Duchess 76
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100; Flight Crew Total 508
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Ground Excursion Runway
Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control
Human Factors
I was providing instruction to a student towards a multi engine commercial rating. The student is a very experienced pilot; 1200 hours; that flies multi engine aircraft professionally in Africa.I gave her an engine failure prior to rotation with the mixture; in accordance with standard procedures. I failed the left engine with the mixture immediately upon the student releasing the brakes. As happens; the aircraft started veering to the left. The student; instead of responding appropriately by reducing the throttles to idle and stopping straight ahead; locked her right arm on the throttles in the full open position; and locked her feet in the neutral rudder position. This left me with very few options. I immediately closed the mixture to the good engine; and continued attempting to overpower the student. The aircraft departed the runway to the left. When this happened; the student let go of all controls. I was able to kick the right rudder hard and turn the plane about 90 degrees to the right. The airplane slid sideways for about 50 feet before coming to a stop. The aircraft was on about a 45 degree incline. There was no prop damage; no landing gear damage; and no other damage noticed on the aircraft. We utilized a heavy wrecker service to wench the airplane up the hill and towed it to the ramp where it was thoroughly inspected by an A&P.Once I had a chance to debrief the student she responded by stating that in South Africa simulated emergencies are practiced in a simulator and not actually in an aircraft. She stated that once she realized there was an issue with one of the engines she didn't react accordingly and before she knew it the plane had veered off the runway at which time she released the controls to me. I know as an instructor that we practice real world emergencies in an effort to prepare the student to know how to react with all hopes of being able to rectify the problem or land the plane safely. In this situation the student froze and I even though I tried to pull the throttles back to idle with the students arm locked I was unable to. Failing an engine on a multi engine aircraft prior to Vr is a very dangerous maneuver. Flight training is dangerous! As instructors; we have to assume that all of our students are going to try to kill us. We have to be physically and mentally prepared at all times to step in and 'save the day'. We need to anticipate their actions and constantly be thinking about the 'if this happens; I'll respond in this manner.' Our responses will either save the day or get us killed. In this situation I did what I had been trained to do and I feel that if I had not reacted the outcome would have been much worse.
A BE76 flight instructor reported a runway excursion when the student did not react appropriately to a simulated engine failure during takeoff.