Partial engine failure in C182 and emergency landing video.

[AdamFrisch]

Nice job. Listen to the breathing.

Cessna 182 airplane emergency engine failure & crash landing 10-23-12 - YouTube

[Cusco]

That ruddy great GPS obscures a huge chunk of his panel..............

[Echo Romeo]

He did a great job, bet his heart rate went off the scale if his breathing is anything to go by.

[172driver]

That field was RIGHT where he needed it! Well done, but you need Lady Luck also....

[GuilhasXXI]

I saw this a few weeks ago, It´s really something this video, first thought running through my head was to descend right way to land in the runway, or whatever was left of it :8

[thing]

No doubt there will be ninety people along now to tell us what he did wrong. Then there will be an argument amongst them as to who knows best. Then the thread will sink gradually off the bottom of the page.

Then rinse and repeat.

[Big Pistons Forever]

I think the pilot did a great job. He concentrated on the only thing that matters in this situation flying the airplane, he then took the safest option, a controlled touchdown in a field straight ahead :ok: The only way he could have improved on his performance would have been to perform a quick cause check to see if he could restore engine power. However given the low altitude and work load a decision to Just concentrate on flying the aircraft can't be faulted.

Unfortunately it is extremely unlikely that any of the forced landing training he got in his PPL helped him prepare for this kind of partial failure situation. Instead his training was probably all about the least likely scenario, a total sudden engine failure with no warning.

A partial engine failure, like the one this pilot experienced, is more likely than a full failure and in some ways more difficult to deal with as you will have more choices to make.

I tell my students the first thing is to go to level flight attitude and see if the aircraft will maintain Vy airspeed. If it will consider a flight path that will return you to the airport while maintaining a landable option if further engine power is lost. If unable to maintain level flight with the remaining power I tell students to close the throttle and plan a touchdown on the nearest landable surface, reapplying power as required to help the manoever.

With respect to the comment about breathing, all the training in the world won't prepare you for the stress of a real no s*hit emergency....

Finally in the best Pprune spirit of pedantry above all, I wish to point out that his checklist is wrong. The flashing beacon should be turned on prior to engine start not prior to entering the runway :p

[RTN11]

Very well executed, as above, his PFL training may not have specifically covered this, but you can never cover every single eventuality, he did well under the pressure and made the right decision to land in what was available ahead.

Perhaps if he'd tried to turn back or complete a circuit it would've been a very different outcome, but he managed a controlled and survivable landing which is all anyone can ask.

The other points, though, that GPS really is obscuring the panel, and how many other people fly round with checklists dangling from the window like that? I couldn't imagine a more awkward or annoying way to store a checklist.

[Alex757]

This is a really good instructional video for us non pilots. It looks like despite the obvious panic, he handled everything very very well!

I hope I never have to deal with a real one of these, the sound of that breathing is horrible to hear, makes me feel panicked just listening to it.

[taxistaxing]

Yep looks like a job well done.

In the interests of learning from it - carb ice might be a likely cause of the rough running? He says 'carb heat checked' at the beginning of the video but it all seemed pretty rushed. Then there was a delay between the check and starting the takeoff run, with the engine at low RPM, which might have allowed ice to form.

As a low hours pilot myself I am paranoid about carb icing, and tend to do a quick recheck of carb heat just before lining up on the runway. On more than one occasion this summer the recheck revealed that ice had formed after my initial power check.

Looks like a hot summer's day judging by what he is wearing. I wonder what the humidity was.

[jxk]

@taxistaxing
As it's a 182 it's possibly a fuel injected engine which shouldn't suffer carb icing.
It would be interesting to know what the cause of failure was; anyone!

[Talkdownman]

As it's a 182 it's possibly a fuel injected engine which shouldn't suffer carb icing
As it's a 182 it's possibly a normally aspirated engine which could suffer carb icing...

Our C182 has a normally-aspirated O-470-U which can suffer from carb icing.

[Big Pistons Forever]

From the panel layout and control wheel style it is a 1973 to 1977 C 182P with a Carburated Continental O 470R engine.

[sapperkenno]

Looked like he didn't use any flap? Hard to tell I know, but I didn't see any signs they were used.

[Pace]

Hmmm??? not so sure how well this was handled!

