The 337 can also bite a non-proficient pilot in the butt in a different way. There were a number of accidents where the rear engine quit and the pilot didn’t seem to be aware of it and the reduced power they had.
The training always had you lead with the rear engine on power changes, especially takeoff and go around, so you knew if you really had two operable engines.
I had a bad experience in someone else’s 337 that was poorly maintained once and while it wasn’t an engine issue, it was a gear issue, I don’t think I could ever love that thing after that. That moron tried to kill four of us in multiple ways that day.
I got to see the inside of an accident chain where the male gear finally popping down and locked about 100’ AGL on final, broke the chain. Since it was in a 337, I won’t say I have an animosity toward them, but call it “neutral” and usually I at least LIKE most airplanes.
Not really fair to the airplane but that thing had so many bad squawks... at least I learned what a poorly maintained privately owned and operated aircraft does when someone finally decides to go fly it. Gear failed twice, radios didn’t work right, A/C unit was yanked out of the rear with a gaping hole surrounded by insulation and crap (afterward I realized that probably wasn’t done legally) and only time I’ve ever had fire trucks out on the runway for a landing that was very likely to end up sliding down the runway on the nose.
Yep. It ruined me on 337s. I’d have to know the owner REAL well and trust them to get into one again. Maintenance is high compared to a simple single and lots of people get in over their heads paying for it all. Can happen in any airplane. I just happened to fly with some guy who should’ve sold it and bought something he could afford to maintain. I was young and dumb. Thankfully I survived it.
Mountains, snowstorm, dead radios, lighting having some issues, night falling, gear failure for the second time on the trip, declared emergency, plan to land with the front engine shut down... total fustercluck of a flight.