I had my first engine failure yesterday

[tlewis95]

It happened yesterday afternoon.

Not really a big deal, and I don't know if I would even call it a failure or a "quit."

But I was landing a rented Cessna 140 at homebase, and at about 200 feet high on final there was a slight roughness in the engine. After that, it sounded the same as it did before, mainly because I was doing my usual mostly power-off approach.

A few seconds after my perfect 3-point touchdown, the windmilling stopped.

So I roll it to a stop on the runway, and have to play with it a bit to get it started, then taxi it back to the ramp.

I am not really sure what could have caused it. It is the coldest (8F) that I have flown that plane, and have since talked to another CFI that has had this happen to him twice in the summer, with this same plane. (but on base)

The carb heat was on, and performed just fine in the run-up, and it was idling just fine with the carb heat on and off before the flight.

 

[fly8slep]

That has happened to me as well but on a 172 and it actually quit on final. I avoided that airplane again and never flew it.

 

[tlewis95]

That has happened to me as well but on a 172 and it actually quit on final. I avoided that airplane again and never flew it.

I like the 140 way to much to quit flying it. But I think I might wait until spring or at least non-freezing temperatures to fly it.

I think I will only do power off approaches with it, and fly an extra 500 feet higher from now on though.

 

[ASpilot2be]

Good job.

I am not looking forward to my first engine failure. I always fly with the thought that one is gonna happen, I just dont know when.

 

[nofear]

I have had to land an airplane in a field because the engine quit (sucked a valve). I would definately have the engine checked by an experienced mechanic. One Idea sometimes if the idle adjustment is off (normally between 6-800 rpm's with power totally chopped) it can cause the engine to die when you chop the power. Your run up is fine but every time you bring it back to idle it will cough/idle roughly/ quit. Some cessnas have a spring in there and most have a idle adjustment screw that the mechanics can adjust it with. Sounds like you did well but also got dang lucky. Its no fun having unplanned for off airport landings whether your fault or not. I would definately have it checked and ideally flown by an experience cessna mechanic. Good luck

 

[fly8slep]

I have had to land an airplane in a field because the engine quit (sucked a valve). I would definately have the engine checked by an experienced mechanic. One Idea sometimes if the idle adjustment is off (normally between 6-800 rpm's with power totally chopped) it can cause the engine to die when you chop the power. Your run up is fine but every time you bring it back to idle it will cough/idle roughly/ quit. Some cessnas have a spring in there and most have a idle adjustment screw that the mechanics can adjust it with. Sounds like you did well but also got dang lucky. Its no fun having unplanned for off airport landings whether your fault or not. I would definately have it checked and ideally flown by an experience cessna mechanic. Good luck

Good tip. These engines are old and outdated, don't chop the power and avoid idle unless you know that you're going to make the runway.

 

[DPApilot]

quit breaking airplanes Trace!

 

[c172captain]

At least it didn't happen enroute.

 

[Roger, Roger]

Idle RPM or mixture adjustment is my guess as well. 8 F is a bit cold to be getting carb ice IMHO, unless it was fairly humid. Was it a clear day, or were there clouds/snow showers/haze?

When you're somewhere that gets that cold, the idle settings should be readjusted going into winter because the air density is so different that your idle mixture is probably not providing enough fuel to keep the engine running, especially when you're airborne and the prop is windmilling.

On a similar note, I was flying a night hood cross country with a student and the engine quit on landing rollout-again, we suspect an idle RPM stop/mixture problem, because it fired right back up and had no other symptoms the rest of the flight.

 

[beechpilot]

I have had to land an airplane in a field because the engine quit (sucked a valve). I would definately have the engine checked by an experienced mechanic. One Idea sometimes if the idle adjustment is off (normally between 6-800 rpm's with power totally chopped) it can cause the engine to die when you chop the power. Your run up is fine but every time you bring it back to idle it will cough/idle roughly/ quit. Some cessnas have a spring in there and most have a idle adjustment screw that the mechanics can adjust it with. Sounds like you did well but also got dang lucky. Its no fun having unplanned for off airport landings whether your fault or not. I would definately have it checked and ideally flown by an experience cessna mechanic. Good luck

I agree with the idle adjustment. We had a school plane that would do exactly what happened to the Cessna 140 in that it would shut off on the roll out with the throttle all the way back. Once the mechanic adjusted the idle the problem was resolved.

 

[CK]

I had the same thing happen two weeks ago in the Champ. It has a C-85 on it, which I believe the also 140 has. We could not duplicate the problem and the mechanics found nothing wrong. It was the first time the airplane had flown on a really cold day in atleast three years.

Alex.

 

[tlewis95]

I had the same thing happen two weeks ago in the Champ. It has a C-85 on it, which I believe the also 140 has. We could not duplicate the problem and the mechanics found nothing wrong. It was the first time the airplane had flown on a really cold day in atleast three years.

Alex.

That sounds about right. It has been a while since this thing had been out in the real cold, and it only flies about once every other week during the cold months. Even on the average winter flight it is only 10 degrees or so warmer that it was yesterday.

To the question about weather, it was as CAVU as could be, which is the main reason I decided to battle the cold in a plane with virtually no cabin heat...

I had been avoiding idle for the whole flight, then just out of habit brought it to real idle for the touchdown. Which is about when it quit.

 

[minitour]

That's exactly what happened in my first engine failure except it was a 182 and I never could get it started again.

I sat there for what felt like an eternity staring at the prop stopped and going "huh?" before realizing what happened.

-mini

 

[positiveR8]

Why is it that the engine would quit in flight with a low-set idle but not on the runup? Something to do with the relative wind slowing the prop down?

 

[Douglas]

Good Job!

 

[Roger, Roger]

Why is it that the engine would quit in flight with a low-set idle but not on the runup? Something to do with the relative wind slowing the prop down?

Exactly. In flight, the engine is spinning faster because it is windmilling. If the idle circuit is not set up to deliver adequate fuel for the increased amount of air being sucked through the engine, the fire goes out.

*edit* I should mention that as long as you have adequate airspeed, the engine continues to windmill-hence the surprise as it stops turning during the flare or the rollout.

 

[ppragman]

I had the same thing happen two weeks ago in the Champ. It has a C-85 on it, which I believe the also 140 has. We could not duplicate the problem and the mechanics found nothing wrong. It was the first time the airplane had flown on a really cold day in atleast three years.

Alex.

If the idle is set low enough sometimes a motor will just die out if its cold. Ever started up a cold carb'd airplane then pulled the power all the way out (to the stop)? Sometimes the motor will just quit. In flight this doesn't happen because the windmiling prop keeps it going, if you would have thrown the whips too it it would have hesitated, then started speeding up. This is especially evident in low compression low horsepower motors, when the temps are much lower.

-pat

 

[907]

Good job.

I am not looking forward to my first engine failure. I always fly with the thought that one is gonna happen, I just dont know when.

Ha the number one fear for us Southeast AK pilots. Nowhere to put her down but MAYBE if you're lucky on a small beach, because water here is death. Engine failures in a single engine here = high chance of dieing.