The pilot was heavy breathing from word go seemed to takeoff and landed straight ahead.

Having the mike too near the mouth will pick up every breath and can be very annoying in a two crew situation.

Do not know why but something does not ring right with this incident??

Pace

[dont overfil]

Definately full flap. It can be seen in the final second when the cockpit is illumunated. Not sure about the carb heat though.

D.O.

[172driver]

Yep, looks like full flap. Reading his comments on YouTube, he thinks possible cause ignition problem.

[Flyingmac]

Do not know why but something does not ring right with this incident??


I've got the same feeling.

Aircraft details here. RegoSearch | N735EU USA Aircraft Registration Details (http://www.regosearch.com/aircraft/us/735EU)

[172driver]

Well, he wouldn't take off with full flaps, would he ??

[dont overfil]

10Deg at TO.

D.O.

[Maoraigh1]

NTSB search for N735EU - No records found for the search criteria.
The voice "OK going to set this down" doesn't match the breathing. Is the breathing acting what he thinks someone would sound like in an emergency, while he lands a no-problem aircraft in a pre-checked spot?
There was a previous "engine failure" video where NTSB had no record of reg, nor was there any incident record on that date at the alleged place. It was possibly joke idea from an Alaska camping flight with the (very calm) kids.

[172driver]

and yourself in #18. As I read it you seemed to be suggesting he took off with full flap

You read it wrong.

[jamestkirk]

There is something odd about this video. Almost a feeling it is staged.

[B2N2]

This is a really good instructional video for us non pilots

Don't agree.
He had plenty of opportunity to land on airport property, intersecting runway, grass or taxiway.
That field being where it was, pure coincidence.
This is why you do an 'abort-plan' so you don't have to improvise your way through it.

N735EU is (or was) a 1977 C182Q with a O-470
Pictures here:
FlightAware (http://flightaware.com/photos/view/489603-a1cf42cf32149f369a626ab296b40e2e07ea580a/aircraft/N735EU/sort/votes/page/1)

[172driver]

In the chap's defense - have you read his own comments on YouTube? He says he would have been too high/fast for the taxiway. Agree (as in my previous post), that luck was with him that day and put the field right where he needed it.

Hindsight is always 20/20 and I think viewing videos like that and then dissecting the pilot's actions completely overlooks the 'WTF is going on!' factor. Once you're flying, you can't hit the 'rewind' button and calmly analyze your actions.

[Richard Westnot]

Well we do know that he did not have any passengers and he still didn't say
"oh sh*t!" ;)

[B2N2]

He says he would have been too high/fast for the taxiway

Not if he would have responded correctly and quicker.
Power idle, full flap and he could have landed on airport property.
Especially in a pig such as an 182.

[Pace]

What got me is the running commentary as if he was making some demonstration documentary.

Then heavy breathing as soon as the wheels left the runway.

Also lack of surprise and the usual looking around the cockpit for a likely cause.

I too felt something did not add up!

You almost felt he panicked on takeoff and put it down straight ahead quickly

Pace

[Pace]

I didn't hear a radio call at all once he committed to landing.

Only "I have got to put it down"!! amongst the panic overbreathing" Really can not tell whether this was staged or someone who had a panic attack after takeoff.

Pace

[strake]

One thing though. I didn't hear a radio call at all once he committed to landing.

Investigation will show what happened to cause the incident and pilots can be criticised for all sorts of things after the event but the above isn't one of them in the situation this guy faced....

Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.

[taxistaxing]

Only "I have got to put it down"!! amongst the panic overbreathing" Really can not tell whether this was staged or someone who had a panic attack after takeoff.




Listening to it again at full volume, I can hear a change in engine note between when he says "aaaaand, we're up" and the heavy breathing starting. That could be deliberate but it seems unlikely (surely) that someone would monkey around with the throttle setting at such a low altitude.

The breathing does sound very weird but I suppose could be explained by people reacting to stressful situations in strange and varied ways!

[Maoraigh1]

Investigation will show what happened to cause the incident and pilots can be criticised for all sorts of things after the event but the above isn't one of them in the situation this guy faced
Try a NTSB search on the reg. No result

[Big Pistons Forever]

One thing though. I didn't hear a radio call at all once he committed to landing. That would be as important as flying the plane should you need medical care post landing I would have thought.

