dead engine"); verify; feather; then secure by the checklist.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes; Your airplane's POH/AFM)
  • •If it won't climb at blue line, hold blue line and land: climb straight ahead or with shallow turns to at least 400 feet AGL before any return, or land at the most suitable place ahead.(Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), PA.IX.F.S7; Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • •Training floor: no intentional engine failure below VSSE, and none after takeoff below 400 feet AGL. Below 3,000 feet AGL a failure is simulated only by smoothly reducing the throttle. A real shutdown and feather is done only where a landing on an established airport can readily be made. Failures at 20 or 200 feet are briefed and discussed, never flown.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes; FAA-P-8740-66, Flying Light Twins Safely; Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), Appendix 2)
  • •Private pilot standard: heading ±10°, airspeed ±5 knots.(Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), PA.IX.F.S9)

2 · The lesson

VMC and speeds
  • Published VMC (the red line) is the slowest speed at which you can keep control with the critical engine suddenly inoperative, then hold straight flight with no more than 5° of bank. It is set under fixed conditions: sea-level standard day; maximum takeoff power on the operating engine; the critical engine windmilling with its propeller control in the takeoff position; the most unfavorable weight (the lightest) and the most unfavorable (aft) center of gravity; gear up; wing and cowl flaps and trim in the takeoff position; out of ground effect; no more than 5° of bank toward the operating engine; heading held within 20° with no more than 150 pounds of rudder force.(14 CFR 23.149 (now 23.2135); Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • Your real VMC differs whenever the conditions do. It goes up with a windmilling propeller (feathering lowers it), an aft CG, lighter weight, more power on the operating engine, and less bank toward it. It goes down with less power (a normally aspirated engine at altitude; a turbocharged one only above its critical altitude), gear extended (keel effect), and ground effect.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • Bank matters most: VMC rises more than 3 knots for each degree of bank less than 5°, and with the wings level control can be lost almost 20 knots above the published red line. Up to 5° toward the operating engine is the certification number, not the way you fly.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • The critical engine is the one whose failure is hardest to control: on twins with both propellers turning clockwise (seen from behind), the left, because of P-factor, accelerated slipstream, spiraling slipstream and torque. Twins with counter-rotating propellers (a Seminole or a Duchess) have no critical engine.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • VMC (red line): minimum control speed. VYSE (blue line): best rate of climb, or least loss, on one engine. VXSE: best angle on one engine. VSSE: safe single-engine speed, the slowest at which an engine may be intentionally failed in training.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
Distances and performance
  • Accelerate-stop: accelerate to a specified speed, lose an engine, and stop. Accelerate-go: accelerate, lose an engine at that speed, and continue to 50 feet on the other. Many light twins publish only accelerate-stop, as advisory data; check both at today's weight and density altitude.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes; Your airplane's POH/AFM)
  • Losing one engine costs half the power but 80-90% of the climb performance. Many light twins can't climb on one engine, and some can't hold altitude, at gross weight on a hot day or at a high field.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • Single-engine service ceiling: where the airplane climbs only 50 feet per minute at VYSE. Absolute ceiling: where it can't climb at all. Above the absolute ceiling it drifts down at VYSE and levels off there; between the two it still climbs, just slowly.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
Identify, feather and secure
  • The airborne flow, as the POH gives it: control first (rudder, bank toward the operating engine), pitch for blue line; mixtures, propellers, throttles forward; gear and flaps up once you are committed to fly; identify ("dead foot, dead engine"); verify; feather; then secure by the checklist.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes; Your airplane's POH/AFM)
  • Verify by slowly closing the throttle of the engine you identified: no change in yaw or sound confirms it. If the yaw gets worse or the airplane loses power, that is the good engine: advance it at once and identify again. An engine still making useful power can be left running until you have altitude and speed.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • Secure the dead engine by the checklist (mixture idle cutoff, fuel off, magnetos and alternator off, cowl flap closed), then monitor the operating engine's temperatures and the electrical load on its single alternator.(Your airplane's POH/AFM)
  • Zero sideslip, the least drag on one engine: bank about 2-3° toward the operating engine with the ball one-third to one-half out toward it, and rudder to hold heading. A centered ball with the wings level is a sideslip that costs climb and raises VMC.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • In a simulated failure you touch and name the propeller control instead of feathering; the instructor or evaluator then sets zero thrust, a power setting that matches a feathered propeller's drag, and is responsible for restoring power if it's needed.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • Training floor: no intentional engine failure below VSSE, and none after takeoff below 400 feet AGL. Below 3,000 feet AGL a failure is simulated only by smoothly reducing the throttle. A real shutdown and feather is done only where a landing on an established airport can readily be made. Failures at 20 or 200 feet are briefed and discussed, never flown.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes; FAA-P-8740-66, Flying Light Twins Safely; Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), Appendix 2)
Flying it
  • Brief before takeoff: "Failure with runway ahead: close both throttles and land. Gear up and climbing: control, blue line, power, clean up, identify, verify, feather, then return or land. Not climbing: land ahead."(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • Retract the gear and flaps by the POH once you are committed to continue; with runway or overrun still ahead, leave the gear down and land.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes; Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), PA.IX.F.S3)
  • If full rudder and bank toward the operating engine can't stop the yaw, you are below your real VMC: reduce power on the operating engine and lower the nose until control returns, even if it means landing ahead.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • Hold blue line; don't let the airspeed decay trying to climb. VXSE is used only to clear an obstacle after takeoff, then accelerate to VYSE. The hard floor with asymmetric power is VMC (VSSE for intentional failures); a stall there can roll into a spin.(Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Multiengine Airplanes)
  • Clear the area, and keep scanning for traffic while you handle the failure.(AC 90-48, Pilots' Role in Collision Avoidance)
  • A failure is loud and startling. Fly the airplane first (control, then airspeed), then work the flow and checklists in order, and divide attention between the failure, the flight path and traffic.(Risk Management Handbook (FAA-H-8083-2A))

