Originally Posted by
Rod1
Having asked around locally, most of us who have had engine failure had mechanically based issues or fuel. Mechanical issues included crank failure, mag failure, prop disintegrating after stone damage on takeoff, bird through canopy, oil pipe fail covering canopy with oil. Fuel was all around vapor lock or blockage in the system, one pipe / valve split. I am a big fan of know your aircraft and check it before flight (I built mine
), but I am not convinced that many of the above could have been spotted on the ground by an average PPL with normal piloting kit.
crank failure - no chance
mag failure - no chance
prop disintegrating after stone damage on takeoff - no chance
bird through canopy - no chance
oil pipe fail covering canopy with oil - probably no chance
vapor lock - probably yes - know your aircraft
Fuel blockage - No chance
Fuel pipe / valve split - probably not
Rod1
My experience has been different. In the last 20 years there have been 7 in flight engine failures that occurred on aircraft based at my home airport.
2 fuel exhaustion ( C 150 , C 172)
2 mis managed fuel selector ( Pa 28 C 172)
2 Carb ice ( C 150, Aeronca Champ)
1 Catastrophic engine failure after a connecting rod broke ( C 172)
As should be rather obvious as a pilot and flying instructor I am very interested in the engine failure scenario in light aircraft.
I would appreciate some more detail on the incidents you described.
Specifically
-Mag failure. Was this a dual simultaneous failure ?
- Prop disintegrating after stone damage. Was the prop damaged prior to the takeoff or did it hit a rock on the takeoff roll ?
- Bird through the canopy. How did this cause the engine to fail ?