Piper Malibu mayday over Oklahoma

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Anthem

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Anthem
Heard our first mayday in progress flying over Oklahoma yesterday around 3:10pm. N4386N. Lost the entire engine and you heard the engine alarms going off. They had also apparently lost pressurizations and then heard the engine caught on fire. We had to switch atc a few minutes later so didn’t hear the resolution. I know the pilot was pretty calm for what was happening and ATc was trying to get him down to 17k (airport). Hope the two made it down safely but I haven’t seen any mention anywhere yet.
 
Last ADS-B return showed the plane heading to 17K (2.5 nm to the north northwest) at 209 mph and 9,900 MSL. Hopefully that was just at the time he shut the main off...

17k field elevation is 4174 MSL, so he didn't have far to go, both laterally and vertically...but even if he didn't make it to 17k that area for miles around is flat and treeless.
 
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He was definitely very near it. He reported smoke coming in the cockpit and then engine fire. Hopefully the last report was because he cut everything off and made it down. We never heard anything after he reported an engine fire and descent because of smoke and pressurization loss. But as you mentioned and hopefully the case it was because they just cut everything off and no more other reports ADSB or anything else. Two people on board. Strange I don’t see to see anything else about it at all.
 
Anthem said:
He was definitely very near it. He reported smoke coming in the cockpit and then engine fire. Hopefully the last report was because he cut everything off and made it down. We never heard anything after he reported an engine fire and descent because of smoke and pressurization loss. But as you mentioned and hopefully the case it was because they just cut everything off and no more other reports ADSB or anything else. Two people on board. Strange I don’t see to see anything else about it at all.
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Looks like the plane owner flies for his real estate appraisal business. Nothing, positive or negative either way, on the interwebs.
 
Nothing on the Malibu Facebook page. Hopefully it means everything is all right and not newsworthy.
 
The pilot is a good friend of mine, and my instructor for private, instrument and commercial. He called me at 4:45 and told me about it. Lost the engine with no advance notice...appears to be a thrown rod. He did an emergency descent due to the pressurization loss and smoke, and landed right on the numbers. I flew up there last night and brought him back home.

He is also a glider pilot and instructor, and that no doubt helped him out!
 
Josey Wales said:
The pilot is a good friend of mine, and my instructor for private, instrument and commercial. He called me at 4:45 and told me about it. Lost the engine with no advance notice...appears to be a thrown rod. He did an emergency descent due to the pressurization loss and smoke, and landed right on the numbers. I flew up there last night and brought him back home.

He is also a glider pilot and instructor, and that no doubt helped him out!
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Great! Thanks for the update.
 
Josey Wales said:
The pilot is a good friend of mine, and my instructor for private, instrument and commercial. He called me at 4:45 and told me about it. Lost the engine with no advance notice...appears to be a thrown rod. He did an emergency descent due to the pressurization loss and smoke, and landed right on the numbers. I flew up there last night and brought him back home.

He is also a glider pilot and instructor, and that no doubt helped him out!
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Do you know what version of PA-46 his is?
 
That is awesome to hear. Atc was asking us to ferry messages if we heard anything as we were crossing the area. Glad everything ended up ok.
 
Josey Wales said:
The pilot is a good friend of mine, and my instructor for private, instrument and commercial. He called me at 4:45 and told me about it. Lost the engine with no advance notice...appears to be a thrown rod. He did an emergency descent due to the pressurization loss and smoke, and landed right on the numbers. I flew up there last night and brought him back home.

He is also a glider pilot and instructor, and that no doubt helped him out!
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Awesome glad to hear the successful landing! Kudos.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Wouldn’t be my choice of aiming point for a dead stick landing, but evidently it worked. ;)
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Landed on the numbers is maybe not the most accurate recount...he was carrying some extra speed to bleed off, aimed for the numbers, and held it just off the runway until it settled in. I really don't know exactly where he touched down.
 
Josey Wales said:
The pilot is a good friend of mine, and my instructor for private, instrument and commercial. He called me at 4:45 and told me about it. Lost the engine with no advance notice...appears to be a thrown rod. He did an emergency descent due to the pressurization loss and smoke, and landed right on the numbers. I flew up there last night and brought him back home.

He is also a glider pilot and instructor, and that no doubt helped him out!
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Excellent result. This incident is one of the type that the FAA needs to document: GA loss of engine [whether single or twin] with no accident. That would allow the safety statistics to be actually meaningful.
And I'm told that plane has an excellent L/D ratio, perfect for the glider pilot!
 
Racerx said:
I thought that was the 520 that had issues?
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Those too. Both Conti's on PA46 still seem to eat cylinders a lot. The Lyc version I think does better but it is a guzzler. But if you do the math, I bet the extra gas is offset by the extra maintenance.
 
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