KVNC
Florida Man
I had an interesting day today. I was in a school 172 flying with my student in our local practice area doing maneuvers when a loud bang gets my attention immediately followed by violent engine vibration and loss of RPM. I look down at my engine instruments and oil pressure seems constant. The engine however feels as though it's making half power at best surging from 1000-2200 RPM. My immediate thought is the engine is compromised and I need a field. Off my side I see a decent field with some dirt roads in between oriented east into the wind. I head to the field and circle and try to think through my options. I am able to maintain altitude and notify approach of the situation. They clear me direct to the field which is approx 25 miles away. I do another circle and reason I do not feel comfortable flying the plane back over a populated area when unsure about the engines integrity. So I commit to making the precautionary off airport landing which is uneventful with no damage to the a/c. After I inspect the engine cowling I clearly see a bent push rod and oil loss. I wait around for the school mechanics and the fsdo safety inspector who checks the plane quickly then lets the mechanics do their thing. This was my first actual power plant related emergency. Just interesting to me how you get into such a groove of normality with instruction that you start to think that these types of occurances are few and far between but they do happen. I'm just glad it wasn't a total power loss and that my student, the plane, and myself are safe.