N18KN engine out incident at KLZU 01/30/2022
Charles Wallace Jr.
January 31st 2022
My hope by documenting this incident is to give all who read this account some insight of what happened to me during an engine out incident that happened on 01/30/22 at Gwinnett County Airport, Georgia. Prior to explaining what happened on Jan 30th, it might help to listen the tower audio at KLZU to get an idea of what happened. It is approximately 5 minutes from takeoff to emergency landing. You can listen to that audio here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/128KoGgM-coODON8JPU9IyE_0E_txl_LK/view?usp=sharing
Pilot Background
Before diving into the details, I’d like to give some background information about myself. My name is Charles Wallace. I am currently the Vice President of AeroVentures Flying Club, a flying club in Metro Atlanta of approximately 150 members, and 6 airplanes. Piper Dakota, N18KN is one of the club Aircraft. The Club aircraft fly thousands of flights a year safely. I have never met anyone personally that has had an engine out experience. I have been a certificated pilot since 2015, have about 200 hours PIC time and logged 25 hours of actual IFR PIC.
The Airplane
AeroVentures Flying Club acquired the 1979 Piper Dakota PA-28-236 airplane in early spring of 2021. After getting the airplane back to our home base at LZU, we had our regular mechanic perform a thorough inspection of the aircraft. Subsequent repairs and even some upgrades were done to the aircraft throughout the first year that we owned it.
Flight Planning
My daughter and I planned the flight for 01/30/2022 @ 1300Z. High pressure was dominant over the area. The previous night’s TAF predicted clear skies, calm winds until 1600Z and temperatures around 20deg F. We planned the flight to complete the flight prior to an increase in forecasted winds, which may have been gusting to 20 knots.
Pre Flight
Upon arriving to the airport, the airplane was prepped in all the usual ways. Including the preflight check of the aircraft, getting all the gear into the airplane (Ipad, headphones, etc), fueling it, and pulling it out of the hangar.
Startup and Taxi
It was an unusually cold morning here in metro Atlanta. The temperature was approximately 21 deg when we boarded the aircraft. I gave the plane a few primer pumps of fuel. The engine would start and then die in a second or so. It took two subsequent attempts with a few more primer pumps each to finally get the engine started. After about 10 seconds or so I pulled the power back to idle from about 1000 RPMs. The engine would not idle and died. I gave it a few more pumps of fuel and started again. I let the engine warm up to around 250 CHT which took a few minutes before pulling the throttle back to idle from 1000 RPMs. The engine was idling ok now and the CHT/EGT’s were increasing slowly. The engine sounded normal, and I’ve had a hard time in previous experiences in starting aircraft in cold temperatures. This did not seem abnormal.
I called for taxi ground clearance and was given instruction to taxi to RW 25 via Tango, Echo and Yankee for a north departure. Once at the IFR hold point for RW 25, I started going through the ground check and before takeoff checklist. All checks were a pass, including the carb heat, prop, magnetos. There were no issues with the mag check and the engine sounded and felt as it always has. Idle was also normal at the end of the checks. With the prop set to full forward and mixture set to full rich I made the call to Gwinnett Tower that we were ready for departure.
The Flight
After receiving our takeoff clearance from the tower, I lined up on RW25 and slowly applied full throttle. We rotated somewhere around 70 knots. The clime performance with the cold temps and negative density altitude was outstanding. When we were at 900 ft above the airport and past the end of the runway, I started my turn to 360. At 1000 ft AGL, is when we lost all engine RPM. My first thoughts were of disbelief. After hundreds of flights myself this has never happened, and I personally don’t know of anyone who had this happen to them either. The feeling of disbelieve turned to great anxiety in the same instant.
At this point I made a call to the tower that we lost power and needed to head back. I had to quickly think about my options. Troubleshooting, finding a place to land, altitude, airspeed, all the things that we are taught to think of during an engine out event. All these things happening in just seconds, under enormous pressure, anxiety, and worry. They gave me clearance to land on RW 07 and asked if I wanted to declare an emergency and require 911. To which I responded “roger”.
I decided to try “the impossible turn”. My situation was a bit different. I was close to the airport and very high. The problem was I was too high. I tried turning north for a few seconds before making a left turn as base and then join the final with nose down. I was too high, too close, and too fast to make it to the airport. I made another call to the tower to let them know that we weren’t going to make it to RW 07. The tower advised that I was clear for RW 25 and that the “trucks” were rolling. I assume they meant fire trucks. There was indeed a fire truck at the end of RW 25 upon landing.
