Originally Posted by
Big Pistons Forever
With not much flying going on I have been giving some of my X students scenario’s to keep the grey matter exercised.
The latest is the following scenario which happened to me exactly as described
I was flying along at 3000 ft AGL in cruise in a C 172. Suddenly with no warning the engine started running very roughly with the engine RPM varying up and down by 500 RPM and a sufficient loss of power it was doubtful level flight could be maintained. T & P were indicated in the normal range.
What would you do?
I've had almost exactly that in an Auster at 2000ft over Lincolnshire. I went through the usual drills whilst I started flying field-to-field towards the nearest runway, told ATC (a military airfield LARS service) and when the engine did quit, which it did, I was set up for a very nice field, and landed in it. A couple of minutes later there was a Typhoon over my head checking up on me.
It was a failed bolt retaining tab on one of the (inverted) engine cylinder head bolts, causing a cylinder head to slowly drop away from the engine.
G