There is a lot of scuttlebutt and irrelevancy floating in MSM reports today.
So what should the pilot have done ..... and within a few seconds if one engine flamed out? 1. push the rudder very hard to stop rotation in the direction of the dead engine / lower the nose to retain air speed and feather the prop of the dead engine all at once.
2. The live engine should already be at takeoff power with the prop on full fine but give it more juice if possible. 3. trim the rudder..... then 4. Call a mayday. As Shiggy said the aircraft should climb on one engine (assuming the remaining engine was going properly).
The pilot would have known NOT to turn back. Even a Piper Cub would have difficulty turning back from a low altitude and the dash cam picture does not indicate a turn back. The dash can photo does not indicate a turn back but rather a somewhat straight and level decent into the DFO roof.
Possible problems. 1. Don't underestimate the amount of pressure required to be applied to the rudder in this situation. The pilot was 63. Could he press maybe 80+kg pressure on the rudder while doing the rest of it? If not, he would have to reduce power on the live engine while trimming the rudder a tad and seconds would be lost.
Did the plane lack power on the remaining engine? We will find out in due course. If full power was not available on the remaining engine a climb may not have been possible and he did what he could in the circumstances.
