Engine failure

AuntPeggy said:
How can you have an in-flight engine failure and not notice it?
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Quite a few engine failures are found on the ground.

by finding metal in the oil, or in the filter, they failed in flight but did not create an in flight emergency.

A customer had a cylinder nearly leave the engine in flight, he never noticed it until he deplaned and saw the huge oil puddle under the aircraft and all the oil on the belly. It certainly failed in flight, but it was found on the ground.
 
Tom-D said:
I've seen several engine failures in flight that the pilot never knew it until they noticed all the sparkles on the dip stick. pulled the filter and went OMG.
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Not really sure how that could happen, but I know I certainly haven't seen all flight scenarios either.

I've had one engine failure happen to me, in a rental. I was lucky enough to be midfield downwind when the #2 cylinder decided it had been in close proximity to the case for long enough. I had high vibration and RPM loss, immediately pulled power followed by mixture and turned midfield final, turned out to be a non-issue but certainly had potential. Never saw any oil on the windscreen. Honestly do not remember calling emergency but I do remember tower calling me back and telling me "all runways available" as I was flaring, I was thinking "a little late now..."
 
airguy said:
Not really sure how that could happen, but I know I certainly haven't seen all flight scenarios either.

I've had one engine failure happen to me, in a rental. I was lucky enough to be midfield downwind when the #2 cylinder decided it had been in close proximity to the case for long enough. I had high vibration and RPM loss, immediately pulled power followed by mixture and turned midfield final, turned out to be a non-issue but certainly had potential. Never saw any oil on the windscreen. Honestly do not remember calling emergency but I do remember tower calling me back and telling me "all runways available" as I was flaring, I was thinking "a little late now..."
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:confused: Just speculating, is "S..t, s..t, s..t" a substitute for "Mayday, mayday, mayday"?:confused:
 
AuntPeggy said:
How can you have an in-flight engine failure and not notice it?
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Not all parts of the engine are critical to its continued operation.

A few things that come to mind are a flattened cam lobe, burned valve, spalled or broken rocker arms, worn oil pump, flattened piston (overheat damage), broken piston ring lands (severe detonation damage) or a leaky cylinder gasket.
 
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Went flying with a friend yesterday. I got to sit in the back while Hubby and another pilot flew. Anyway, got an email today from the friend who went flying again today. After shutting down, found pools of oil coming out of the cowling. Will be buying 2 cylinders unexpectedly. Plane ran a little rough yesterday. We thought it was the heat.:hairraise: Glad I wasn't up front.
 
silver-eagle said:
I always thought that when the fan stopped turning (or went rough), the first thing to do was to undo the last thing you did. I haven't had my engine failure yet but did have a complete electrical failure 10 miles out of the airport.
How you deal with emergencies depends on how you train. If you haven't done it recently, go get some time with an instructor and go through some basic scenarios. (Then take the credit towards your next WINGS/Flight Review. Two birds.)
As to communicating, I usually switch the radio to the local field frequency or the local approach. That way, you just click the mike, announce your situation, and let them do what they need to do.
Keep it simple.
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Most of the time when the fan stops turning the problem lies within the fuel valve, it either breaks or can't find a tank with fuel in it, neither is reversible till on the ground. Once you get past the fuel valve you best be pitching for best glide and find a spot to point it before you proceed with diagnostics.
 
I agree with Henning that most engine failures are fuel related...fuel starvation - because the tank selected was run dry. One can also run out of oil; a slow steady leak on a long flight. Watched it stream down the cowling for a couple of hours in a twin Beech and then noticed the oil pressure was starting to fluctuate. I feathered the engine. By that time I was about 35 minutes from my destination, (and light weight) so I pressed on until about 10 minutes out, then restarted it for landing. Many engine failures have been caused by induction icing. I always preflight extra carefully when an aircraft has just come out of maintanence...I could tell you stories.

Complete failures are pretty cut and dried, (in a single) so far as pilot actions are concerned: Fly it, fix it, (if you can) and force land. But there are those times when the motor sounds like a couple of sneakers in the clothes drier...and there are no good options. I hate those.
 
j1b3h0 said:
Many engine failures have been caused by induction icing.
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By some estimates, carb ice is the single biggest cause of engine failures. The investigators cannot find anything wrong with the engine or fuel supply or anything else, but the conditions at the time are usually described as "conducive to carburetor icing."

And that's a training flaw, not an engine problem.

Dan
 
Dan Thomas said:
By some estimates, carb ice is the single biggest cause of engine failures. The investigators cannot find anything wrong with the engine or fuel supply or anything else, but the conditions at the time are usually described as "conducive to carburetor icing."

And that's a training flaw, not an engine problem.

Dan
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And a hole I know I have in my training. The extent of my non-FI experience is 10 hours (out of about 700) in a carbureted 172M.
 
AuntPeggy said:
Finally! A friend had an engine failure, knew what to do, he and family are unharmed, aircraft will fly again someday. He'll be publishing his story, I'm sure, but here are some gems from his email.

Aviate to Best Glide Speed. Don't turn, don't talk, don't fiddle with the engine controls, just trim the plane to hold Best Glide Speed hands-off, or a speed that holds altitude.

Navigate to a landing site. Identify the best landing site within gliding distance, and turn towards it.
-How do you know how far you can glide? I decided that 10 nm at 10,000' would be a reasonable go/no-go distance, or 1 nm per 1000' of altitude as the thumbrule. I checked that against the C152s, C172s, C177s, C182s, PA28s, S24Rs, and M20Js I flew or taught in, and it seemed to fit all of them nicely.

