REAL Engine Failure!

[Jetheat]

How many out there who have had real engine failures? What happened / what was the outcome? Single or Multi? Light Aircraft or Airliner?

I know from experience that it is very painful trying to fly with one leg pressed and one arm holding the CC to one side. It takes a lot of muscle. Has anyone else had to do this?
How did it feel?

[trolleydollylover]

Ask Ronchonner

He had six last week, and he had to land his 737 on a carrier when the Taliban refused to let him land in Kabul when they found that he had pork chops on the menu as the second choice. What he didn't say ws that there was a force 13 gale and he couldnt get the undercarriage to deploy.

Oh yeah that was FS 2K

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Whoa there bigfella, whoa!

[Jetheat]

Ronchonner is an exception!

[Loony_Pilot]

I had an engine failure in a Seneca, however would like to point it it was during the engine power checks that it failed so no danger or excitement, it was a fuel flow problem of some kind.
Glad it failed then and not just after take off.... I guess it shows why power checks are an absolute necessity.

LP

[This message has been edited by Loony_Pilot (edited 11 April 2001).]

[Iain]

I was on my phase III check for my FAA PPL, everything was going great, my stalls where good, so where my steep turns, ect. We came back towards the airport to do some pattern work. Well my first approach looked really good, the instructor called go around )to see if I could do it) so I added full power, and I got was a lot of vibration, lots of noise and very little engine power. I pull the throttle out again, and slowly advanced it, I got much of the same effect so I pulled it out again and told the instructor I was landing. I had the runway made and landed on it. It is not an exciting as some stories, however it is exciting enough for me! :)
Iain

[Pielander]

Sorry if this is slightly off the point, but does anybody know the answer to this?:

Supposing I had a Warrior and a Ford Mondeo, both of which have half-full fuel tanks. I leave both of them outside overnight, then drive to the airport in the morning in the Mondeo without incident. I do a slack job of my pre-flight checks, and take off in the Warrior. At 500 ft on climb out, the Warrior's engine splutters and stops because there was condensation in the fuel tank. Why? How come this didn't affect my car?

(This is purely hypothetical).

Pie

[BJF]

I had one on a take-off roll when I was training in a Cessna 150. Got to 50KTS or so and was about to rotate when it all went really quiet. Had a nice long runway so plenty of time to get it stopped. I got towed back to the hangars and was later told that it was fuel contamination in the carb. I learned a valuable lesson that day because I did my pre-flight as usual and did a fuel drain. then I refueled and assumed that the fuel was good but there had been some water in the tanker. So take it from me, no matter what the situation or weather always do a fuel drain before starting that engine. I can't imagine that silence in the cockpit at say 800 ft and climbing or not as the case may be.
Fly safe BJF

[Pielander]

Let me put this another way, has anybody had an engine failure in a car due to fuel contamination (condensation)?

[Sagey]

Pie I have in a car.

I have a Peugeot 205 was driving on M6 when car started making a fruuuuppppp fruuuuuupppp noise, literally 5 mins after filling up. Was slowly losing power and reducing speed. I decided to get over onto hard shoulder and stopped.

Couldn't see anything wrong when looked under engine. Turned key nothing happened, pumped the accelerator a few times and waited about 2 minutes and car started as normal and haven't had a problem since.

Sagey

[This message has been edited by Sagey (edited 11 April 2001).]

[Ham Phisted]

I was getting checked out on a Cessna 310B on Sunday. We had shut down and feathered the left engine and lowered flaps/gear for slow flight when I noticed the distinct smell of burning. Next thing is AI and DG topple (very rapidly). So time to clean up and go home. Incidentally, we found out afterwards, not surprisingly, that the vacuum pump on the RHS was knackered. Not nice floating round in cloud with only one engine and no vacuum instruments.

[Pielander]

Nice one Sagey.

Perhaps these things just go unnoticed in cars. Hopefully that's your only little bit of bad luck over with then, at an altitude of 0ft. Bargain :)

Happy landings, and happy eating.

Pie

[Sagey]

Well it was snowing, there was a bloody great big lorry in the way, I had 2 mates in the car and was up a hill so I was pritty glad got the car going again.

I was going to take it back to Shell for a refund <g>

Yep I guess if that is the worst motoring let alone flying experience I have then I will be lucky

Sagey

[juswonnafly]

Pie, interesting question. The significant difference between the two is that the piper has a lot of surface area (2 flat tanks) that are much more likely to form condensation wheras the car has a fairly compact tank with much less surface area so much less chance of condensation.

Hope this makes sense

JWF :)

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Lost 3 out of 4 cylinders once at 200ft over a field following a EFATO. Stooged around at very low level hopping from field to field getting ready to land whilst avoiding trees. Got the worst of the vibration cleared and went back to simple rough running. Limped back to the airfield and landed without incident. Did put out a mayday. Managed to appear calm for the students benefit. Engine was a write off and the cause was the exhaust valves sticking open.

Didn't want to fly again that day but did. Was very frightened.

Other than that they were all student induced engine failures (Carb Heat or Mixture Pulling or Tank Selection OFF). Have had several engine stops during aeros/high g.

Roll on direct injection diesel aero engines I say.

WWW

[WH]

Had a nasty one last year with an instructor on board thankfully. EFATO in a PA-28 @ about 250'-300'. We all know the rules about 30 degree's each side of the nose but at the airport in question the only thing's in front are a mountain, canal & powerlines. He took control and did a 180 back to the field. We almost made it. Landed short of the perimeter fence on a road, went through the fence which flipped us upside down. Came to rest about 200yds in. The broken wing blocked the door so we kicked the window out and walked away. (Ran like hell actually!) There's nothing like sitting in 100 gal's of avgas to improve your 100m time! The aircraft was written off. Still waiting for the report on the cause.

