Wow! Engine failure after takeoff in Bonanza.
First off a great job of flying. The key to surviving an EFATO is to contact the ground under control, wings level, and in a level or slightly nose up attitude; something this pilot did well.
I am however curious as to whether the pilot was wearing a shoulder harness. Personally I will no longer fly light aircraft that do not have shoulder harnesses fitted. There is clear and compelling evidence that many people have suffered grievous face and head injuries as a result of jacknifing over the lap belt and smashing into the control wheel and/or instrument panel. Had their upper body been restrained they would have likely suffered no, or only minor injuries.
At the risk of being mean minded, the accident statistics show that around 80 % of all engine failures were caused by the actions or inactions of the pilot. Since no cause was found for the failure and a sudden and complete loss of power is usually a result of no fuel or contaminated fuel being fed to the engine, I wonder what really happened here.
The bottom line is simple, The best way to deal with an EFATO is to not have the engine to fail in the first place. Therefore IMO, some of the most valuable EFATO accident lessons to learn are not about the post engine failure flying technique used to successfully land, but about understanding the traps that the pilot fell into that caused him/her to contribute to the engine failing in the first place.
I am however curious as to whether the pilot was wearing a shoulder harness. Personally I will no longer fly light aircraft that do not have shoulder harnesses fitted. There is clear and compelling evidence that many people have suffered grievous face and head injuries as a result of jacknifing over the lap belt and smashing into the control wheel and/or instrument panel. Had their upper body been restrained they would have likely suffered no, or only minor injuries.
At the risk of being mean minded, the accident statistics show that around 80 % of all engine failures were caused by the actions or inactions of the pilot. Since no cause was found for the failure and a sudden and complete loss of power is usually a result of no fuel or contaminated fuel being fed to the engine, I wonder what really happened here.
The bottom line is simple, The best way to deal with an EFATO is to not have the engine to fail in the first place. Therefore IMO, some of the most valuable EFATO accident lessons to learn are not about the post engine failure flying technique used to successfully land, but about understanding the traps that the pilot fell into that caused him/her to contribute to the engine failing in the first place.
Last edited by Big Pistons Forever; 27th May 2013 at 00:57.
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Your Vmca nearly 25% more with the inside engine dead over 10 degrees bank and only gets worse with more bank.
http://www.avioconsult.com/downloads...0on%20Vmca.pdf
You are playing with things you don't understand.
And this is Private flying stuff in twins Vmca does kill and it does it very quickly. You need to know what your limits are or you will suddenly run out of rudder and the only thing you can do is reduce power on the good engine. And as you have already lost 70-80% of your performance anyway that's power you can't afford to loose close to the ground.
Have you read the report on how fast the 777 at Heathrow dropped once it lost both engines. In my crappy turboprop we would need 5000 feet to do a 180 as a glider. 757 with unpowered controls or just on the RAT not a chance in hell.
http://www.avioconsult.com/downloads...0on%20Vmca.pdf
You are playing with things you don't understand.
And this is Private flying stuff in twins Vmca does kill and it does it very quickly. You need to know what your limits are or you will suddenly run out of rudder and the only thing you can do is reduce power on the good engine. And as you have already lost 70-80% of your performance anyway that's power you can't afford to loose close to the ground.
obviously I wouldn't turn back unless I lost both engines
Last edited by mad_jock; 27th May 2013 at 05:43.
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Well done to the pilot. I have to wonder, however, whether he ommited to do any form of power checks on this flight. That's what the NTSB are insinuating.
Anyway, a fairly successful outcome - well done.
The airplane was outfitted with four video cameras, mounted at various locations on the exterior of the airplane. The audio portion of the video footage captured the airplane start, taxi, takeoff, and the loss of engine power. Approximately 3 minutes 36 seconds after engine start the airplane began its taxi to the hold short lines of runway 20L at Fairbanks. The aircraft held short of runway 20L for approximately 5 minutes, 30 seconds. During this hold short period the audio did not record any sounds consistent with the accident airplane operating at higher RPM’s. Approximately 10 minutes, 24 seconds after engine start the airplane began its takeoff roll, and about 41 seconds later the airplane lost all engine power. A complete brief of the video footage is available in the public docket.
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What was the weather? 5 minutes 30 seconds of low/medium power idling would build up some nice carb ice... (forgive my ignorance, perhaps the Bonanza is injected?)
At the time of the accident, it was equipped with a Continental IO-550 engine
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Dale;
First, a belated congradulations on your successful 'off field' landing. I've had 2 such encounters (in experimental aircraft) and there's no way to adequately describe the feelings/thoughts running through your head when this occurs.
As for the cause of your power loss, I have for some time been very interested in the NTSB findings of 'power loss for undetermined reasons' in the large Continentals. If you scour the NTSB reports you may be surprised how many times the feds cannnot figure out why the engine stopped.
