A Maintenance Oriented Podcast For Airplane Owners, Pilots, and Mechanics

Tag: enginefailure

182 – Plane Lands in Farm Field After Engine Failure

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Use the code “STRUT” for a 30% discount and pay only $67 instead of the normal price of $97.


Now for the engine failure story:

They got stopped about 35 yards before the trees!

It appears they kept flying the airplane with an oil pressure problem, and the engine finally failed catastrophically.

I took a trip with my fellow A&P, Kenneth, and we ended up removing the wings and sending the airplane home to Virginia on a trailer. Check it out:

Before we removed the wings, we drained a little more than 1 quart of oil from the sump (it’s an 8 quart engine,) and we removed the oil suction screen, which had A LOT of metal in it. Kenneth also noted that the #1 piston was not moving in the cylinder when we rotated the prop… oh, and the first time we rotated the prop, we could hear metal pieces falling down through the engine… not a good thing!

There was no obvious external damage visible on the engine… the internal damage was a whole different story! (The only strange thing was the oil dipstick was missing.)

The whole ordeal has been challenging to figure out, but the engine data from the JPI-830 engine monitor has been helpful.

After observing the engine data on a computer screen, it’s obvious there was a big problem with low oil pressure when the aircraft departed on the flight that would end in a farm field.

It’s been a crazy busy week after returning home, and yesterday, I finally had time to remove cylinder #1 from the engine, but it would not come off! How frustrating!

We think the steel cylinder barrel was peened and deformed inside the crankcase, which won’t let it come out.

So this morning, I removed the oil sump, and it was full of all kinds of interesting stuff… the exhaust lifter, which was in amazingly good condition… pieces of the connecting rod that came off the crankshaft journal… and other pieces of debris.

That tube at the end of the lifter is the oil suction tube that goes up to the oil suction screen and from there to the oil filter.

So there’s the story… so far.


Also mentioned in this episode:

Troy Schlote sent me an encouraging email and let me know he’s trying to get the word out about the new location of AeroSport, LLC in Florida.

If any of you need light sport maintenance, Rotax maintenance, or GA maintenance in the Deland, Florida area, be sure to stop in and meet Troy.

Troy Schlote
Director of Maintenance
A&P / IA
AeroSport, LLC 
www.fly-aerosport.com
T: (888) 444-1970

DeLand Municipal Airport (KDED)
921 Biscayne Blvd, Hangar E14
DeLand, FL 32724

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125 – Engine Failure – What Would You Do In A Moment’s Notice?

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