Engine sputtering on takeoff

What do you do if your engine sputters on the takeoff roll?

  • Taxi back to the shop, put a note on it for the mechanics and call it a day

    Votes: 34 35.8%

  • Do some troubleshooting, another runup, and try it again

    Votes: 39 41.1%

  • Do a couple full power taxis down the runway, then take off if all is good

    Votes: 8 8.4%

  • Do a couple full power taxis down the runway, and leave it with the shop anyway

    Votes: 14 14.7%
  • Total voters
    95
Sac Arrow

Sac Arrow

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Hypothetical situation: You just got your plane back from the annual and you're flying it back home. Run up is good, you get on the runway, give it full throttle and the engine sputters. You abort the takeoff and taxi back.

What would you do?
 
Call to get my ride back to the airport and then see what the maintenance department can do. I brought them a good airplane and expect a good airplane back.

Odds are you're going to need tools you won't have in the airplane to diagnose the problem and I'd want to know exactly what the shop "checked".
 
Crapola, this posted before the poll was done. I meant to include more on this hypothetical situation, like you suspected a flooded engine, and did a couple of full power taxies on the runway and whatever was wrong cleared itself out.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Hypothetical situation: You just got your plane back from the annual and you're flying it back home. Run up is good, you get on the runway, give it full throttle and the engine sputters. You abort the takeoff and taxi back.

What would you do?
Click to expand...

Did I file a flight plan?????? :rofl:


I would resump the fuel, attempt to clear the mags, run it up again, hold it at power, and see if it repeated the behavior. If not I would, depending on traffic, make a dummy run down the runway with no intention of taking off to see if the phenomenon was motion induced. Once I had gathered as much data as I could I would get it to a mechanic.
 
Taxi back to his shop, crash in to it with the airplane then set fire to his house and eat his children in front of him........Oh, man I picked the wrong day to give-up cough syrup.
 
Art VanDelay said:
Taxi back to his shop, crash in to it with the airplane then set fire to his house and eat his children in front of him........Oh, man I picked the wrong day to give-up cough syrup.
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Thank you for such an informative post.

Unless my trouble shooting procedures proved why it sputters I'd not fly it.
 
Why you go back, kick yourself for thinking anything might be wrong, and commit to the accident....no not really.

That's why it's very important to not pick up the airplane at 4PM, it's getting dark, the shop is going home, etc etc etc. Like in the C310 crash this month in SW MO.
 
Full power taxi tests down the runway have the bad habit of ending poorly.
 
Threefingeredjack said:
Please explain. :dunno:
Click to expand...
These "taxi tests" often end up with the airplane flying to the surprise of the pilot, other end up off the runway...

I don't know if it's the distraction of looking for problems or being surprised when the airplane gets light, but way too many of those tests end poorly. The sad part is that those tests have little to no value.
 
p-thomas said:
These "taxi tests" often end up with the airplane flying to the surprise of the pilot, other end up off the runway...

I don't know if it's the distraction of looking for problems or being surprised when the airplane gets light, but way too many of those tests end poorly. The sad part is that those tests have little to no value.
Click to expand...

Without picking sides here, what would you suggest in lieu of a high speed taxi as a means of establishing if the engine can develop full power, a full power static runup? (Is that really as good?)
 
Sac Arrow said:
Without picking sides here, what would you suggest in lieu of a high speed taxi as a means of establishing if the engine can develop full power, a full power static runup? (Is that really as good?)
Click to expand...
I would consider starting with a full power static runup followed by a normal takeoff with definite abort criteria. The problem with calling it a full power or high speed taxi is the idea of that when you are troubleshooting on the go and have no definitive criteria for takeoff or aborting, you are setting yourself up for issues when the airplane wants to fly but your brain is still working on the ground.

If the 'sputtering' or whatever the issue is that gives you concern is not resolved for you to commit to flight......then abort and plan on flying another day.
 
Fearless Tower said:
I would consider starting with a full power static runup followed by a normal takeoff with definite abort criteria. The problem with calling it a full power or high speed taxi is the idea of that when you are troubleshooting on the go and have no definitive criteria for takeoff or aborting, you are setting yourself up for issues when the airplane wants to fly but your brain is still working on the ground.

If the 'sputtering' or whatever the issue is that gives you concern is not resolved for you to commit to flight......then abort and plan on flying another day.
Click to expand...