While all this was happening, I was concurrently checking the airplane controls. I checked the mixture and prop. I pulled the throttle back and I started to get a few RPMs, variably between 1000 and 1500. I pushed the throttle back in thinking that the problem might have cleared up. When I pushed the throttle back in, I lost all RPM again. I pulled the throttle out again, and now have 1000 to 1500, variably to work with. I made another call to the tower advising I have the power back and my intention was to land. I was wrong in this statement; I should have told them I have some power back.
Trimming up the airplane to around 85, loosing speed and altitude. I’m very close to the RW, but not quite parallel to RW 25 downwind, more cutting across it and downwind. My goal was to make it past the RW 25 abeam numbers far enough to make a left base then final turn to 25. As I was making the base turn, I could see the VASI lights indicating I was high. Once I knew I had the field made during the turn, I applied full flaps and cut of the remaining power I had left. Still too high, I headed to the numbers and ended up with a nice landing.
The full track from takeoff to landing can be seen here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/129L59AssrCgt9h8gZGTxJqfyAXIcDctI/view?usp=sharing
· Altitudes are not correct. Our tracking service, 1200.aero, confirmed that although the transponder was reporting regularly, every second, but the altitudes were not changing. The position and speed reports are correct. There was a significant headwind aloft during takeoff, and a tailwind in the opposite direction.
Post Flight
Once the airplane had landed, I taxied it to the hangar. Performed all post flight activities and left the airport. I called several people afterwards to let them know what had just happened. This included, our regular mechanic, the club president, the maintenance officer, and another member who assists the mechanic. The initial thought that some were advocating against or for was carburetor icing. This one I’ve pondered as I didn’t turn on carburetor heat. I’ve always been told that the carb icing would onset as roughness in the engine or reduced power, so with all the other many problems I had to deal with it wasn’t on the top of my list of things to try with the little time I had to deal with this problem. Hindsight, it’s possible this might have made the problem worse in my situation with reducing my already diminished RPM. Once I had some RPM, I didn’t want to alter any more engine controls. I would probably have tried it soon after if the other adjustments didn’t have an effect. The other possibility suggest that was given was ice in the fuel system. The problem is that if it were carb ice or ice in the fuel, we would likely never find out the problem after the flight with the plane in the hangar.
Charles Wallace Jr.
January 31st 2022
My hope by documenting this incident is to give all who read this account some insight of what happened to me during an engine out incident that happened on 01/30/22 at Gwinnett County Airport, Georgia. Prior to explaining what happened on Jan 30th, it might help to listen the tower audio at KLZU to get an idea of what happened. It is approximately 5 minutes from takeoff to emergency landing. You can listen to that audio here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/128KoGgM-coODON8JPU9IyE_0E_txl_LK/view?usp=sharing
Pilot Background
Before diving into the details, I’d like to give some background information about myself. My name is Charles Wallace. I am currently the Vice President of AeroVentures Flying Club, a flying club in Metro Atlanta of approximately 150 members, and 6 airplanes. Piper Dakota, N18KN is one of the club Aircraft. The Club aircraft fly thousands of flights a year safely. I have never met anyone personally that has had an engine out experience. I have been a certificated pilot since 2015, have about 200 hours PIC time and logged 25 hours of actual IFR PIC.
The Airplane
AeroVentures Flying Club acquired the 1979 Piper Dakota PA-28-236 airplane in early spring of 2021. After getting the airplane back to our home base at LZU, we had our regular mechanic perform a thorough inspection of the aircraft. Subsequent repairs and even some upgrades were done to the aircraft throughout the first year that we owned it.
Flight Planning
My daughter and I planned the flight for 01/30/2022 @ 1300Z. High pressure was dominant over the area. The previous night’s TAF predicted clear skies, calm winds until 1600Z and temperatures around 20deg F. We planned the flight to complete the flight prior to an increase in forecasted winds, which may have been gusting to 20 knots.
Pre Flight
Upon arriving to the airport, the airplane was prepped in all the usual ways. Including the preflight check of the aircraft, getting all the gear into the airplane (Ipad, headphones, etc), fueling it, and pulling it out of the hangar.
