Engine failure near Bathurst

[bushpilot]

I held off from making this post until I had some more information on the cause of my engine failure, so as to be able to give an accurate report, to benefit others. But this incident actually happened on 18 October.

 

In short I was flying in one of our J230s with a student when the engine stopped abruptly in the training area - about 10NM from Bathurst aerodrome. The student offered the controls to me to deal with the situation.

 

The link below is a truncated version of my Mayday call.. and some photos – both courtesy of Dave Carroll and his scanning website - and a report by a web journalist – but I don’t know him. The reporter over-stated the ‘cool’ thing a bit; there was still a certain sphincter-factor happening... but I did get my calls out and brief the passenger on each step of the process - which you would expect of an instructor.

 

Time from first call to the actual landing was almost 4 minutes – so a nice long glide from 3,000 AGL to choose a good clear paddock, close to a bitumen road (for retrieval access) and to get set up. “Rescue 22” is a chopper that was operating in the area. They came and landed next to us in the paddock to see if we were OK..

 

The retrieval of the ‘plane was easy - just unbolt the wings and wack it on the trailer.. Had the new engine delivered 5 days later (weekend in between) and we were back in the air after 9 days. No charge for the new engine – covered by warranty.. Jabiru service was quick and efficient - as was their recent report and photographs of the internal damage. The problem was failure of the gear/s mechanism driving the distributor rotors off the back of the camshaft. This problem is rare indeed, with 3 occurrences to date over 4,500 engines.

 

I guess if there is one key message to pass on - it's to stay calm and think clearly. This gives you the best chance of choosing the right paddock and set up into wind and get spark and fuel isolated. And once you are down and stopped, check for any damage, leaking fuel etc., then switch the master switch back on to make a final call on CTAF letting everyone know you are OK. I did that, as I figured they would get a bit anxious if all remained silent after we had switched off the master switch on late final (After getting the flaps down!)

 

Importantly, that student came back for his lesson the following week.. and several times since. We didn't charge him for the 30 minute lesson with the abrupt ending!

 

http://www.bathurstscan.com/?page_id=25701

 

 

[seb7701]

Beautifully done Chris. Having had a solo forced landing the day before my RAA flight test, I know what is happening in the cockpit (and your mind). I hope to maintain such composure and professionalism if there is a next time!

 

 

[facthunter]

Why wouldn't you charge a student for a "real" experience other than a simulated one? He would have got his moneys worth. Nev

 

 

[bushpilot]

Why wouldn't you charge a student for a "real" experience other than a simulated one? He would have got his moneys worth. Nev

Good point you make... The student actually phoned me the same evening to say that it was the best experience he could have had.. and that it actually took away any fear he had had about the fan stopping on a single engined a/c. But I still figured best to give him a credit on that one!

 

 

[turboplanner]

Great to hear about such a successful outcome Chris.

 

 

[Admin]

Well done Chris and a great lesson to learn even though it was by experience...no substitute for altitude at all times to help in this situation if it ever happens to any of us

 

 

[bull]

Well done ...................

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Thanks Chris, for a positive and reassuring report.

 

It's also good to hear nobody using this incident to bag the engine manufacturer, who I have found are easy to talk to and keen to help.

 

When there is a forced landing we never seem to hear about the recovery job. The pix show the design does allow fairly easy transporting of the ariframe and replacement of the engine.

 

 

[cheyenne]

Well done Chris and to the student, on the feed back and all so what occured.

 

When the fan stops in our J160 the training did kick in at 6500 ft so we had 14 minutes to glide back to earth. We had no fuel flow to the carby, and fuel before the filter so changed the fuel filter and a lot of other checking, we departed on our way again. Did not keep the filter so we dont know why we had no fuel coming through.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

One question, I have always been curious: did the stopped prop alter the flight dynamics a lot more than a simulated engine outage?

 

 

[facthunter]

It's a relevent question and Chris can answer it in respect of this incident, but a general comment. A spinning propeller has a large capacity to cause drag as it is still quite aerodynamic and processes a lot of air. When it is stopped, it is like a flat plank and has limited ability to cause drag, though it obviously does cause some.

 

An extreme example is when a coupled turbine ( turboprop) flames out. It can cause drag equal to TWICE the forward thrust. This is why most of them have auto feather.