Valid points. And if in that situation the engine hasn't acted up at the same point it did on the first attempt it becomes an intermittent problem, which IMHO is even more dangerous. If a pilot can't maintain discipline enough to perform such a rudimentary task as deciding when to shut down in a test perhaps he should take up knitting...with dull needles of course. :D
 
My first thought would be that I've done something wrong. So I'd troubleshoot what I've done.

Threefingeredjack said:
I would resump the fuel, attempt to clear the mags, run it up again, hold it at power, and see if it repeated the behavior.
Click to expand...

+1

MAKG1 said:
Swear a few times, then push the mixture knob all the way in like it's supposed to be.
Click to expand...


+2

I would start to rebuild confidence in the airplane. Start with another hard look at the engine. Then go out to the really long runway, take off and land inline once or twice.

If that continued to work well, I'd probably take off and fly in the pattern, knowing that there are a number of fields to land in straight off the runway.

If all that went well, I'd write it up as a short circuit between the pilot's seat and the yoke.

If anything went wrong, if there was any kick or hiccup or I didn't have all of that in place (not at home for example, no long runway, no fields to land in, etc), then I'd stop and take it back to the mechanic.
 
Fearless Tower said:
I would consider starting with a full power static runup followed by a normal takeoff with definite abort criteria. The problem with calling it a full power or high speed taxi is the idea of that when you are troubleshooting on the go and have no definitive criteria for takeoff or aborting, you are setting yourself up for issues when the airplane wants to fly but your brain is still working on the ground.

.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%... That is exactly what killed the guy in his RV-6..
 
p-thomas said:
These "taxi tests" often end up with the airplane flying to the surprise of the pilot, other end up off the runway...

I don't know if it's the distraction of looking for problems or being surprised when the airplane gets light, but way too many of those tests end poorly. The sad part is that those tests have little to no value.
Click to expand...

I remember the first flight of the F-16 was supposed to be only a high speed taxi test.:eek:

Back to the barn for me and fully expect the "CND" write up the next day. OTOH, last time it happened to me they replaced the carburetor on the Warrior.

Cheers
 
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As a newly minted pilot, depending on how severe the "sputter" was, I may try a full run-up trying to isolate the issue, or just take it back to the shop and call it a day. If I did take off, I'd stick around the airport for a few laps just to be sure.
 
I had pretty much this exact issue except that the "sputtering" didn't begin until I was 100 ft above the runway.
 
Go back to the run up pad. Normal pre takeoff run up and mag checks. All normal, continue to check static rpm check. My bet it will sputter again.

Now that you have more data, back to the shop.

I always do a full preflight, a runup and full static power check when I pick up the plane after an annual. If it all checks out, then I go back, make sure the logbooks are signed and in my possession, then I write the check.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Hypothetical situation: You just got your plane back from the annual and you're flying it back home. Run up is good, you get on the runway, give it full throttle and the engine sputters. You abort the takeoff and taxi back.

What would you do?
Click to expand...

Assuming (1) I'm familar with the airplane (e.g., in my case, the 140 I used to own) and (2) I've done the normal preflight without incident (e.g., mag check good, etc)

I would take it back to the shop. By the time I get on the runway, I've already done all the engine runups/checks needed and I expect the airplane to be completely ready to fly. On the runway with full power is not where I want any problems.

The closest I came to your hypothetical is the first flight following a cylinder replacement. Everything was good...until I was 400' in the air and the engine began to run rough. I requested an immediate on a crossing runway (winds were light) and taxi'd back the shop.
 
If the motor is a little bit cold, I would not be surprised to get some coughing and hesitation on application of full power, that might not have shown up on the partial power run up. Also since you are going for full throttle, you are more likely to open the throttle quicker which makes the motor more likely to bog and sputter. Since it is the first flight of the day, its reasonable to assume the motor is not completely up to operating temp.

Some aircraft are more sensitive to this than others.

I'd taxi back, let it warm up another minute, do a full power run up and then take off.
 
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Sputtering engine on the ground is frustrating. Sputtering engine in the air is a freaking emergency. Generally speaking, it's bad policy to turn frustration in to a pilot induced emergency. If the engine doesn't start easily, find out why. If the engine doesn't develop full power, find out why. If you can't find out why, taxi the airplane to someone who can.
 
j1b3h0 said:
Sputtering engine on the ground is frustrating. Sputtering engine in the air is a freaking emergency. Generally speaking, it's bad policy to turn frustration in to a pilot induced emergency. If the engine doesn't start easily, find out why. If the engine doesn't develop full power, find out why. If you can't find out why, taxi the airplane to someone who can.
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Amen, brother, amen.

