Originally Posted by
Rod1
-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 ?
Not all mine so details only on some;
Mag failure Robin DR400 C of A aircraft 160hp Lyk
I noticed an increase in fuel consumption 9 months before the incident. Maintenance organization checked everything NFF sent me the bill. I persisted - they sent the carb off to be checked, NFF. Real problem was poorly mag wiring which was breaking down when hot. Good Mag failed leaving me with a very unhappy engine and a lot of vibration. Landed with no damage
"Prop disintegrating after stone damage. Was the prop damaged prior to the takeoff or did it hit a rock on the takeoff roll ?"
Not mine but I understand there was a bang just as he got airborne off a short strip. All normal for about 20 sec then the prop tip came off. Damage from stone obvious on later inspection. Pilot had to shut off all power due to huge vibration. Landed without incident.
Rod1
I had a partial engine failure similar to yours. It was in cruise flight and all of a sudden the engine started running horribly with high vibration and a great loss of power. As I had the time I methodically troubleshot the problem. Changing tanks and adjusting throttle/mixture/carb heat had no effect so I tried switching to one mag. As soon as I switched to the left mag the engine sudden ran smoothly and power picked right up.
After an uneventful return to my home airport the problem was diagnosed as an internal failure of a mag gear. This caused the spark on that mag to advance 20 deg
. The engine did not at all like the dueling mags and therefore ran like shyte. However switching to one mag instantly restored what was effectively full power. I raise this because it is an inflight troubleshooting trick that does not seem to be often covered in flight training.
Obviously In my case I was in cruise so I had lots of time to methodically troubleshoot. You don't want to faffing around switching mags in the EFATO scenario, just concentrate on flying the aircraft to a safe arrival.
With respect to the prop. I don't want to sound rude here, and obviously I am looking at this at 3 rd hand distance, but frankly I am a bit skeptical that a perfectly sound prop hits a rock and flies apart. I suspect that the prop already had a few big dings in it and the rock was the final straw.
Anyway the the bottom line is the importance of a good preflight check of the prop and getting any dings immediately dressed out before they could affect the structural integrity of the prop.