How many of you have had an engine failure?

RyanB

RyanB

Super Administrator
Management Council Member
PoA Supporter
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
16,524
Location
Chattanooga, TN
Display Name
Display name:
Ryan
How many of you all have had an engine failure? How many times, and what phase of flight?
Curious to see how many have had one.
 
I've had probably around a hundred of them. In training. ;)

For real? Nope, not yet. *knocks on wood
 
One just after take-off at KSFO, another just before rotation in KSBA.
 
Early in training turning to base my instructor said to pull the throttle out some more. Well.. I pulled the mixture instead. As soon as I pulled it I knew what I did, let out a little shriek followed by my instructor saying NO and I quickly shoved it full rich. No hiccup or anthing.
That was the closest ive been to an engine failure in flight.

Now when I raced motocross, my bike decided to break a rod and locked up in the middle of the race. I had to push my bike across the finish line so I would at least get last place points. Not fun! But it did happen at a time when nothing major was going on.ie..not committed to a jump.
 
Had one once but I was only chair flying.
Stubbed my toe.
 
Two failures, both in singles. One in an old airplane while towing gliders; the carburetor came off because the bolts hadn't been lockwired. I had enough altitude to reach the airport. The other was a broken crankshaft at 400 feet over farm country; I chose a fallow field and landed it. That engine had had a propstrike in the distant past somewhere and had dialled out as OK when it wasn't, obviously. The broken surfaces showed that a crack had existed for a long time and gradually accelerated until the last half or so of the metal failed.

Dan
 
Once on takeoff, 100 ft up. In a PA 28. Big shove, landed upright but flipped over when nose wheel dug into soft ground. Missed wires at end of runway by about 15 feet. Bent door to get out. I was 22 with about 10 hrs. on my PPL.

Lots of fun. Great story for my passengers. Always smell the gas sample when sumping the tanks :yes:
 
Yup.

Not fun but, no injuries or damage.
 
Only one. Felt a vibration after some spirited acro. Headed back to the home field and the crank broke at the #2 journal. Landed in a cow pasture, damaging the tailwheel a bit. Swapped the engine and flew back to the airport then fixed the TW correctly.
 
I have had two PT6-41s fail on me, both in a King Air 200. One was at cruise and one was about 1000 feet off the ground on climb out.

Nobody counts PT6 engine failures. Their supposed "reliability" stems from the fact that almost 100% of them are installed on King Airs, and the pilots simply return that fat safe winged airplane back to base.
 
Am I the only one surprised by how many people have experienced this?! I'm a student finishing up my PPL so haven't been around GA that long but I was under the impression that engine failures were less common!
 
Now the question is, were these failures caused by something you could have done differently? Or were they complete mechanical?
 
FlyingMonkey said:
Am I the only one surprised by how many people have experienced this?! I'm a student finishing up my PPL so haven't been around GA that long but I was under the impression that engine failures were less common!
Click to expand...
All the non engine failure pilots have not responded so it looks bad. Self reporting only the negative.
Ryanb said:
Now the question is, were these failures caused by something you could have done differently? Or were they complete mechanical?
Click to expand...
Mine was mechanical nothing I or maintenance could do to prevent it.
 
Depends on what you call an engine failure. Unexpected engine stoppage due to fuel starvation? Yeah but it shouldn't have been unexpected, very close to the ground. Switched tanks and it fired up again so I didn't have to land on the country road I lined up on.
Another time I had what had been a smooth running engine suddenly start running extremely rough on climbout, landed back on airport. Turned out to be a bad spark plug.
 
FlyingMonkey said:
Am I the only one surprised by how many people have experienced this?! I'm a student finishing up my PPL so haven't been around GA that long but I was under the impression that engine failures were less common!
Click to expand...

There's a study (Nall Report) that attempts to quantify failures vs hours flown. Its more reliable data than an internet thread askiing for people to report their failures-- thats all youre going to collect.

Geico should be chiming in soon to tell you about his 3 failures and why he shuts off his engine in flight once a month just for practice.

3-2-1

Cue Geico
 
Ryanb said:
Now the question is, were these failures caused by something you could have done differently? ................
Click to expand...
Yes, I could have been paying more attention in the first instance and in the second it happened a few hours after a mechanic had dropped the spark plug on the concrete floor while cleaning it, I saw him drop it and then proceed to re-install it anyway and said nothing :redface:
 
I suspect, but can't be sure that the broken crank in my engine was the result of a previous prop strike. It may, or may not have been torn down for insp because this happened in the early 80s, so my op is that it wasn't torn down. Once I put some stress on it, finally it let go. Interesting that I knew the plane so well, I detected a vibration when the journal to cheek breach happened. I was keeping it at 2100 on the way home, but it didn't take long for the whole thing to come apart.
 
One partial on my left engine in old Commander. Was still making a bit of power, so continued to destination. Two cylinders cracked, two exhaust valves and both compression and oil rings mysteriously gone. Probably chopped into pieces and passed out the exhaust. This is what piston looked like:
 

Attachments

  • piston.jpg
    piston.jpg
    103.1 KB · Views: 110
I've experienced two. One intentional, by an over zealous passenger who thought shutting off the fuel would be a funny prank over the ocean in a 172, and the other in a 310 when the right propeller hub seal failed on takeoff just before rotation. In the former I realized the problem when I ran through the checklist and got the engine restarted about 230' above the water with doors propped open and my mind prepared for a ditching. Needless to say, my rear seat passenger didn't think it was at all funny and sucker punched said passenger when we were once again safely on the ground.

