I had Engine faillure for 1 second during take-off
 

Hello,

My last flight encountered a strange problem, i was taking off doing a touch and go ( i was already flying for 30minutes or so) and while i was climbing at a height of around 300ft the engine stopped completely for about 1 second and then went on on full power.

It was in my Cessna 152 trainer... I immediatly putted the nose down to do an emergency landing, not only the engine stopped but my teacher at that moment didn't knew what to say, we finished the circuit and went for a full stop.

I had set the carb heather to cold while in short final, when i talked to the technician he said it wasn't bad, he said i probably had some icing.

It scared me to death, what do you think happend ? Carburator icing ?

I suspect you don't mean that you were staring at a stationary prop, or for that matter even lost all power.
A briefly sticking valve (usually due to lead fouling) would seem like quite an abrupt power loss, and is not that unusual.
Other than that, maybe some kind of lean cut; water or dirt in the carburetter, or an overlean mixture due to air leak or carb adjustment.

I'm just guessing.

Find another instructor.

I've only every experienced carb icing once. The engine didn't stop firing - it just coughed and spluttered a bit.

Maybe you were unlucky enough to have a bit of ice the right size and shape to block the carb. At 300', you have a lot going on in your head, but, did you put carb heat on? Was there a slightly higher than normal RPM reading (assuming you were on full power on the climb out) if you did? How long was the carb heat on for before you closed it on short final?

Maybe if you could describe the engine characteristics leading up to and after the event in a bit more detail, maybe those more technically minded than me could make an educated guess.

Would air in the fuel line cause this?

Edit: previous 2 posts made as I was typing this. I echo Gertrude's sentiments.

IF the power loss was sudden and was felt as a total loss of thrust, I would guess air or some other ***t in the fuel pipe, IMHO.

Strip down the entire fuel system.

Agree with IO, an all-nothing-all scenario does not sound like spark or ice. Must be fuel.

Usual caveats of course - we weren't there, so don't actually know what was going on in the instructor's head.

If the instructor really didn't know what to do when faced with an EFATO then most definitely find another one - you'll live longer.

But perhaps the instructor simply did nothing for half a second or so to see whether you were going to cope with the emergency, and was going to jump in if you got it wrong - and half a second would seem like an extremely long time in those circumstances!

(When you come to the test the examiner will do and say nothing in such circumstances, until he feels your lives are in danger. Coping with a real emergency is part of the test. Personally I feel that that's all very well, but I tell the examiner that if we have a fire in the air then sod the test, he is to take control immediately and try to get us down alive.)

I'd be very surprised if it was indeed a full second. I'd guess the multiplication factor due to adrenaline in these sort of cases is between 5 and 10.

Is this the same instructor you expressed dissatisfaction with a few weeks back Sternone? Alarms bells are ringing.....

VFE.

Amazing how time flows at such times. I thought I was going to have to jump out of a spinning Bulldog some years ago, and went through a series of checks before we recovered anyway (I was observer, not pilot). My perception was of about 10 seconds elapsed - when I put a stopwatch on the cockpit camera afterwards, it was less than 2.

Yes, you need to certainly talk seriously to your instructor about it. Or the CFI?

My best guess would be a bit of muck in the carb bowl, which got into the jet, caused a momentary loss of power, which in itself changed the jet characteristics and cleared the muck.

Or vapour locking?

Not icing I'd guess, that tends to be more gradual and at lower powers.

G

I wouldn't even look at that plane again until the motor had a full once over.

Also my first thought, however, if he was at 300 agl, the throttle had been wide open for a bit..

I'd be guessing at fuel/fuel contamination.

... I certainly didn't run out of things to say when it happened to me :E

I concur with the s**t in the fuel theory and that it probably seemed a hell of a lot longer at the time!

That or it was the Aliens.

:ok:

Yes, I think the comment was a bit hard on the instructor. Remember, an instructor is not an engineer. The answer was probably got by people on this site, but I bet it took over a second for them to work it out.

If something like this happens your brain should immediately be moving towards the memory items checklist. You don't have brain time to diagnose things until you have got those items sorted, and then only if you have time, which at 300ft AGL is not going to happen. I also think it been shown it takes about five seconds for the brain to actually realise something is wrong and start to do something about it, and that is during check outs where the pilot is expecting something.

I'm surprised you say that, Gertie. The better instructors where you and I fly wouldn't have opened their eyes in a second, let alone their mouths.

Why would you expect the instructor to say ANYTHING? A sudden engine failure is a time to act, not speak. And since Sternone reacted correctly, there was nothing to be said at that particular moment. If the engine hadn't started, well that's a different matter. But it did. And quite likely the instructor didn't know what had happened either; why should he unless he's an engineer?

Thank you all for your reactions,

I had a feeling that the prop was still turning, which means to me that it could be ofcorse less than 1 second... a sticking valve, does that takes down all cilinders ?? Because the engine made no sound at all anymore.. first it was simmering, but then it died...

Luckely in my new flying school i get another teacher almost every lesson.. hehe

Carb heat was on from beginning base to short final..what is that 3 minutes ? but i tought icing was not so common with full power ?? it was at least running at full power for 30 seconds ?

Auch :eek:

It was at least minimum 30 seconds after i applied full power, is that choking still possible then ??

I really really always drain very very good, also the drainer on the bottom of the fuselage, wich many people seem to forget to be there in a 152, that's were mostly the nasty stuff come out of it !! (and no i do not mean pulling the handle next to the oil check, i mean going on the floor and using the drainer!!!)

It's not normal for 'nasty stuff' to come out.

Do you drain the gascolator first? If you do, you can drag nasty stuff down from the tanks into the pipes, and this can reach the engine at embarrasing times. When you drain the wing tanks you don't see the muck because it's down in the pipes from when you drained below. Sort of poorly explained but you get the picture. You should always drain the tanks first.

If I owned this 152 the fuel filters would be checked and the Fuel system would be drained from the drain point (under the and slightly FWD of the tank shut off valve) this is the lowest part of the fuel system and the most likely place to find any dirt._

A sticking inlet valve might well cause a power drop. As the piston attempts to compress the mixture it feels no resistance and drives the mixture back down the inlet tube and disrupts the carburettor air flow.