I'm amazed that anyone would do anything other than calling it a day, especially at their home field or the field where the shop was located, if the shop was not at their home field. At an offsite field, well, that's why you have a cell phone and there are rental car agencies and/or hotels.

So many times I keep hearing pilots on the ground with this type of mechanical situation "wishing/hoping" that the issue goes away with just another runup, etc. But, to each his/her own....
 
DutchessFlier said:
I'm amazed that anyone would do anything other than calling it a day, especially at their home field or the field where the shop was located, if the shop was not at their home field.
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Depends on what we are calling 'sputter' (Still hasn't been defined by the OP). That is a really ambiguous word that could be caused by anything from poor pilot technique to significant issues that could lead to engine failure.
 
I go back to the shop and see what got put together wrong and fix it.
 
DutchessFlier said:
I'm amazed that anyone would do anything other than calling it a day
Click to expand...

???

Why would you do that? A sputter can be a number of things, some of which have nothing to do with a mechanic or with the airplane being un-airworthy. As a pilot, we should have the ability to tell something about the difference and be able to land safely at all times.

I gave an answer that I would test and fly. Why? Because I have outs. If my engine quits on takeoff, I can slip back down the 7000' runway and land it. Or extend straight out to one of fields off the runway. By myself in the winter, I'm usually 800' agl on a Vy climb before I cross the opposite threshold, so all kinds of options come into play there. If I do a Vx climb, I can be to pattern altitude before I get halfway down the runway.

Does the answer change depending on what a sputter is and what outs are available to us?
 
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DutchessFlier said:
Amen, brother, amen.

I'm amazed that anyone would do anything other than calling it a day, especially at their home field or the field where the shop was located, if the shop was not at their home field. At an offsite field, well, that's why you have a cell phone and there are rental car agencies and/or hotels.

So many times I keep hearing pilots on the ground with this type of mechanical situation "wishing/hoping" that the issue goes away with just another runup, etc. But, to each his/her own....
Click to expand...

As I pointed out, a lot of times the engine is just cold, the throttle was advanced too quickly, the mixture was not set right, or the plugs need to be cleaned off a bit by a lean run up. They aren't computer controlled like a car.
 
numl0ck said:
As a newly minted pilot, depending on how severe the "sputter" was, I may try a full run-up trying to isolate the issue, or just take it back to the shop and call it a day. If I did take off, I'd stick around the airport for a few laps just to be sure.
Click to expand...

A sputter is excess fuel, a stutter is inadequate fuel. A cold engine may stutter but may not sputter, not without investigation to see if fuel is dribbling or pouring out of a vent.
 
DutchessFlier said:
Amen, brother, amen.

I'm amazed that anyone would do anything other than calling it a day, especially at their home field or the field where the shop was located, if the shop was not at their home field. At an offsite field, well, that's why you have a cell phone and there are rental car agencies and/or hotels.

So many times I keep hearing pilots on the ground with this type of mechanical situation "wishing/hoping" that the issue goes away with just another runup, etc. But, to each his/her own....
Click to expand...

dell30rb said:
As I pointed out, a lot of times the engine is just cold, the throttle was advanced too quickly, the mixture was not set right, or the plugs need to be cleaned off a bit by a lean run up. They aren't computer controlled like a car.
Click to expand...

Me personally, if I could determine it was a case of a cold engine or an incorrect mixture setting and I could rectify the situation, I'd go flying. If I couldn't, or if I wasn't sure, I'd call it a day.
 
bflynn said:
???

Why would you do that? A sputter can be a number of things, some of which have nothing to do with a mechanic or with the airplane being un-airworthy. As a pilot, we should have the ability to tell something about the difference and be able to land safely at all times.

I gave an answer that I would test and fly. Why? Because I have outs. If my engine quits on takeoff, I can slip back down the 7000' runway and land it. Or extend straight out to one of fields off the runway. By myself in the winter, I'm usually 800' agl on a Vy climb before I cross the opposite threshold, so all kinds of options come into play there. If I do a Vx climb, I can be to pattern altitude before I get halfway down the runway.

Does the answer change depending on what a sputter is and what outs are available to us?
Click to expand...

With SEVEN THOUSAND feet of runway, I could take off and land 9 times, but I dare not fly with a suspect engine at my home drome.
 
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