engine failure? landed?

[jeffd]

hey i was wondering,
have any of you been unfortunate enough to have had an engine failure on a single engine a/c, which you could not restart.
how and where did you land? any damage ? to you or the aircraft, did it put you off flying for a while/good?
my better half has some safety concerns over my starting a ppl, i know it rarely happens but id like to see how rarely, so tell me all about it, thanks...

[ukhomerj]

I have started my PPL, and although engine failures are rare, they do happen. That is why you have to comolete lesson 16, simulated loss of engine and know how to calm your passengers, tell them what you are going to do, and then pick out your landing spot.

You have a fair bit of time to do this, even from 2000 ft. We were buzzing large fields for a good hour practising this.

There are more potentially dangerous aspects of PPL than losing the engine, such as turns with flaps at low speed and altitude.

So dont worry and go for it.

[Keef]

Yep, had two. Landed fine off both.

An aircraft in a former group had a catastrophic engine failure over the Solent. Landed by the shore, nobody hurt, but plane written off.

[Pilotage]

My engine failed on me a couple of months ago flying back home from the IOW in a flexwing - specifically the small end bearing broke up. By some miracle I limped home and it finally died on the runway at home and I had to push the last 400 yards.

Rotaxes aren't as bad as they make out, every Rotax failure I've had has ultimately been on the ground ;)

I bought a second hand one to replace it, but that was configured wrongly. I'm still in the process of modifying and fitting my new engine to fit the aircraft, but it keeps me out of mischief in the bad weather and means that my group A flying is more current than it would otherwise have been. 'Tis an ill wind.

P

[jeffd]

good to hear everyone got out safe....
i should clarify, its not me that has the concerns but my girlfriend...
i did about 7 hours flying a couple of years ago and we practised stalls and simulated engine failure, etc. so im cool, but shes a bit worried,
keep them coming...

[Evo]

At the risk of taking this off-topic already


There are more potentially dangerous aspects of PPL than losing the engine, such as turns with flaps at low speed and altitude.


Is this still true? It used to be, certainly, which is why Langewiesche spends so much time talking about it, but is it still the case? Thinking back over AAIB reports I cannot think of any, while there have been several serious or fatal accidents following engine failure (including one poor soul who did everything right only to be failed by the cr*p PA-28 3-point harness).

The base-turn stall is part of the PPL skills test precisely because it is potentially dangerous, but you have to abuse a spamcan horrendously to actually get it to stall in the base-turn configuration (I could only get my PA-28 to slowly mush downwards on this bit of my skills test - the bl**dy thing wouldn't do anything else, even with the yoke full back). I'd have thought the engine failure is dangerous precisely because it is the one time that you are likely to stall at low altitude, while trying to stretch the glide. In a normal landing, and assuming that there were no other problems with the aeroplane, I'd reckon that the chances of me stalling while turning final are close to zero.

Vintage aeroplanes are a bit different, I know - I remember QDM saying that the stall/spin accident was the most common Cub fatality - but I'd have thought that the (generally) higher pilot experience/skill of taildragger pilots and the relative scarcity of the aeroplanes would make the base turn accident relatively rare. Maybe not? I would naively think that inadvertent-IMC and engine failure are the two most dangerous things that a PPL is likely to encounter, apart from doing something daft. You may well be right though.

[QDMQDMQDM]

The vast majority of serious accidents are pilot preventable:

Stall / spin
Controlled flight into terrain
Engine failure due to a) carb icing b) fuel exhaustion
Inadvertent entry into IMC with consequent loss of control
Cherokee trying to take off, four up, full tanks, upslope, long wet grass, not qui-i-ite long enough and trees at the end...

Just tell your girlfriend that only stupid pilots make these mistakes and you're not a stupid pilot.

Or you could put it another way -- if you're going to die in an aircraft it is most unlikely to be due to mechanical engine failure and much, much more likely to be due to something you could have prevented.

I leave it to you to decide which will be most reassuring for her. ;)

QDM

[essouira]

Mr Essouira was a bit nervous too about the dangers of light aircraft before I started learning. After he went up for a trial lesson himself his anxiety faded. Find a competent, experienced instructor that will treat your girlfriend with respect and explain how it all works - they'll alleviate her worries in no time. She may feel more confident with a female instructor - or someone older. Be patient - and remember she's only worried because she doesn't want anything nasty to happen to you !
(by the way, I too have had an engine fail and landed safely in a field)

[cblinton@blueyonder.]

Yep

Conrod snapped on takeoff last year out of Shoreham reaching 1000ft.
It did put me off directly after but the urge to get airbourne again soon creeps back. Renting an A/C since has been a major downer but should be getting it back in a few weeks after a major overhaul.

Try not to let it put you off!!!
Happy Flying:O

[Hilico]

No heli posts I notice. The trick there is never to fly over anything you can't land on. In five seconds' time.

[Rabbit]

S**t happens from time to time. Fortunately, with time things have become far more reliable.

Back in 65 I had two engines quit on me on two successive days for completely different reasons. Both landings uneventful. As time went by I haven't had what you would strictly call engine failures but power loss as the engines did not fail from internal causes. One on a 727 from FOD and one on each 320 & 340 due to large birds. All uneventful.

Hilico - does a tail rotor failure count??? - now that was interesting. Nearly lost it but fortunately all turned out ok in the end.

Have a nice day

[paulo]

Tail rotor failure? :eek: I always assumed that would be 'rather bad news'

[foxmoth]

Had the prop stop on me too low in a Tiger Moth before, landed in a field and was able to fly out again once we had rewound the elastic.:ok:

[dexter256]

Buzzing along rather merrily in one's Sunday afternoon SEP, only to notice your engine has given up the ghost. No fields, no rivers, no airfields. One small desolate road with a straight stretch within landing distance, running through the middle of a forest.

The Americans seem to think avoiding the road is tantamount to a touch of insanity, while the British opine that the proper course of action is to stall on to the tops of the trees.

What does the responsible pilot decide? Risk bumping into a poor sod out for a Sunday drive in his Firebird or breaking your neck coming through the trees?

[Aerobatic Flyer]

Yes, had an engine failure.

Might have made a good story had it not been in a motor glider half a mile from an airfield... but it was a complete non-event.

[fu 24 950]

UKHOMERJ
calm your passengers, tell them what you are going to do and then pick out your landing spot.
Aviate,, Navigate,,,, Communicate, Pick the landing spot first and fly the aircraft, passengers last.

[FNG]

Yes, engine failure and forced landing with an instructor. Very good flying lesson and "proof of concept"