I think the fuel delivery system on some low wing aircraft with big Continentals can allow the engine driven fuel pump to cavitate when enough air is ingested upstream. I have read that the mech fuel pump is designed to purge itself of smaller quantities of air bubbles, but when they reach a critical mass (i.e., hot conditions, high fuel flow, or a small air leak upstream via the fuel selector valve) the pump can cavitate with instant power loss resulting.
My own experience on this can be found on CSOB. Basically, my F33A was down for about 6 months for a new engine. By the time I got ready to fly again, the small O-ring in the fuel selector valve stem had dried out/shrunk enough to allow air to enter the fuel selector valve. One of my employeed is a very sharp master mechanic & insisted we pull a slight vacuum on the fuel supply line where it attaches to the engine driven fuel pump. After attaching a clear fuel line to the a/c fuel line (so we could SEE any bubbles coming thru), then applying slight vacuum (small hand held vacuum device), I was very surprised to see lots of air being pulled up from the fuel tanks.
It doesn't take much of a 'gap' to allow air to flow into your fuel system. Also, since our fuel tanks are lower than the engine, there will be SOME vacuum occuring there (unlike Cessna's, for instance, which have a slight positive pressure from their high wing tanks). Also, there will be a bit MORE vacuum occuring when in a nose high attitude, as your tanks are even lower than normal, relative to the engine.
I urge all readers to conduct an "UPSTREAM FUEL SYSTEM INTEGRITY TEST".
You can do it yourself, and you may be shocked at what you find!!!
First, a belated congradulations on your successful 'off field' landing. I've had 2 such encounters (in experimental aircraft) and there's no way to adequately describe the feelings/thoughts running through your head when this occurs.
As for the cause of your power loss, I have for some time been very interested in the NTSB findings of 'power loss for undetermined reasons' in the large Continentals. If you scour the NTSB reports you may be surprised how many times the feds cannnot figure out why the engine stopped.
I think the fuel delivery system on some low wing aircraft with big Continentals can allow the engine driven fuel pump to cavitate when enough air is ingested upstream. I have read that the mech fuel pump is designed to purge itself of smaller quantities of air bubbles, but when they reach a critical mass (i.e., hot conditions, high fuel flow, or a small air leak upstream via the fuel selector valve) the pump can cavitate with instant power loss resulting.
My own experience on this can be found on CSOB. Basically, my F33A was down for about 6 months for a new engine. By the time I got ready to fly again, the small O-ring in the fuel selector valve stem had dried out/shrunk enough to allow air to enter the fuel selector valve. One of my employeed is a very sharp master mechanic & insisted we pull a slight vacuum on the fuel supply line where it attaches to the engine driven fuel pump. After attaching a clear fuel line to the a/c fuel line (so we could SEE any bubbles coming thru), then applying slight vacuum (small hand held vacuum device), I was very surprised to see lots of air being pulled up from the fuel tanks.
It doesn't take much of a 'gap' to allow air to flow into your fuel system. Also, since our fuel tanks are lower than the engine, there will be SOME vacuum occuring there (unlike Cessna's, for instance, which have a slight positive pressure from their high wing tanks). Also, there will be a bit MORE vacuum occuring when in a nose high attitude, as your tanks are even lower than normal, relative to the engine.
I urge all readers to conduct an "UPSTREAM FUEL SYSTEM INTEGRITY TEST".
You can do it yourself, and you may be shocked at what you find!!!
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Very sadly, Dale Hemman, the pilot who survived the EFATO in the original video posted, just perished in a Beech Baron crash in Alaska a couple of days ago. Very experienced pilot, apparently. Sad news and my thoughts go out to his family. Looks like a VMC into IMC accident.
Victims identified in fatal Cantwell plane crash, pilot posted viral video weeks ago | Alaska Dispatch
Victims identified in fatal Cantwell plane crash, pilot posted viral video weeks ago | Alaska Dispatch
Last edited by AdamFrisch; 1st Jul 2013 at 04:32.
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Sometimes one really has to wonder if there is something such as 'fate'...
Somewhere else on the web, someone, with very great tact and not meaning to cause any disrespect, questioned this apparent run of 'bad luck', Three crashes within a relatively short space of time, seems, well bad karma, or 'fate'.
Perhaps some indivuduals may just push it that once too often, and no good comes from that.
RIP.
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I heard the news about Dale a couple of days ago, but didn't want to post before the formal naming of victims.
One of the group posted (edit: video no longer available)
on youtube, which gives an idea of the conditions at the time.
RIP Dale. I had a great time flying with you.
One of the group posted (edit: video no longer available)
on youtube, which gives an idea of the conditions at the time.
RIP Dale. I had a great time flying with you.
Last edited by Mark 1; 4th Jul 2013 at 15:39.
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The initial report is out for the Baron crash.
External cameras were recovered though I doubt we will be seeing the results.
External cameras were recovered though I doubt we will be seeing the results.
