When the Fire Goes Out... Part B

A320 Captain — Flight Simulator -- climbing out of CYUL runway 06L departure:

“GooseAir Trainer One, after three thousand turn direct to the Ottawa VOR on course, maintain flight level two five zero.”

First Officer Smedley reads back the clearance. I feed the new parameters into the Flight Control Unit (FCU) along the eyebrow panel from where I am controlling the auto-flight system. Smedley punches in a 'Direct To' and I push the heading button to transfer our lateral fight path guidance to “Managed” mode as Airbus calls it.

The airplane smoothly rolls out on the north-west track and FO Smedley runs through the after take-off items. Then I hear a sudden change in the background noise - like a giant bumblee bee dying in the distance emitting a gasping, descending hum. This is followed by the tell-tale flickering of CRT screens and flight deck lights. Then the clunk of a relay from the bulkhead behind us. I glance at the upper ECAM to see the engine one ‘needles’ winding rapidly downward. A tell-tale ‘ping’ sounds as the amber caution warnings blink on.

FO Smedley is calling “Power Loss,” just as I notice the engine two parameters heading south as well. “We’re losing both engines!”

The first thing I do is to quel that inner voice which is protesting that “This can’t be happening…” An instant of latent panic. It’s good to have a rote drill to fall back on and it's even better to loudly announce: “I HAVE CONTROL. CHECKLIST - TWO ENGINES OUT...” - as if to drive back the irrational sense that we are doomed.

I redundantly hit the auto-flight disconnect button. I gently push the nose over to maintain a safe gliding speed, and I check to ensure the seatbelt sign is still on.

The engines are windmilling which guards the electrical and hydraulic power for now. But the airflow from our forward speed won't keep the engine-driven generators happy for long, so one of the first checklist items requires startiing the APU. I wonder what would happen should the dual engine flame-out be caused by fuel contamination or starvation. We have a RAM air turbine as a final backup but that is more restrictive.

A quick glance to my left toward the runways we’ve just left behind at Montreal, and I see that we can reach runway 10. I bank a little left to bring us into a downwind position parallel to it. Meanwhile FO Smedley notifies ATC of our predicament.

We continue working the checklist. There is mention of attempting an engine re-light, but at this low altitude we don’t have much time. There are announcements to be made to warn the flight attendants to prepare for an emergency landing. And as we glide past the button of runway 10 there are flaps to extend. They will increase our drag and shorten the distance we can glide, but as our landing speed goes down our chances of survival go up.

We’re at three thousand feet. This looks good. I take a mental note of the distance to fly from here … maybe two miles downwind, one mile crosswind and two more back to the runway - five miles. Time for some quick math. I use an average of one-hundred and eighty knots - three miles a minute. We’ll take just about two minutes to make that route. Our descent rate will decrease when I start to bleed the speed off, but once we’re configured to land, we'll lose some gliding performance.

As we turn base I call for the next notch of flaps. I continually compare our profile with the ‘ideal’ visual circuit profile. We’re higher than normal. With gravity as our only tool for levering altitude into airspeed and distance, that's not bad.

I continue the turn onto final approach, asking for the last notch of flap. We’re still high - good. I’d rather skid off the far end of the runway at eighty knots than touchdown short at one hundred and eighty.

The FO is finishing up the checklist - time to make the final Brace-for-Landing call into the passenger P.A..

At some point the tower controller says, “Cleared to Land.” Like we have an option. Hey, it’s his job and he has to say it.

Then the threshold is streaking under the nose, and it’s time to flare and bleed a little speed off as we wait for the main wheels to touch down. Which happens a little further along the pavement than I’d like, but we’re ‘ON’ — I hit the brakes hard.

The airplane drifts to a stop and FO Smedley and I both exhale together. We made it. Now if only reality will be so cooperative should ever the fires go out for real.