An Aviation Safety Staff Report

Common wisdom holds that since multi-engine piston airplanes have at least two engines, they must be safer than a single. Unfortunately for the common wisdom, statistics demonstrate that’s not true after an engine fails. Then, the bean counters tell us that the people aboard the single are more likely to live through the experience. But operators still buy and fly twins, knowing that engine redundancy is not the only reason to move up from a single. Instead, the extra horsepower available in the average twin often means it can haul around more stuff, including two vacuum and electric sources as well as other equipment designed to…