Fix or Fly: This is a decision point.
-If you're above Traffic Pattern Altitude, then do an Engine Failure flow- in a Complex plane it's GUMPS, in a Cessna it's the Inverted-L.

-If you're below TPA, then don't try to recover the engine, don't do a flow, just focus all your attention on flying the aircraft to a safe landing.

Communicate: You only get to this step if you're above TPA, and the engine recovery attempt has been unsuccessful. This is a confirmed emergency. Here you call ATC and tell them what you're doing, how many with you, and what's wrong.
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Explain this "inverted L" thing. I know the emerg. procedures already, but perhaps the inverted L thing will make it easier to remember?
 
Going from one control to the next, bottom to top, right to left, check or adjust each to restart the engine. Your flow may be slightly different, depending upon the exact layout of your plane.

This flow pattern is also a good practice in setting up for landing (before or in the downwind) or before clearing turns for training maneuvers or even engine start on the ramp. I find it more useful than GUMPS, which has a couple of inappropriate mneumonics for my fixed-gear non-complex airplane. Flow works for every airplane if you take the time to figure out in advance what it ought to be.

Typical Emergency Flows
Let's take a typical training aircraft and see how we can use a flow to rapidly deal with an emergency. For this example we'll consider an engine failure in a Cessna 172. If the engine fails at altitude, the first order of business after assuming best glide speed, selecting a forced landing site, and turning in the proper direction is to attempt to restart the engine. The flow pattern for this procedure takes the shape of an inverted L pattern in the cockpit.
The engine restart flow pattern starts with checking the fuel selector located between the two front seats to make sure it is in one of the on positions. Next, move up to the lower, center part of the instrument panel and work across from right to left, beginning with the mixture. The mixture should be set to the full rich position and the throttle retarded to idle then slowly advanced. (Moving the throttle plate on the carburetor may dislodge ice, and readjusting the throttle after the mixture has been reset may encourage the engine to run again.) Next, the carburetor heat should be turned on. Moving to the left, check the magnetos, then verify that the primer is in and locked. This flow pattern contains all of the elements on the emergency checklist, yet the entire pattern takes only seconds to complete.
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http://flighttraining.aopa.org/magazine/1999/October/199910_Features_Go_with_the_Flow.html

To be honest, though, I usually pull on the carburetor heat knob first before starting the flow if the engine is getting rough or if the tachometer is dropping unexpectedly. That has always been the solution, so that is pretty automatic. It still gets another tug during the flow, though.
 
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AuntPeggy said:
I haven't gotten in touch with my friend to have him post his story here, but he has already posted it on the Red Board. So, if you have access to the AOPA forum, look at this: http://forums.aopa.org/showthread.php?t=82447
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Ah, that's familiar. Someone else here posted a link to that story in another thread. Hadn't realized that this was your friend!
 
I added my own version to that AOPA thread but here it is for this board.

Reading this eerily reminds me of an almost identical experience I had back when I was a newly minted Private ASEL with about 75 hours total.

Cruising back from French Lick Indiana with my wife, one year old daughter and another on the way (5 months pregnant), things got really tense.

We were motoring up the Ohio River at 2500 back to overhead Cincinnati where we both grew up for some sightseeing and then to WPAFB in a Cherokee 180 back before all the Class B,C,D thingys.

Suddenly the engine started vibrating so bad I could not read the gauges. I pulled power back to 1800 RPM and the vibration stopped but basically all the engine was doing was turning the prop since to maintain altitude was impossible. I looked out the window and there was CVG dead abeam.

Running the emergency Checklist ingrained in my mind by a crusty ex WWII aviator turned CFI and checking all the gauges and seeing no immediate signs of flame or other signs of distress like oil on the cowling or windscreen, I maintained the highest RPM I could without vibrations which was about 1700-1800, just right, at least mentally, for an approach to landing.

I banked toward the airport and called the tower to announce I was coming straight in to 18L. ATC asked if I wanted to declare an emergency which I foolishly did not do. I did note that I had lost essentially all power and as best I can recall from over 40 years ago, I did tell them not to let anyone get in my way because I could not go around.

ATC cleared me direct and I flew a straight in approach, touched down about 1000 feet down the runway having maintained as much altitude for as long as possible, turned off and managed enough power without shaking the engine out of the mounts to taxi to the FBO.

The lineman asked me to move the plane a few slots down the ramp. I handed him the keys and noted I was not getting back in that aircraft right now and the engine had failed.

After collecting our stuff, calling the WPAFB Aero Club to report the incident and calling my brother who lived nearby to bring a case a beer, I returned home to Dayton OH.

The mechanics from the Aero Club drove down and checked the engine the next day and determined the engine had "ate an exhaust valve" in their technical terms that got mashed around and out the exhaust without jamming the piston or other less desirable results.

About the only lesson I learned was if its an emergency like this really was, do not be bashful on the radio. The rest I chalk up to my fine instructors who taught me how to handle the airplane in "exciting" times and aviate, navigate and communicate.

It was subconsciously comforting to hear the engine making noise and the prop turning even though it was not useful except for taxi. If it would have seized altogether, I suppose it might have been a little more exciting but suddenly flying a noisy glider was interesting enough. With this "minor" difference, this episode was very similar to the original report in this thread.

I went back to flying and accumulated another ~100 hours (without excitement) before work and family took higher priority. I recently resumed flying again with an extensive refreshing by another Crusty CFI, but this time from Vietnam and "Huns" and the experience from this adventure has kept me confident but not overconfident back in the cockpit.

Cheers
 
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