 

With a piston engine a lot depends on your forward speed . ( As you slow to best glide the engine is not absorbing a lot of power ) IF it is a simulated failure with the throttle closed but a fast idle setting existing it may not retard the plane much. It may stop, anyhow , depending on the nature of the damage. The Rotax 912 usually stops when switched off ( or failed).

 

A non rotating prop is not a serious problem as far as glide performance is concerned GENERALLY, unless the quietness bothers you. Nev

 

 

[kaz3g]

...no substitute for altitude at all times to help in this situation if it ever happens to any of us

And a handy paddock!

 

kaz

 

 

[Guest SAJabiruflyer]

Thankyou Chris for sharing your experience.

 

 

[normfox]

Engine failure drills in my C172 usually saw about 500fpm descent. The examiner unexpectedly introduced silence on my unrestricted test and I was surprised to find the glide settled down at 60kts and just 400fpm - 20% improvement!

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

My CFI confirms that the trike will glide further with the engine stopped versus at idle, which creates significant extra drag. All my simulated engine failures have been done at engine idle.

 

 

[Camel]

I beleive Chris has handled the whole situation from the event to finding the cause and sharing the info extreemly professional and admire him and those who can share in a positive way. As far as gliding at idle, I have an inflight adjustable propellor on my aircraft with 912 Rotax and during simulated engine failures at idle the prop is put to full coarse pitch and it is very noticeable that drag has been removed and putting to full fine at idle is like putting on the brakes.

 

 

[Guernsey]

Correct me if I am wrong but my understanding is that a prop spinning at idle still has some contribution towards thrust (screwing itself through the air) thereby creating less drag than stationary prop. This would not apply if the engine was stopped and the prop was windmilling.

 

Regarding feathering a prop completely this is done to stop the engine rotating and thus reduce the possibility of further damaging the engine in any way, and also to have the ability to use the starter motor to align the prop blades in such a way as to reduce or eliminate the possibility of the blades hitting the ground on touch down.

 

Alan.

 

 

[Ultralights]

a prop spinning at idle speed will produce less thrust than the glide speed, so actually creates drag.

 

 

[facthunter]

The first reason for feathering a propeller on a failed engine is to get the plane to perform optimally on the remaining engine(s), in a critical take-off situation, and in normal flight to prevent it running away at excessive speed if the prop fines off in pitch as they tend to do if the blades are moved by oil pressure. This can cause the prop to shed blades and as stated to damage the engine, that is already suspect/ damaged anyhow. The potential for a large amount of drag is a factor that is not always considered, in general discussion Nev

 

 

[cheyenne]

The props on Jabiru's do not spin when the engine stops, on the 4 cylinders the prop is bolted onto the the prop flange so that when the engine stops the prop is in the horizontal position, the same with the 6 cylinder.

 

Adrian

 

 

[facthunter]

respectfully Adrian, with the six cylinder I think you will find that it can stop against compression in 3 positions. Nev

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

And a handy paddock!kaz

looks bigger than bankstown airfield was before they put in runways.

 

 

[bushpilot]

Thanks for all the positive comments. The surmising on the affect of no power and prop speeds is interesting. Even though my motor was as dead as a door nail due to no spark at all, the prop continued to windmill all the way down. I have to say that I noticed no real difference to descents and landing at idle.

 

And, yes, it was a bloody big paddock, ozzie.. That why I chose it.. Figuring that the stoppage might be something minor and fixable (without an engine removal) - and I wanted room to fly out again..

 

 

[bushpilot]

BTW: One other thing - on handling the media.. Whilst we were waiting for our retrieval crew to turn up, a TV news outfit came along and proceeded to off-load gear into the paddock and set up to film the scene. I thought - will I allow them to interview me or not? And decided to do so - to help get the story told my way, not have them make stuff up.

 

So I did the interview and basically said that it was an event that we all train for and, in my case, I have a paddock strip at my home and this was no different to the many landings I have done on it.. They then shot some more angles of the a/c and packed up and headed off..

 

And, you guessed it, the story was such a non-event when the station editor would have looked at it, that it never ran on our local (regional) TV station at all. So I figure tell the story straight and avoid the inventiveness of an inquistive journo who might otherwise just create a story to go with the footage..

 

 

[Owi]

Excellent post inspired by an even better prequel, Chris. Thank you for sharing the details. Very useful to know.