The least important thing to do in this situation is to make a radio call. The most important thing is to fly the aircraft, the second most important thing is to fly the aircraft etc etc.

I was extremely sad to see the accident report for the tomahawk EFATO accident about a year and ahalf ago. The engine failed at 300 feet and the pilot did not lower the nose. The aircraft stalled and crashed with fatal results to the occupants. BUT in the moments from engine failure to stall/crash/die the pilot transmitted a distress message:ugh:. If only he had concentrated on quickly establishing the glide attitude and managing the flightpath to a wings level, level attitude touchdown, instead of talking on the radio........

I think that unfortunately flight schools have to answer for this as a too often the radio call is given a level of importance that it simply doesn't deserve when training for the engine failure scenario.

[strake]

Try a NTSB search on the reg. No result

Well, give 'em a chance, it only happened at the beginning of December.

[Pilot.Lyons]

Aviate - navigate - communicate

But it did seem weird.... I agree with pace looks a bit like a staged video and from the video it did look like he may have had time to settle it back down.....
But if its real we don't always react perfectly in a situation as tense as that

Have a look at you tube for 26 spin tipsy nipper..... Now theres a situation you don't really want to put yourself in!

[Pace]

26 Turn Flat Spin in a Tipsy Nipper - YouTube

No heavy panic breathing in this and this one much more scary? and that is the point having had an off field landing which in my case involved taking out a hedge and slicing through the wing with a cut off tree stump embedded in the hedge 27 years ago normally in such situations you are so wrapped up in dealing with the situation you stay dead calm.
Its after the event that nerves kick in.
I dont buy the 182 incident.
As BPF sated in a previous thread with a partial engine failure you still have power and the first thing is to determine the fly level airspeed.
This guy did none of that with a multiple runway airfield right behind him, neither did he appear to even run through why his engine was apparently running rough just a panic get it on the ground.
So did he get away with it yes so in that way a successful outcome was it well handled NO!
Had he prewalked that field or even landed there before who know?
Was this staged? who knows.
Did he have a panic attack with a serviceable aircraft and just put it down ? who knows.
But something does not ring right with the 182 incident.

Pace

[Big Pistons Forever]

26 Turn Flat Spin in a Tipsy Nipper - YouTube


A superior pilot uses his superior judgement to avoid situations requiring the use of his superior skill....

[GuilhasXXI]

Quite epic that video man, kinda got me breathing like him lol

[scott5077]

He did appear nervous as he took the runway with that vague statement about double checking everything and the head movements and other expressions, but that means he doesn't fly often to have that confident flow. So that is why at his level of flying he did just the right thing. Land straight ahead in open field, pushed past the fear factor, made a decision, stuck to it, flew the airplane perfectly with full stall at landing. Remember loss of control= loss of life. He walked away, with minor damage that insurance could fix. What’s wrong with that? Other options he had likewise could have resulted in minor damage. He could have landed on the alternate runway; he only had a second to make that call. Also to circle back was an option and probably what we might have seen if there were houses all around. (the engine was still running). But he had a big open field and a safe option. I have had fuel vaporization at 200 feet and the engine acted vary similar to his. (his could have been water) But I elected a very quick turn back and then to circle the airport as the engine still produced some power to maintain airspeed. My only recommendation to us aviators to learn from this would be to verbalize an engine failure contingency before t/o (silently if passenger present). Something like: “If complete engine failure or fire before 300 feet land (name direction of place), turn off fuel/battery, otherwise coordinated 90/270, declare emergency and land”. An emergency will never happen like you think it might, but at least it starts the mind moving in the right direction. As to those that think this was staged, your so naïve. (CFII/MEI/ATP/test pilot for 25 plus years),

[FlyingKiwi_73]

Staged? really ... that's an expensive and dangerous way to get a few hits on You Tube! this has to be genuine He did the right thing, he was quite high when he crossed the ALT runway and it would have taken a firm mental decision to commit to that. I think at that time he was still trying to figure out what was going on (as would I) by the time i think he says "i gotta put this down" he was well past the runway, had a clear field and no reason to turn back. I think he did all right. Me i have a golf course and a beach ahead of me when i'm normally taking off... well prepared mentally for where i will go.