First flight after engine failure

Zeldman

Zeldman

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Billy
I was just wondering, how many people would feel comfortable being the first one to take a single engine plane up for a flight after that plane had an off airport landing due to unexplained loss of power?

Even though the plane went through maintenance that "checked everything", and nothing was found that caused the loss of power, would you feel comfortable to make a 2 hour cross country flight?

Any different thought between it being your plane or one that sits on the line for a rental?

Just keep in mind that the plane was flown over the airport for an hour, within gliding distance, before being released back into service.
 
I think what would give me most pause was whether something was found or not. According to your post, they "checked everything" and nothing was found. I'd be less happy about it in that case. If something was found and fixed, not too concerned.

John
 
Good points, if they didn't find anything, I would not fly it, especially if it was not my plane. Or perhaps a 2nd opinion is in order from another mechanic.
 
If I own it: Did I fly the hour or did they? Do I have time to fly the circuit a bit, look and listen, before it's time to take the two hour trip?

If it's a rental: Wait a week and let the other test pilots prove it out.
 
sounds like carb ice or debris in the fuel line/system. Was the fuel system (lines, pumps, etc) removed and cleaned, blown out, replaced etc? If not, no thanks I'm not flying it.
 
ChemGuy said:
sounds like carb ice or debris in the fuel line/system. Was the fuel system (lines, pumps, etc) removed and cleaned, blown out, replaced etc? If not, no thanks I'm not flying it.
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That was my first thought as well. Carb ice would leave no evidence.

Water or debris in the fuel should perhaps still have some in the carb.
 
I did that off a short river on floats once. We had to change the motor since there was a gaping hole in the side of the old one. Do your best setup on a muddy river bank, point it dowstream, and hope it gets you over those trees. That motor cooked itself to death before it made 20 hours.
 
I've done it several times. The difference between my situation and the one proposed is that I was the one flying the plane after the inspection and I was the one who did the inspection and/or maintenance too. If some other mechanic whom I didn't trust was the one looking the plane over I may refuse to fly it.
 
I ain't scared, I'll take her up! :yes:

And have done so. Not boasting at all. As long as prechecks , runup, and takeoff roll are OK, up we go.
 
I'd want to be darned sure I knew why. I've known two planes pretty much totaled that took even short flights (but away from the airport) after "unexplained loss of power"
(or even in one case probably an explained loss of power). Fortunately nobody seriously injured, but why tempt fate?

I've certainly seen failures that won't manifest itself in runups all day long. I had some balky mag overheating problem that you could do run ups all you wanted but pretty much once you got about 500' in the air the things would start misfiring. We had a navion with an intermittant engine roughness. Lots of us (Including an A&P) looked a the thing on the ground and the guy went out and ran it up and flew and it finally lunched the valve in a way that caused the loss of oil pressure and they balled it up in the NM scrub.
 
In my case I found I was most comfortable in close proximity to some place I could land. This took perhaps 2-3 hours before it faded.
 
Daytime? Terrain or obstacles? A downtown airport or a 'farmland airport'? Enroute surface benignity?
If the above are acceptable, tell them you'll go but you want it at 1/2 price for 'testing' it for them; and $0.00 if it quits again.....plus any incidentals, and a ride to your destination.
And then make sure your aviation life insurance premiums are paid up.
 
You're going to hear some little noises (let's hope imaginary) from the engine for at least the first 30 minutes. Similar to Auto-Rough over water.

If you fly it and all goes well, you've gotta change your screen name to Chuck Yeager. :) That's how I felt after the first flight of my RV. It's a proven design and all, and I'm confident in my building skills, had done many ground tests in preparation, etc.

Still, on that very first climb into the pattern, the Sphinct-o-meter was pegged!!
 
"Unexplained loss of power" is commonly carb ice. Too many pilots know little or nothing about it, and some even think it only happens in the winter.
 
Tell the A&p to fly it, and take his kids with him/her or ?

you'll soon see the problem.
 
I should have mentioned in my OP that it is fuel injected so no worry about carb ice.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

The plane went up for another test flight and the engine started shaking on final at reduced power.

Hopefully something a little more definite might be found with the engine this time.
 
Been there done that.

I'd take one up, no biggie, just being VERY cautious
 
Zeldman said:
I should have mentioned in my OP that it is fuel injected so no worry about carb ice.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

The plane went up for another test flight and the engine started shaking on final at reduced power.

Hopefully something a little more definite might be found with the engine this time.
Click to expand...
I normally like to see this type of discrepancy treated by removal of the engine placed on a test stand and run to spec.
we may have a fuel delivery problem.
 
Thanks Tom. I have had that thought as well.

The biggest problem is that the DM has lost the trust from several of the pilots.
 
Zeldman said:
I should have mentioned in my OP that it is fuel injected so no worry about carb ice.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

The plane went up for another test flight and the engine started shaking on final at reduced power.

Hopefully something a little more definite might be found with the engine this time.
Click to expand...

How old are the fuel hoses. It would be worthwhile taking a look at the inside of them.
 
I picked up the Navion after having a new cylinder put on it. The mechanic and I went over everything several times (including cutting the filter and digging the broken valve out of the intake system). We ground ran it twice. I did another extensive preflight check and then circled leisurly over the airport until I got up to about 5500 before heading off to my destination. Still I was scanning nearest airports continually for the first hour.
 
I was lucky enough to do the same today... A couple weeks ago mine was running very rough once i got about 20 miles from the airport. It got progressively worse so that I declared an emergency on the way back. Just had the A&P look at it this morning, clean some parts, straighten the hoses, flush the hoses, run it full rpm on the ground, etc.. And nothing... so the hope and expectation was it was something in the fuel system that has since cleared out. I just spent 40 min in the pattern today testing any fuel related configuration I could think of. Every bump and sound, my mind told me I was going down(maybe a slight exaggeration) but I know I was sensitive to every sound and gauge. All went ok. I'll probably do another 30-60min in the pattern before I load the family in. In the end it sure would have been nice if he pulled out some part and said "yep.. there's yer problem right there."

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On my fourth solo, I was the unlucky bastard that returned a C-172 to service after the mag (single shaft dual mag) was serviced and reinstalled.

The owner/cfi/a&p/IA refused to fly it because he had more important things to do.

Of course, what bad things could happen when you take off on your first unsupervised solo out of the pattern towards the Mexican border when your plane suddenly loses power at 1200' AGL and you're twelve miles from the field....

You do what any other student pilot would do and fly the approach high, turn final too close at 80 kts, go around and try again and go past the end of the runway on a 2400' abandoned strip in gliding distance from the border fence and wait for your instructor to come out and re-set the magneto, which was now at 52 degrees BTDC.


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what kind of mags does it have? what make model aircraft?
 
Not sure on the mags. Engine is a Continental TSIO-520

Nothing to fear. My contract ends in 7 days, then back home to the high desert.
 
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