RE: Nice P82 Crash!!!
"I was not to climb above 125 ft on the entire excercise. He explained, "the tops of trees are not near as dense as the bottom of trees."
As a multi-engine instructor (MEI), that's pretty terrifying that your instructor did such an exercise. I'm guessing this little episode occurred back in the 60's or 70's? Back in the "old" days, such things were pretty common along with low-level VMC demonstrations. A lot of training accidents (even on checkrides) resulted in a lot of deaths. Even today, multi-engine training is by far the most dangerous type of flying one can do which is why I don't actively do it. Also, Barons really aren't that bad, you just have to respect that it's not going to fly like a Piper Seminole.
My verdict is the classic VMC rollover. Basically, when single engine, there's a minimum speed at which the plane has to fly for the rudder to be effective. The P-82 unfortunately got too slow and could not maintain directional control.
Real multi-engine airplanes at gross weight don't climb and can barely maintain altitude when flying on one engine (despite what the POH (pilot's operating handbook) says). If I was on takeoff and the engine quit, I don't think I would attempt to climb out single engine and nurse it around. Instead, I'd just put the plane down and hit whatever fence/trees/etc. was in front of me. Doing otherwise, the odds are pretty decent your going to crash and die.
"when one quits, that extra engine only gets you to the crash site a little quicker".
Mike (CFI, CFII, MEI)