How do you practise engine failures in a flight simulator?

Practise engine failures and other emergency procedures in a flight simulator by building a repeatable scenario, stabilising the aircraft before each run, triggering one clearly defined fault, applying the aircraft’s approved memory actions and checklist, then debriefing the result. Start at altitude, add workload gradually, and never use generic restart steps across different aircraft.

For Aviation & Real-World Flying practice, desktop simulation is strongest at rehearsing priorities, switch locations, callouts and decisions. It cannot reproduce every aerodynamic, physical or psychological effect of a genuine emergency, so use procedures for the exact aircraft and treat the simulator as a rehearsal tool rather than the authority.

A repeatable engine-failure practice method

The most effective method is to repeat one controlled failure until your response is accurate, then alter one variable at a time.

1. Choose one aircraft and procedure source. Use the checklist, pilot’s operating handbook, flight manual or quick-reference handbook appropriate to that aircraft and variant. Do not combine piston, turboprop and jet restart flows or memorise steps copied from a different model.
2. Create a safe starting point. Begin in stable cruise, in daylight and visual conditions, with generous height and suitable landing areas nearby. Trim the aircraft, synchronise physical levers with the cockpit and save the flight or situation if the simulator supports it.
3. Define the exact failure. Choose total power loss, partial power, engine fire, fuel starvation or another specific fault. State when it will occur and what indications should appear; otherwise, you cannot tell whether you diagnosed it correctly.
4. Set measurable objectives. Examples include maintaining the prescribed speed, controlling yaw, identifying the affected engine, completing the correct checklist and selecting a reachable landing area. Use aircraft-specific tolerances rather than invented universal numbers.
5. Trigger only that fault. Use the simulator’s failure controls, the aircraft’s instructor panel or a deliberate cockpit action. Keep the first runs announced and predictable; unannounced failures are for testing skills already learned.
6. Apply the priorities in order. Maintain control, establish the appropriate flight condition, diagnose and verify the fault, perform genuine memory items, then use the checklist. Navigation and communication follow as workload permits.
7. Reset and debrief. Review what the aircraft did, what you touched and whether the landing or diversion plan remained viable. Repeat the same setup before introducing weather, darkness, terrain or additional faults.

Pausing, replaying and repositioning are legitimate during a learning run. For an assessment run, remove those aids and let the scenario continue to its landing or safe conclusion.

Which engine-failure scenarios should you practise first?

Start with a cruise power loss at altitude, then progress towards failures closer to the ground or involving more complex aircraft.

• Single-engine piston aircraft: establish best glide, choose a landing area, run the restart or securing checklist and complete the forced approach.
• Partial power or rough running: practise deciding whether the engine is helping or creating extra risk. This is less obvious than a clean total failure and may require an early landing rather than repeated troubleshooting.
• Failure after take-off: add this only after the cruise exercise is consistent. Practise aircraft- and runway-specific decision boundaries; a simulator alone must not be used to justify a low-altitude turn-back manoeuvre in a real aircraft.
• Multi-engine aircraft: begin at altitude, controlling yaw and verifying the affected engine before any irreversible action. Engine-out climb capability may be poor or nonexistent, particularly when heavy, hot or high.
• Turboprops and jets: include automation changes, relight limits and secondary electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic effects only where the simulated aircraft models them properly.
• Helicopters: use the aircraft’s published autorotation technique, concentrating on prompt entry, rotor RPM and the landing profile rather than fixed-wing glide procedures.

How should you trigger failures in the simulator?

Use deterministic failure controls while learning and timed or random failures only after you can complete the procedure without prompting.

Microsoft Flight Simulator users can follow our aircraft-specific MSFS 2024 engine-failure exercise for a practical example of setting the fault, attempting a restart and flying the forced landing.

Why does the failure or restart not work?

A common problem is that the simulator, aircraft and controller are not using the same failure logic.

• If nothing happens, check whether the aircraft has its own failure or maintenance panel instead of using the simulator’s standard system.
• If both engines stop, inspect shared mixture, condition-lever, fuel-selector and cutoff bindings. Duplicate assignments across two controllers are a frequent cause.
• If an engine cannot restart, confirm that the injected failure has been cleared and that fuel, ignition, electrical power and the required starter or airflow are available. The aircraft may also be outside its published relight envelope.
• If the engine restarts by itself, disable any piloting, autostart or checklist assistance that is completing the procedure for you.
• If shutdowns occur during ordinary take-off rather than the planned exercise, troubleshoot the fuel, ignition and controller causes of unwanted engine stoppages before treating them as failures.

What should you do after a simulated engine failure?

Maintain control first, diagnose and verify second, then use the aircraft-specific memory actions and checklist.

1. Control the aircraft. Set the prescribed attitude or speed and trim it. In a multi-engine aircraft, prevent yaw and loss of directional control before troubleshooting.
2. Identify and verify. Use instruments, sound, yaw and system indications together. A cockpit mnemonic may support diagnosis, but it does not replace verification before moving a fuel control, condition lever or fire handle.
3. Perform valid memory items. Use only actions explicitly designated for that aircraft. Read the checklist once immediate actions are complete and time permits.
4. Choose restart, secure or land. Attempt a restart only when the checklist allows it and sufficient height and time remain. If continued flight is unsafe, commit to a suitable landing area; our separate guide covers forced-landing setup, approach and touchdown technique.
5. Communicate after control is secure. Make the appropriate emergency call, set the required transponder code when applicable and state your position, problem and intentions. Do not let simulated radio work displace aircraft control.

How do you practise other emergency procedures?

Apply the same known-fault, repeatable-scenario method to each system before combining emergencies.

• Electrical failures: identify the failed source, understand which buses and instruments remain powered, shed load and use the alternate supply according to the checklist.
• Fire or smoke: practise the time-critical memory actions, isolation steps and decision to land. Desktop simulators often model the visual and physical effects poorly, so checklist discipline matters more than spectacle.
• Pitot-static or instrument failures: compare independent indications, use known attitude-and-power references and practise the published unreliable-airspeed procedure.
• Hydraulic, flap or landing-gear faults: rehearse alternate extension, changed approach handling and the landing configuration required by the aircraft manual.

Do not begin with several unrelated random failures. Once each procedure is reliable on its own, combine faults only where one could realistically cause the other, such as an engine failure removing an electrical or hydraulic source.

How do you know the practice is working?

Useful emergency practice produces consistent decisions and aircraft control, not merely a successful restart.

• Was the aircraft controlled before switches or radios were touched?
• Was the fault identified and verified without shutting down a serviceable engine?
• Were memory actions correct, followed by the proper checklist?
• Was the restart attempt sensible for the available height, time and failure indications?
• Was the selected runway or landing area genuinely reachable?
• Did the simulator model the expected drag, yaw and secondary system effects, or did a fidelity limitation distort the lesson?

Repeat the unchanged scenario until the result is consistent, then vary one element such as altitude, wind, aircraft mass or failure timing. Keep learning runs separate from unannounced test runs.

Can simulator practice replace real emergency training?

No. A desktop flight simulator can reinforce procedures, cockpit familiarity and decision-making, but it cannot reproduce motion, control forces, startle, smoke, heat or every aircraft-system interaction accurately.

For real-world flying, use the approved documentation for the actual aircraft and practise with a qualified instructor. If simulator behaviour conflicts with the flight manual or formal training, treat the simulator as the inaccurate source rather than changing the real procedure to match it.