Posted: 8/7/2015 6:26:06 PM EDT
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I had an engine failure today at 1010.
Pratt and Whitney R1340, about 300hrs SMOH. I was about 25' AGL nearing the end of a fertilizer run. As I was reaching down for the gate handle I heard a loud POP, and the engine immediately began losing power. I left the fertilizer gate open to help lighten the load, tried to see if the airplane would make it to the nearest strip about a half mile away, NOPE, tried to get a little more power out of it, but it was not producing any power, wings level, on the ground. I landed in a rice field that has just been harvested (I fertilized it yesterday) so it was dry and smooth with the exception of berms that are about 2 - 2 1/2' tall. I landed in the three-point attitude right into a berm, bounced over it, hit another berm, bounced over it, and rolled to a stop. Airplane appears undamaged after what was an incredibly ROUGH landing. I think it was about ten seconds from the loud pop to the time I was on the ground and about 1,200' from the loud pop to where the airplane came to a stop. I got lucky and am super thankful that I was not injured or worse. 
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| Any landing you can walk away from and all that. Good flying! Glad to hear it all ended well. I have always thought to myself one of the worst flying professions to be in if you are to have an engine failure would be dusting. Low altitude and little to no time to react. |
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Nice job OP. Looks like you did everything damn right, glad you got it on the ground and didn't bend anything or hurt yourself.
Only engine failure I've ever had was carb ice, at about 2000' AGL, that cleared pretty instantly. Now that I fly jets, I have a lot more respect for guys in SE airplanes, especially dusting. If I lose an engine, even on takeoff, I can climb out and finish my cup of coffee before I have to do anything. Once again, good job! |
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Feels like it threw a rod. The prop is loose and crunchy felling until binds. That, or maybe a cylinder skirt.
We got it pulled out of the field today. The shop guys are gonna take it apart and put it on a trailer tomorrow. I'll be back in another one in the mornin'.. |
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Busted master rod with all cylinder skirts "hair-lipped". Maybe all the rods broken and pistons and rings pulled out of cylinders. My guess is the mechanics will need to use the "gas axe" to get cylinders off and things apart. Sounds like it is a fucked up as Micheal Jackson's nose. Glad you walked away without any lacerations, contusions and all your parts intact. If you had to dead stick something in, a Grumman bridgeworks airframe is a good one to do it in. 
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Quoted:
Busted master rod with all cylinder skirts "hair-lipped". Maybe all the rods broken and pistons and rings pulled out of cylinders. My guess is the mechanics will need to use the "gas axe" to get cylinders off and things apart. Sounds like it is a fucked up as Micheal Jackson's nose. Glad you walked away without any lacerations, contusions and all your parts intact. If you had to dead stick something in, a Grumman bridgeworks airframe is a good one to do it in. Yes sir it is. It's about all I'm interested in flying in this country. I work of short, rough strips and nothing but rice fields or brush to go down in. I wanna go slow with a lot of airplane to tear up before it gets to me! |
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Kudos, glad you made it OK. I had an engine failure during my private pilot course. The crankshaft broke on the Cessna 150 on climb out. Instructor pulled power off made a quick 180 and landed on the runway we had just take off from. We didn't even have time to declare an emergency.
Vince |
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You have all heard the term loosing a "cylinder" or "jug". Usually that means it has swallowed a valve and /or cracked the head open or some other material failure that renders it incapable of producing power.
This lost "jug" still remains lost. People have been looking for it, but no one has found it yet. The Gulf of Mexico would be a good place to start looking. 
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Quoted:
great job. kind of rare for that engine to geez Lolz, not really. http://www.pw.utc.com/R1340_Wasp_Engine Good job OP. |
