My second engine failure in 12 months.. yay! (w/ATC Audio)

GreenDayPilot

GreenDayPilot

Well-Known Member
I haven't posted here in a while, but I figured this my be worthy to post...

I left KHND and was climbing out around 8k and decided to get flight following since I was flying back to SoCal at night.

As soon as I get the squawk, I start losing MP. Then the MP kept going down and eventually the engine died. It came back up and I tried to climb... this happened twice before it started dying and decided to just do a no power landing at the airport I happened to be flying over when it all happened.

I tested the fuel before and after and there was no water.

My guess is that it was something with the turbo, possibly some exhaust leakage... but I won't find out until Monday.

I was fortunate to have 2 things, altitude and an airport nearby. Because of this, I feel it wasn't THAT crazy of an emergency, but still a shocker... the FD clocked my blood pressure at 190/123 after I landed safely.

You can critique all you want for trying to stretch my options, but your brain is operating at a different level whereby decision making is thrown all possible options and outcomes at a very fast rate.


About 70% of the audio was captured by liveatc.net...

I edited to eliminate all the other freq's and airplanes..... Here it is......

http://f.cl.ly/items/3a2i303i2X2X3p0s1J2k/KLAS-App--Feb-25-2012-0430Z.mp3
 
Wow great job!..you sound very calm throughout. You know what they say...lightening never strikes three times right?
 
You did a very good job. Pilots who have not had this experience yet, (an emergency landing due to an equipment emergency while in the air) don't realize how difficult it is to keep in communication with ATC while making plans, thinking and trying to sort things out, trying different activities to correct the emergency, making other choices, trying to take care of whatever emergency that you are having and all the while considering all your options (not to mention how quickly this all usually has to be done) and still remain flying the plane as well. You did a great job to do all of this by yourself. This is where we fall back on our training, our experience and how well we know our aircraft and it's systems. Personally, I think it was good to have/seek out more than one option too. It's okay to fall apart once safely on the ground. Been there, done that. lol I bet it stressed you out! Would stress anyone out. Well done.
 
GreenDayPilot said:
You can critique all you want for trying to stretch my options, but your brain is operating at a different level whereby decision making is thrown all possible options and outcomes at a very fast rate.
Click to expand...

I can't get the audio where I am, but what options did you think you stretched?
 
I just listened to it and it sounds like you did it right to me. You remained calm and flew the plane and let ATC work for you. Good Job...
 
born2aviate said:
W
Wow great job!..you sound very calm throughout. You know what they say...lightening never strikes three times right?
Click to expand...
Well, between last years piston rod breaking in a C152, the valve casing breaking in a Seminole in 2003, the rapid depressurization in the ERJ, and all the other minor hiccups, I've had my fair share of lightning strikes, haha....



A Life Aloft said:
You did a very good job.
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Thanks, man! Yeah, the "what ifs" kick in and make me question if I did everything right, which I didn't do perfectly, but I can now learn from that...


MikeD said:
I can't get the audio where I am, but what options did you think you stretched?
Click to expand...
I was about 6k AGL over an adequate airport, but I delayed landing with partial power to see if I could climb and go to one of my home airports, where I know the terrain... though it was about 12nm away...
 
GreenDayPilot said:
I was about 6k AGL over an adequate airport, but I delayed landing with partial power to see if I could climb and go to one of my home airports, where I know the terrain... though it was about 12nm away...
Click to expand...
I don't think that was a bad idea at all. The more altitude, the better and it's not like you spent an inordinate amount of time trying to accomplish this. You quickly moved on. THAT is excellent. It's take a bit to sort it all out and not panic and just do the hurry up get me get down now, when that may not always be the best solution to do first.

Man, you have had your little share of crap fest mx issues. Really very good experience (although we would all love not to have these things happen) and you did very well. Nothing to regret as far as I can tell. But I understand we do tend to and want to replay these situations and learn/benefit from them and that is important. I think you did just fine though and kept your wits about you and made the correct choice in the end and the outcome proves this.
 
GreenDayPilot said:
I was about 6k AGL over an adequate airport, but I delayed landing with partial power to see if I could climb and go to one of my home airports, where I know the terrain... though it was about 12nm away...
Click to expand...

That is why you are the PIC to make those decisions. If you have to deal with the information at hand when you make the decision and that is how you are judged if something goes south. Monday night QBing is something we all do and it is good to examine what happened and see if there is anything we can learn from or do better in the future.

You got the plane on the ground and walked away uninjured. You made the right call.
 
GreenDayPilot said:
I was about 6k AGL over an adequate airport, but I delayed landing with partial power to see if I could climb and go to one of my home airports, where I know the terrain... though it was about 12nm away...
Click to expand...

It worked. Only thing to consider, for your own debrief purposes, is what your personal threshold would have been to have crossed....or would be next time to cross.....that would make you take the adequate field over going to a more familiar airport. As every emergency is different, just know for yourself what those thresholds are. You will be your own best (and sometimes worst) Monday Morning QB.
 
Sounded good it is always nice to try to make it home but you made the right call on holding off climbing and then realizing that was your new airport. Kudos to you.
 
Well done HEEE ROOOOOWWWW! The only thing that I can recomend is nothing. You got the airplane back on the ground, and not only was there no injuries, but you also didn't hurt the airplane. Not sure you could have done anything better.
 
Thanks, all!

Yeah, I thought about it in the air and at 11k I would have put some serious thought into making a cross over to KHND. Basically, an altitude that I felt comfortable with if I had a total engine failure between both airports with a hypothetical strong headwind in either way...
 
Nicely done! Assess the situation and make a plan based on the information you're given, all the while keeping in mind the plan can (and will) change at any time when new information is presented. Seems to me you did an excellent job.
 
No critic at all, I think you did a nice job! I hope I sound this calm and not screaming like a little school girl.....:D
 
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