The second, more terrifying episode occurred at night in a light rain the same day that the plane was cleared for flight following a repair to the engine. As we rolled down the runway I saw and heard something hitting my windshield and wondered what in the world it could be. Seconds later we were departing the runway in an uncontrolled manner and narrowly avoided planes on the ramp and a building beyond. The material was engine oil leaking from the propeller hub. The engine kept running but the prop feathered. That was my last flight in a twin and the experience since haunts me when I fly.
 
I've had one getting fuel with sand in it. Started missing on climb. Was hoping would clear up but didn't. Got to maybe 4000 agl an it died. Decided which airport looked best and landed. Basically non event. Was in Florida and most places seems like there's a airport on every corner.
 
WakeNCAgent said:
One intentional, by an over zealous passenger who thought shutting off the fuel would be a funny prank over the ocean in a 172... Needless to say, my rear seat passenger didn't think it was at all funny and sucker punched said passenger when we were once again safely on the ground.
Click to expand...

I don't care how good of friend he was. If someone did that while I was flying over water, they would get a straight *** whooping when we got on the ground. Right there on the tarmac.
 
If you count ultralights along with Experimental. I have had more then I care to remember.

One was a total loss of reduction unit and prop at 1000'. New airplane and engine. Manufacturer fault here.

Another was right after having my airplane in the shop. Mechanics fault, that would be me. Lost induction unit. On take off at about 30' in the air. I landed.

A few two stroke engines have seized in flight.

Why I believe everyone should start their flying in an ultralight to experience an engine out a few times.

Tony
 
1600vw said:
If you count ultralights along with Experimental. I have had more then I care to remember.

One was a total loss of reduction unit and prop at 1000'. New airplane and engine. Manufacturer fault here.

Another was right after having my airplane in the shop. Mechanics fault, that would be me. Lost induction unit. On take off at about 30' in the air. I landed.

A few two stroke engines have seized in flight.

Why I believe everyone should start their flying in an ultralight to experience an engine out a few times.

Tony
Click to expand...


You are really selling it to me :)
 
Flying my 'fat' ultralight a friend raised me on the CTAF and talked me into shutting down and soaring a while. After a time I was in trouble and my 2-stroke Rotax wouldn't restart. I didn't yet have my choke's hooked up to the toggles on my panel and had to hand prop to start.

I couldn't make a field and it never occurred to me to pull my 2nd Chantz chute so I landed on some steep terrain.
 
CharlieTango said:
Flying my 'fat' ultralight a friend raised me on the CTAF and talked me into shutting down and soaring a while. After a time I was in trouble and my 2-stroke Rotax wouldn't restart. I didn't yet have my choke's hooked up to the toggles on my panel and had to hand prop to start.

I couldn't make a field and it never occurred to me to pull my 2nd Chantz chute so I landed on some steep terrain.
Click to expand...

That's interesting.
I don't have one so it is not an option but I would think any pilot w/ one would be debating that handle the whole way down in any situation.

How long from the realization of trouble until you were down?
 
WakeNCAgent said:
One intentional, by an over zealous passenger who thought shutting off the fuel would be a funny prank over the ocean in a 172.
Click to expand...

That person would never fly with me again… and probably never see me again either.
 
I have had two severely reduced power incidents in singles. One was in the pattern for landing when a mag sheared. The other was at cruise altitude when one mag failed. Both times I turned the failed mag off and returned to base safely.

One precautionary shutdown in a twin when the engine lost oil pressure. A reman engine with only 5 hours on it.

All ended well with no damage to people or plane.

In the race car I lost a few engines to sudden catastrophic failure.

Lost an engine in the C-60 tow truck that was the most spectacular of all. At cruise speed (approx. 75) towing the race trailer, it suddenly let go with a few bangs. Something came out of the engine, destroyed a valve cover and dented the hood. Spit oil on the windshield. Smoke, fire and even pieces scattered on the road. Most of the oil pan was gone. The crank was broken in 3 places, 1 main cap missing, 5 valve heads were gone from the right bank, 2 from the left bank as well as 2 pistons. The cam was in 7 or 8 pieces. We found part of a rod, missing the rod cap, part of the wrist pin and no piston on it laying in the road. There were pieces of piston in the radiator. Even the distributor rod was bent. I did good.

We think that a valve head broke off or a valve spring broke. Either way the valve getting into the cylinder of a 454 at 4500 rpm did not do the engine any good.
 
had a few, some of them precautionary shutdowns, some of them prop problems. About one every 1200 hrs if they were averaged out, but weighted toward planes on ferry flights. Surprisingly, all factory-built equipment, I've yet to have an engine issue in an E/AB initial test flight.
 
As a matter of fact, on July 18. Engine failed without warning as I was descending from 10,500 ft. Turned 180 degrees towards 44N. Restarts failed. So I glided 6 miles and made a nearly normal landing on RWY 35, and coasted off the first turnoff to the taxiway. I didn't even bother to declare an emergency.
Then I had to push the plane uphill. People who have been there know what I'm talking about.
 
Shepherd said:
As a matter of fact, on July 18. Engine failed without warning as I was descending from 10,500 ft. Turned 180 degrees towards 44N. Restarts failed. So I glided 6 miles and made a nearly normal landing on RWY 35, and coasted off the first turnoff to the taxiway. I didn't even bother to declare an emergency.
Then I had to push the plane uphill. People who have been there know what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

What plane were you in?
 
One complete failure.....in a twin. None in a single that I did not cause in training. Four "problems" that required taxiing back and starting over...again, all in twins.

Bob Gardner
 
The closest I got was a drop of 400rpm. I switched tanks went full rich and power was restored. I was at 9.5k feet right over an airport. I landed had a mechanic help investigate but found nothing a miss. Two months later the airplane went down with another member of our club on takeoff. Thankfully he had a 10k hour CFII next to him. They both got hospitalized but I believe that was mostly because we didn't have shoulder belts otherwise I believe they would have walked away.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top