Want it all on one page, with scenarios? Read the full lesson.

On the flight

ACS standards

  • Recognize the failure, keep control, establish VYSE (or VXSE or VMC + 5 with obstacles), reduce drag, simulate feathering, and secure the engine.(Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), PA.IX.F.S1-S8)
  • Heading ±10°; airspeed ±5 knots; complete the checklists.(Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C), PA.IX.F.S9-S10)

What your instructor is watching for

Your instructor watches for immediate rudder and bank toward the good engine, blue line held precisely, the flow in order, the correct engine identified and verified, zero sideslip, and a sound decision about climbing or landing.

3 · Say it out loud

Answer each one out loud, then check yourself and mark how it went.

  1. Remember Recall it

    “What does "dead foot, dead engine" mean?”

  2. Understand Explain why

    “Why bank slightly toward the good engine?”

  3. Apply Use it on a flight

    “At 300 feet after takeoff the right engine quits and you're not climbing at blue line. What do you do?”

4 · Common mistakes

  • Letting the airspeed decay below blue line.

    Climb performance drops and VMC approaches.

    Instead: Blue line first.

  • Feathering the wrong engine.

    You lose all power.

    Instead: Identify, then verify, then feather.

  • Flying with the ball centered and wings level.

    Sideslip drag costs climb and raises VMC.

    Instead: Zero sideslip: bank 2-3° toward the good engine, ball partly out toward it.

  • Raising the gear with runway still ahead.

    It takes away the option to land.

    Instead: Gear up only once committed to fly.

5 · Quick check

Answer, then reveal. Flag anything you want to see again.

  1. 1. What are the checkride tolerances after an engine failure after liftoff?

  2. 2. With obstacles, what speed do you fly?

  3. 3. Roughly how much climb performance is lost with one engine out?

  4. 4. What is the single-engine service ceiling?

  5. 5. What is the lowest altitude for a simulated engine failure after takeoff in training?

  6. Scenario6. Engine failure at 200 feet, not climbing at blue line. What do you do?

Trained it? Now prove it: practice engine failure after liftoff (simulated) out loud with our examiner.

Start a practice oral on this task

Your progress is saved in this browser. Create a free account to keep it on every device, with your shaky spots and mock oral results in one place.

Teaching this? The instructor lesson plan →

Study aid, not FAA guidance. Sources: Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C); Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B); Risk Management Handbook (FAA-H-8083-2A); Private Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-6C); Your airplane's POH/AFM; FAA-P-8740-66, Flying Light Twins Safely. Checked against current sources 2026-11-13.