bang – Airplane Owner Maintenance

Not long ago, there was an unusual engine failure in a Cessna 182 at Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport.

Cindy Ferek was the flight instructor on board that day, and she landed the airplane safely on the runway. Before we get into that story, I’d like to introduce Cindy. (The Cessna 172 in the following picture is not the airplane that had the engine failure.)

Cindy taught high school physical education for 21 years at Turner Ashby High School, which gave her an excellent teaching foundation that she uses today as she skillfully works with students in the cockpit of airplanes. Not only is Cindy an excellent flight instructor, but she’s also just an inspiring person to be around! I hope you’ll listen to the podcast to hear about more of Cindy’s story, both in and out of the airplane.

The engine failure we talked about in today’s episode, happened in the traffic pattern, thankfully. Here’s the airplane after they landed safely and parked it in the grass to save the engine:

Shortly after their successful landing, one of the line guys tugged the airplane up to the maintenance shop.

At first it was challenging to figure out what actually happened to the engine, because there was no external evidence of any problems. But a borescope inspection revealed the exhaust valve in cylinder #1 was not opening at all. And after removing the rocker cover, it became really obvious. The rocker arm shaft boss had broken apart and the rocker arm could not operate the exhaust valve.

Thank you Cindy, for sharing a bit of your aviation journey and your engine failure story with us, and for all the excellent work you do to make aviation such an inspiring endeavor to pursue!

For those of you who would like to contact Cindy, there are multiple ways to get in touch with her. (And she would love to hear from you.)

Blog: CindyFerek.Weebly.com

Email: pilotcferek@gmail.com

Cell: 540-607-0251

P.S. One last reminder:

If you work on your airplane, and need to learn to perform excellent safety wiring, check out the “Safety Wire Like A Pro” video tutorial course… It will show you in great detail how to do an excellent job, whether it’s safety wiring an oil filter, a fuel strainer, a brake caliper, or any other item an airplane owner is approved to perform.

Click the following link and check it out:

https://airplane-owner-maintenance.teachable.com/p/safetywiring