Startup and Taxi
It was an unusually cold morning here in metro Atlanta. The temperature was approximately 21 deg when we boarded the aircraft. I gave the plane a few primer pumps of fuel. The engine would start and then die in a second or so. It took two subsequent attempts with a few more primer pumps each to finally get the engine started. After about 10 seconds or so I pulled the power back to idle from about 1000 RPMs. The engine would not idle and died. I gave it a few more pumps of fuel and started again. I let the engine warm up to around 250 CHT which took a few minutes before pulling the throttle back to idle from 1000 RPMs. The engine was idling ok now and the CHT/EGT’s were increasing slowly. The engine sounded normal, and I’ve had a hard time in previous experiences in starting aircraft in cold temperatures. This did not seem abnormal.
I called for taxi ground clearance and was given instruction to taxi to RW 25 via Tango, Echo and Yankee for a north departure. Once at the IFR hold point for RW 25, I started going through the ground check and before takeoff checklist. All checks were a pass, including the carb heat, prop, magnetos. There were no issues with the mag check and the engine sounded and felt as it always has. Idle was also normal at the end of the checks. With the prop set to full forward and mixture set to full rich I made the call to Gwinnett Tower that we were ready for departure.
The Flight
After receiving our takeoff clearance from the tower, I lined up on RW25 and slowly applied full throttle. We rotated somewhere around 70 knots. The clime performance with the cold temps and negative density altitude was outstanding. When we were at 900 ft above the airport and past the end of the runway, I started my turn to 360. At 1000 ft AGL, is when we lost all engine RPM. My first thoughts were of disbelief. After hundreds of flights myself this has never happened, and I personally don’t know of anyone who had this happen to them either. The feeling of disbelieve turned to great anxiety in the same instant.
At this point I made a call to the tower that we lost power and needed to head back. I had to quickly think about my options. Troubleshooting, finding a place to land, altitude, airspeed, all the things that we are taught to think of during an engine out event. All these things happening in just seconds, under enormous pressure, anxiety, and worry. They gave me clearance to land on RW 07 and asked if I wanted to declare an emergency and require 911. To which I responded “roger”.
I decided to try “the impossible turn”. My situation was a bit different. I was close to the airport and very high. The problem was I was too high. I tried turning north for a few seconds before making a left turn as base and then join the final with nose down. I was too high, too close, and too fast to make it to the airport. I made another call to the tower to let them know that we weren’t going to make it to RW 07. The tower advised that I was clear for RW 25 and that the “trucks” were rolling. I assume they meant fire trucks. There was indeed a fire truck at the end of RW 25 upon landing.
While all this was happening, I was concurrently checking the airplane controls. I checked the mixture and prop. I pulled the throttle back and I started to get a few RPMs, variably between 1000 and 1500. I pushed the throttle back in thinking that the problem might have cleared up. When I pushed the throttle back in, I lost all RPM again. I pulled the throttle out again, and now have 1000 to 1500, variably to work with. I made another call to the tower advising I have the power back and my intention was to land. I was wrong in this statement; I should have told them I have some power back.
Trimming up the airplane to around 85, loosing speed and altitude. I’m very close to the RW, but not quite parallel to RW 25 downwind, more cutting across it and downwind. My goal was to make it past the RW 25 abeam numbers far enough to make a left base then final turn to 25. As I was making the base turn, I could see the VASI lights indicating I was high. Once I knew I had the field made during the turn, I applied full flaps and cut of the remaining power I had left. Still too high, I headed to the numbers and ended up with a nice landing.
The full track from takeoff to landing can be seen here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/129L59AssrCgt9h8gZGTxJqfyAXIcDctI/view?usp=sharing
· Altitudes are not correct. Our tracking service, 1200.aero, confirmed that although the transponder was reporting regularly, every second, but the altitudes were not changing. The position and speed reports are correct. There was a significant headwind aloft during takeoff, and a tailwind in the opposite direction.
Post Flight
Once the airplane had landed, I taxied it to the hangar. Performed all post flight activities and left the airport. I called several people afterwards to let them know what had just happened. This included, our regular mechanic, the club president, the maintenance officer, and another member who assists the mechanic. The initial thought that some were advocating against or for was carburetor icing. This one I’ve pondered as I didn’t turn on carburetor heat. I’ve always been told that the carb icing would onset as roughness in the engine or reduced power, so with all the other many problems I had to deal with it wasn’t on the top of my list of things to try with the little time I had to deal with this problem. Hindsight, it’s possible this might have made the problem worse in my situation with reducing my already diminished RPM. Once I had some RPM, I didn’t want to alter any more engine controls. I would probably have tried it soon after if the other adjustments didn’t have an effect. The other possibility suggest that was given was ice in the fuel system. The problem is that if it were carb ice or ice in the fuel, we would likely never find out the problem after the flight with the plane in the hangar.
