alfadog
Final Approach
Here is what Lycoming says, FWIW
http://www.lycoming.textron.com/support/tips-advice/key-reprints/pdfs/Key Operations.pdf
Tale Number One — "The most likely time for an engine failure to occur is at the first power reduction after take-off."
Every individual who pilots an aircraft has probably heard this statement at some time. Is it a true statement? We will venture a guess and say that perhaps it may have been at some time in the distant past.
Several years ago, this question was asked of me and it led to questioning some FAA employees and a number of other pilots about where the justification for this statement might be found. After several weeks of poking into this subject, it was finally necessary to conclude that we could find no justification — that it was simply an "Old Wives’ Tale."
A letter which recently came from a Flyer reader takes this one step further. First, it appears that there are many who continue to repeat this tale. This caused our reader to delve into the subject a little deeper — perhaps a little more scientifically than I did. Our reader studied a computer readout which had data on incidents of engine failure over a recent three-year period. Based on the material in that report, this reader concluded that engine failures during takeoff are quite rare, and that failures during cruise are far more common. This does seem logical since the engines of fixed-wing aircraft run a majority of their operating life in the cruise-power range.
Our reader also had a very believable theory about how this tale may have gotten started. He wrote, "It seems likely to me that this idea got started when twin-engine flight instructors would simulate an engine out during takeoff — right about the time the student put his hand on the prop control to reduce power. Gradually, the idea was propagated that this was the most likely time for an engine failure, when in reality it was a likely time for an instructor to simulate a failure."
From these two searches for justification — with none being found in either case, I believe it is fair to conclude that "the idea of an engine failure being most likely to occur at the first power reduction after takeoff" is, in fact, an old wives’ tale. For the sake of safety, lets stop repeating this false tale and start promoting the idea that we should be ready to deal with power failure at any time. (emphasis added)
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