Squawked 7700 and made it to the airport on 3 cylinders...

Re: Squawked 7700 and made it to the airport on 3 cylinders.

N519AT said:
That makes me feel a little bit better. I had engine problems in a Cessna 150 and that's basically what I did.

I also always try to fly high wherever I go. You just never know when the engine will fail on you.
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That is a good practice IMHO. Unless it happened in climb out or approach. I normally stay as high as efficiently possible. Climbing in a C-152 on a hot summer day could be a problem though.
 
Re: Squawked 7700 and made it to the airport on 3 cylinders.

Glad you made it back -nice writeup. A little fast is better than a little slow in that situation. Did you do a NASA report?
 
Re: Squawked 7700 and made it to the airport on 3 cylinders.

Great job!

Having never been in this situation I think you did a fine job, and appreciate your self-criticism, which I think is a good sign, but under the circumstances in that type of plane, and based on your previous experience, this criticism might not mean as much as you think, especially at a lower altitude. This stuff has to be committed to memory. The outcome was all that mattered, and that was your experience at work. However, you did mention being too fast as to best glide speed.

Note: With most of these planes, if you you lose the engine (sounds like you had partial power, so I will not comment on that) dial in full nose up trim and don't move the yoke initially. The plane will likely achieve best glide speed. Later, add flaps as necessary.

I took and passed my PPL check ride without EVER touching the yoke unless on very short final before landing, that included no yoke on take off, and that was in a Cherokee 235 (like a Cessna 182). Flew the whole thing with rudder and elevator trim on the demand of the DPE. While there was a reason for that (that will be another story), I tell you that when faced with such a power loss, get on the trim. This also applies to a power loss on take off. The nose has to come down, get on the trim- full nose down trim.

Again, great job!! :)
 
Re: Squawked 7700 and made it to the airport on 3 cylinders.

Grabbing a handful of trim, no doble entedre intended, is a good idea if you are gliding in reduced power situation. Trying to control a plane with trim, especially if it is "full" anything I am not sure is a great idea.
If you are at such a setting that you have to get on the nosedown trim right away to maintain control, a mere mortal may find themself set up for an elevator trim stall. I would say set it for TO for TO and adjust accordingly. Most everyone has flown a plane with rudders and trim, for training, but maybe I am missing what you are saying.
 
Re: Squawked 7700 and made it to the airport on 3 cylinders.

You are missing what I am saying perhaps. I am NOT advocating flying the plane just with trim / rudder in such a situation.

If I lost the engine in our 210 and again, I mean lost it (I did say bets are off when it comes to partial power), I would be putting in full nose up trim, while looking for 80 kts on the ASI. Pretty sure if I forgot the best glide, the trim would give it to me. That's what I am saying. Of course my hand would be on the yoke, but I would not force anything until I had the trim in. Now, if the failure occurred on take off, at high AOA, low speed and low ALT, I would, of course be pushing the nose down, yet still dialing in the trim.

If you have some altitude on your side (even 1,000 or 2,000') and the engine dies, and you forget best glide speed, full nose up trim should put you just about at it. However, this does not mean you might not want to go slower or faster! Barry Schiff had a good article about that in AOPA Pilot a couple years ago.

As to my story about my PPL check ride, that just reminded me of how much help that trim wheel can be.
 
Re: Squawked 7700 and made it to the airport on 3 cylinders.

Good job man. Way to save the day.

Not to discredit your story in any way, but this comment caught my eye.

At this point the student told me I was fast. I had trimmed it and was going 67 instead of 60. This was my mistake. At 67 I was descending a couple hundred feet a minute. At 60, I was descending maybe 50 feet a minute.
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If you're trimming for an airspeed that will get you the lowest sink rate (on the VSI), this is not necessarily your best glide. This is your minimum sink speed. Best glide is measured in ft/nm. Rate of descent is measured in ft/min (depicted on the VSI). You can't determine your best glide speed by looking at your sink rate on the VSI. Which is critical if you're trying for distance. Now if you're goal is to stay aloft the longest, then go for minimum sink.


Dont worry about your mistakes. You landed safely. Not to mention at an actual airport with the airplane still useable. As far as I'm concerned you did everything right.
 
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