PA-34-200 Seneca I
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 140; Flight Crew Total 4090; Flight Crew Type 38
Training / Qualification; Workload; Time Pressure; Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Inflight Shutdown; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Declared Emergency
Human Factors; Procedure
I flew a Piper Seneca (PA-34) on a '10 night landing' requirement flight to a nearby airport last night. My fellow instructors knew my concern about how labor intensive it is. I had flown an earlier flight in the day to ensure that I was familiar with the airport before I launched at night in the Seneca. I was in the process of completing the pre-flight when the student showed up. I JUST HAD TO LOOK THE AIRCRAFT OVER WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB MYSELF. I briefed him on the expectations. Told him I would handle the communications and navigation - he just had to worry about flying. All was uneventful; we launched. After 8 patterns [ALL FULL STOPS/TAXI BACK] I saw the wear on my student so I decided; hey 'my flight controls; I will fly number 9. Take a break;' just to give him a little rest/recovery. No problems. All was uneventful; BUT I NEVER LOST MY VIGILANCE [OR SO I THOUGHT]. After every landing I took control of the aircraft on rollout and waited till clear of the runway and stated 'flaps identified/verified; flaps up;' just out of habit so that I don't inadvertently raise the landing gear. I have my students do the same. I do a similar thing on the down wind; I call 'abeam the Tower; gear down.' However; the gear was NOT going to be the issue this night. So; we did our Before Takeoff Checklist and were cleared for our 10th and final pattern. It was nearly of last pattern; forever!! My student rotated [and as I always do;] my left hand is behind all the levers on the control quadrant; just in case something goes awry!!! We had brought the gear up on the upwind and just as we cracked/were about to turn left for the downwind. I felt a surge. I immediately said 'I have the controls!!!' Smashed everything in the quadrant and lowered the nose; calling 'what's my airspeed?' [Couldn't read it from my side at night - it was not lit properly]. As I struggled to maintain control he read me my speed. I only had time to say 'Tower we have a problem/emergency'; that was it!! By the time I swept the fuel selectors and verified the gear/flaps I knew we were in dire trouble.' A left turn with the left engine out. I managed to hold airspeed but could feel I was descending. I might have shaved some hangars/buildings; all the time I was calling 'what's my airspeed?!' To my students credit he was able to read it to me. I recall hearing '95'. It was a VERY TIGHT downwind on 16L now. [The runway in use were XXL/R] I made the base turn early because altitude was becoming an issue. Result; I overshot XXL. I quickly said 'Tower I need XXR' [don't remember him saying anything]. But then as I struggled to line up on XXR I made the CARDINAL SIN!! I GOT SLOW; the aircraft was now over banking into the dead engine [Vmc?] and I saw the signs of rollover. I immediately reduced the power on the operating engine but had now rolled in between the runways! Somehow at the last second I managed to make it back onto XXL [NOT LINED UP STRAIGHT BUT RATHER DIAGONALLY TO THE C/L]; landed firmly but then just couldn't quite hang on. I went left off the runway for a few seconds then back onto XXL. I survived; my student was elated slapping me on the back. I had different thoughts. What on earth just happened!! As I taxied south on XXL I looked around the cockpit looking for signs of why the engine failed. I looked over on the students' side. YEP; I thought I saw the culprit. I believe that what may have happened was that it was not the landing lights that were turned off on the upwind [on the Climb Checklist]! It appeared the wrong switches were inadvertently turned off!! Landing lights are directly below the MAGs on the [student's left side panel]. I taxied on the (1) engine to the ramp and was told to call the Tower. The crash/fire guys had reacted amazingly quick - they were there immediately!! I saw them rolling as I myself 'rolled' final.I shut down on the ramp; went outside and did a walk around with my flashlight checking the wheel wells engines forany damage. I saw no evidence of any damage; nothing. Having ascertained the cause of the engine failure; I restarted and made the return trip home. I don't know why; I never felt any panic at the time. But the adrenaline has now worn off; my legs were shaking as I walked the steps into my home. We were very; very lucky. I always know I am the pilot in command and I take full responsibility for what happened! In retrospect; I should have said '8 [patterns] is enough - lets go home.' On every climbout once the gear was raised I kept stressing 'airspeed 105 [min]. That precious MPH was vital. They say it takes the average person 8 seconds to react and get over the 'oh sh!+; this is not happening to me' factor. I was very fortunate that I lowered the nose almost immediately. If I had waited any longer than I did; I just don't know. If I had to travel another 200 feet on the upwind or extended the downwind by that much? Only the big guy knows. My student is concerned; he doesn't think he turned the MAGs off. All I know is that as we taxied on the runway back to the ramp I noticed the MAGs on the left engine were in the off position. That is all I can say with some degree on certainty. Again; my responsibility as PIC to see everything and I failed to catch it; my fault! My failures: In retrospect; when I noticed the post lamp on the airspeed indicator was the only post lamp that was real dim [to nonexistent] during preflight I merely commented 'of all the indicators. Ain't that something!' I decided to just 'make-do' with our overhead red dome light. Having 'smashed the controls in the quadrant'; the subsequent time it took for me to 'sweep/check for secondary's' [as to what happened] was a few seconds too long; should NEVER have spent a moment on that. I never feathered the inoperative engine and it became a 'barn door'. I should have attempted a COMPLETE shutdown of BOTH engines just prior to touchdown [or potential impact] and secured the fuel shutoff valves to prevent a possible post crash fire. To maintain the proper approach speed the last couple hundred feet to the runway. I got slow [a result of the hard turn to final] and it was nearly very costly. I shut down and checked the aircraft for any damage and saw none. Nothing. Having realized why the engine had died I decided to return home. However when I returned home I saw where I had indeed scraped the underside of the left wing and damaged the trailing edge of the left wing. Can't say for sure what my altitude on downwind was and when I made base/final turns. Can't really remember if/what the Tower clearance was. I will recommend getting the tapes so everyone can listen/learn from it. I just know I was lucky tonight. Biggest concern is that I unknowingly flew a damaged aircraft home? I checked it for damage but failed to see the left wing tip scrapes/damage. Had I seen it; I would have left the aircraft in place.
Yesterday I flew Seneca (PA-34) for training commercial lessons which need 10 landings in the night. As the last pattern work; the emergency occurred. The left engine failed after takeoff on upwind. My instructor got the fly control immediately. The aircraft banked to left seriously and was hard to maintain altitude; so we declared an emergency to Tower. Because of airspeed indicator lights were dim; the cockpit was dark. My instructor was having difficulties reading the flight instruments. So I need always report airspeed to my instructor; and also need monitor some instrument. We wanted to do a short approach at 16R; but cause of losing altitude it's hard to do that; we requested to change to 16L. As losing left engine; we could not maintain landing on the centerline; after landing the aircraft rushed out of the runway a little.
After takeoff on a night training flight; a fatigued PA-34 commercial student turned the left magneto OFF instead of turning the landing light OFF. The instructor; not knowing the engine failure cause; assumed control but failed to feather the engine and; unable to climb or accelerate; had great difficulty controlling the aircraft. The left flap and wing tip were damaged during landing which was followed by a brief runway excursion.