UNCONTROLLED FLIGHT INTO TERRAIN: LOSS OF THRUST ON TAKEOFF
The NTSB refers to these accidents as LOC-I or loss of control, Inflight. One of the highest category fatal accidents for all of General Aviation is LOTOT. In this scenario the primary power plant fails during takeoff when the aircraft is lowest to the ground, and the pilot is least prepared for it.
The airplane may be climbing slightly steeper at Vx for obstacle purposes or closer to Vy as normal. The sudden shock of the sudden loss of thrust has been proven to cause pilots to unconsciously pull aft on the yoke or stick during the brief time of confusion.
The aircraft typically has between 2 and 8 seconds before the wings stall and the aircraft departs controlled flight.
Traditional FAA stall recovery is always practiced up high, and is always recovered through use of both pitch and power.
In this real-life scenario, the pilot is expected to make a stall recovery without the use of any power, a maneuver that has never been taught or checked by FAA at any time for single engine planes.
The aircraft typically turns left and pitches as much as 80 degrees nose down and impacts nearly vertical.
The LOTOT accident scenes are often obvious due to witness reports of engine failure sounds, the resulting near vertical flight profile, and the entire resting wreckage being located just to the left side of the runway (not always) and inside of a very tight circle.
More than 80% of these crashes involve an impact explosion or a post impact fire that makes survival completely impossible.
SOLUTION:
This one is important! Get with your best CFI and practice this up high. Go through dozens of repetitions where you lower the nose based on when you hear the engine pitch change.
This is called conditioning.
You are conditioning your own reflexes! Learn to associate an immediate body reaction that correlates to the sound and feel of an engine losing RPM.
Prior to every takeoff, brief the departure in terms of an RTO as well as LOTOT.
Be expecting the engine to quit soon after takeoff and be ready to PUSH to obtain a best glide deck angle.
If your ASI is placarded with a DMMS speed, try to adjust pitch for DMMS at a minimum after the failure.
You can also practice simulated ones closer to ground if you are sure of suitable landing areas if anything goes wrong. It is often very helpful to try these with throttle only around 400 feet AGL after takeoff, but this practice is solely at the discretion of the instructor.
In real life, you have only a few seconds to push during an engine failure immediately after takeoff.
Additional Videos:
SAMPLE ACCIDENT REPORT: #1
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: The pilot's inadequate fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation during the initial climb, and his failure to maintain adequate airspeed while turning back to the runway, which resulted in an exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall. Accident Number: ERA18FA152.
SAMPLE ACCIDENT REPORT: #2
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: An in-flight fire and total loss of engine power after takeoff due to a loose fuel line. Contributing to the accident was the installation of an unapproved fuel line by unknown personnel. Accident Number: ERA18FA138.
SAMPLE ACCIDENT REPORT: #3
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: A total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation for reasons that could not be determined based on the available evidence. Also causal was the pilot's decision to return to the runway following the loss of engine power, and his failure to maintain airspeed during the turn, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and experiencing an aerodynamic stall/spin. NTSB Accident Number: WPR17FA152.