[StrateandLevel]

Had lots of failures on jets and turbo-props including a total turbine disintegration. What happened, usuallly a good nightstop!

Pistons seem to keep going.

Had a lovely case of Carb Icing in a Cortina, the plugs looked like guardsmens bearskins when I took them out. Reason Carb Heat in Summer position!

[Jetheat]

I had an engine failure on a Seneca during my MultiEngine Flight Exam. I shut one engine down in Flight to demonstrate securing and restart procedures. Unfortunately, it wouldn't restart.

I flew back to home base (10 Miles) with arm and thigh hurting like crazy. The examiner did nothing to help but just sat there relaxing.
I didn't complete the test since there was one approcah remaining. Had to do that next time.
ATC asked me if I wanted the CFR Team at my disposal (Crash, Fire and Rescue Team). I decided it wasn't such a big deal.

Landed on one engine.

[Grandad Flyer]

WH, here is a lesson, one which your instructor should perhaps brush up on.
Always, always have a field in mind for an EFATO. You must know exactly what you are going to do and where you are going to go based on the height of the failure and the wind direction (if possible). Its no good waiting until it happens and then just attempting a return.
Also, for other low time pilots flying single engine aircraft, one habit you should get into is always keeping an eye on the terrain and having a field in sight should your engine fail. Think about it, practise forced landings regularly. If you get into this habit, one day you will thank me.
I have had a real engine failure, instructor induced by accident, it was not the best time for it. Seneca, landing at a mountain strip with no undershoot or overshoot and surrounded by trees.
Bearing in mind what I said earlier, I had placed the aircraft in a position that if an engine failed I knew I could get to the runway and land. We were downwind at the time when one engine failed. A Seneca at altitude generally goes down with only one engine working and thats what happened but I had time to turn base and do a normal approach and landing.
Which leads me to another subject - circuits. I have seen so many people doing circuits where, if the engine failed, they could not reach the runway. Why do it? Again, practice this regularly - fly your normal circuit and decide to pull the power back to idle at a set point and land on the runway. (Don't forget to warm the engine at regular intervals on the way down though). It can get interesting. If you are at an airfield then stay within range! No point having to land in a field because you had an engine failure in the circuit but were flying a wide circuit is there?

[Jetheat]

I had another close call when I was on an ILS in a C172 at night time with cloud base down to 100ft AGL. The engine started spluttering at the outer marker (5 miles from Airport). I added extra power to keep the engine warm and I also had the Carb Heat out. Since adding more power threw the A/C out of trim, it went all over the place. This was hell. Trying to fly the ILS and dealing with an engine about to conk out.
Relayed my fears to ATC and managed to land it before the engine gave way.

No incident.

[Herod]

If Buzzoff reads this site, he knows why I'm saying nothing!!

[I Kid]

WWW, Your a bloody Hero !!! Anyway, about the DC3/DC6 engine incidents. We were once just about to....... S..., sorry, gotta go, pubs just opened ;)

[pjdj777]

Had a few problems in the air:

Camshaft went on a warrior while climbing out, luckily there was enough room for me to get back to the airport.

Mechanical fuel pump failure in another warrior, soon sorted by putting the electrical fuel pump on, and heading back home sharpish.

Complete engine failure in a Twin Commanche, whilst flying assemetric, during a test, and the flaps stuck.

all the above happened within a fortnight, it was a great holiday ;)

[Positive Climb]

JetHeat - if the cloud base was down to 100' AGL then:

1. Why were you making an approach in the first place in what I assume is a CAT I aircraft ?

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"After V1, we'll take the emergency into the air - You call 'Positive Climb' and I'll ask for the gear up. We'll climb away at V2 +15"

[Buggs]

Not had the misfortune of a engine failure. Although I did experience a hydraulic brake failure in the left brake in a C152 on landing at a very busy airfield in the US. The ATC were a little pissed that I couldn't make the taxi way they wanted and had to ask the aircraft behind me to go around. Watch for sloppy brake pedals in the bumpfichh checks!

[AJ]

Well, I fly the ASK21 and I'm still trying to find the engine! :)

Regards

AJ

[FYWH]

Had a mag failure in a 210 over high terrain area in Namibia, Luckily the airport was within gilding distance if no2 mag was to fail

with regard to contamination of fuel in automobiles, The chances are less than in Aircraft, This is due to the fuel tank in a car does not have any vents, hence unable to breath like an aircraft fuel bladder, A car fuel tank is pressurised (sort of) If you have ever run a car down to a low fuel limit you will notice once you open the cap there is a huge pressure difference ( very difficult for anything to contaminate the car fuel tank, other than time of fuel entry)

cell city still no radar, another bumpy flight (and my godness it was) .

[Aerodynamic_mac]

I have a totally excellent instructor, doesn't do things entirely by the book, but he makes you remember them!

1400ft, joining circuit to land (3rd flight and I was doing the landing!) He says "We're going to practice a forced landing" (laughing) he pulled back the mixture and stalls - no windmill / effect big prop sitting pretty no noise / brown trousers.

Managed to bring it in, control column drenched in sweat, smooth landing in the end. - Started up again and off we went.

The lessons learned:
(i) Don't panic (or at least conceal it like I did)
(ii) Fly the plane (yes thats right its just a big glider)
(iii) "Airfield, Airfield - where did you put my Airfield!" - find somewhere to put down - the faster the better.
(iv) Enjoy it (well why not - it could be worse - somehow)