10/13/26 210 engine disconnect airframe nonfatal Louisiana

Only one prop blade still attached. Too early to say but losing a blade could easily cause enough vibration to break the engine from the mount
 
Impossible turn, with an impossibly rearward C/G.
I always wondered if the plane could glide backward, though the load on the horizontal stabilizer would be the wrong direction.
We did this with model planes.
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Clip4 said:
Oh great, now expect an AD on Cessna engine mounts.
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I suspect it may have chucked a blade; not too many engine mounts will withstand that.
If the prop hub is fine, that points to a blade root defect.
 
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I suspect Clip's comment was tongue in cheek, however, the mounts would have to be in a very neglected state to allow the engine to depart from the aircraft without a catastrophic imbalance like shedding a blade.
 
I would have to think the airplane crashed and then the engine came off. The CG shift from losing the entire engine would have rendered the airplane uncontrollable, unless they were at very low speed and altitude before the crash anyway.
 
midwestpa24 said:
I would have to think the airplane crashed and then the engine came off.
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Judging by how curled that prop blade is, the engine was making decent power at impact. This would (in theory) allow a safe 180 back to the field.

A decade or two ago I had read about a plane that lost a prop blade, followed by an engine departure. I recall the reason it was still controllable had to do with the massive amount of drag from the exposed firewall.
 
midwestpa24 said:
I would have to think the airplane crashed and then the engine came off. The CG shift from losing the entire engine would have rendered the airplane uncontrollable, unless they were at very low speed and altitude before the crash anyway.
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The engine was located 100yds from the airframe. Low altitude, non cruise speed accident. Probably separated prior to the crash, considering these findings.
 
There are two blades visible in the photo - anyone know if it was a two- or three-blade prop?

Nauga,
and a variable-prop pitch
 
Actually losing an engine doesn’t necessarily make it uncontrollable, just unstable, requiring PRECISE control, like a Taildragger on the ground.

Got a bud who has a Aeronca Champ L bird with a documented history of having LOST (as in fell off, entirely) its engine but was successfully landed and returned to service.
 
AV8R_87 said:
Judging by where that curled blade seems to originate in the hub, looks like it was a three-blade.
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Could be, but given the force required to get that curl I'm not ready to make that judgement based on the photo.

The only reason I ask is because if/once someone knows it's 2 bladed then it's known that both (or most of both) are with the engine. If it's three, then the location of the third remains TBD.

I definitely agree that loss of a blade could result in FWF departing.

Nauga,
shaken, not stirred
 
nauga said:
There are two blades visible in the photo - anyone know if it was a two- or three-blade prop?
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I could be mistaken, but I believe from the 210 M or N variant they were 3 bladed from the factory. And looking at the blade spacing in the pic, looks to be a 3 blade prop.
 
Tools said:
Actually losing an engine doesn’t necessarily make it uncontrollable, just unstable, requiring PRECISE control, like a Taildragger on the ground.

Got a bud who has a Aeronca Champ L bird with a documented history of having LOST (as in fell off, entirely) its engine but was successfully landed and returned to service.
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Come on you can’t compare a Aeronca with a C210 weight wise, CG wise.

I’m guessing he crashed with the engine attached. Any witnesses?
 
bonefishpete said:
Come on you can’t compare a Aeronca with a C210 weight wise, CG wise.

I’m guessing he crashed with the engine attached. Any witnesses?
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Local info (a witness of the take off then disappearing into the fog) is a loss of the engine, literally, after take off. The ceiling was very low, around 200ft, in the area. I guess that, without an engine present, having no visibility on where to put it down would be of no consequence; fate has already decided where you will 'land'.
 
robin ardoin said:
Local info (a witness of the take off then disappearing into the fog) is a loss of the engine, literally, after take off. The ceiling was very low, around 200ft, in the area. I guess that, without an engine present, having no visibility on where to put it down would be of no consequence; fate has already decided where you will 'land'.
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I still don’t know. That curled up prop is suspicious like full power into the pavement.

You know validity of witnesses.

Fog is interesting.
 
bonefishpete said:
I still don’t know. That curled up prop is suspicious like full power into the pavement.

You know validity of witnesses.

Fog is interesting.
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Well, do you think a fully spooled up 520 is going to wind down in the handfull of seconds it takes to drop from around 400' AGL? Yes, my 210 mentor spoke to the pilot/witness who was present at REG and watched the plane depart. But, what do I know?
 
robin ardoin said:
Well, do you think a fully spooled up 520 is going to wind down in the handfull of seconds it takes to drop from around 400' AGL? Yes, my 210 mentor spoke to the pilot/witness who was present at REG and watched the plane depart. But, what do I know?
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Ok, Should be easy enough to look at the scene and see where everything came down.
Strange as I’ve never heard of a Cessna single losing an engine entirely though maybe it happens.
 
robin ardoin said:
Local info (a witness of the take off then disappearing into the fog) is a loss of the engine, literally, after take off. The ceiling was very low, around 200ft, in the area. I guess that, without an engine present, having no visibility on where to put it down would be of no consequence; fate has already decided where you will 'land'.
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Is it possible the media or whoever is misinterpreting the quote of "lost the engine on takeoff" to mean literally, which would be easy to do given the engine is indeed laying separate from the aircraft. It was earlier posted the engine was 100 yds from the main wreckage, which is honestly not far if you have ever seen how far debris can be spread after an accident. I remember an accident where it kept being said that a critical part was found 200-300 yds from the wreckage according to the NTSB report, but I had personal knowledge that the part in question was at the point of impact, the rest of the aircraft kept going!
 
midwestpa24 said:
Is it possible the media or whoever is misinterpreting the quote of "lost the engine on takeoff" to mean literally, which would be easy to do given the engine is indeed laying separate from the aircraft. It was earlier posted the engine was 100 yds from the main wreckage, which is honestly not far if you have ever seen how far debris can be spread after an accident. I remember an accident where it kept being said that a critical part was found 200-300 yds from the wreckage according to the NTSB report, but I had personal knowledge that the part in question was at the point of impact, the rest of the aircraft kept going!
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My thought is it’s Too close. Not far enough away if it broke off. Plane didn’t go straight down with engine. Plane had wings still engine did not. Who knows?
 
bonefishpete said:
Not far enough away if it broke off. Plane didn’t go straight down with engine. Who knows?
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Where's the CG after/if engine departed? Simple math. Also suddenly lacking thrust. They'll figure it out.
 
ionel said:
Where's the CG after/if engine departed? Simple math. Also suddenly lacking thrust. They'll figure it out.
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Where did the cowlings land would probably tell the story. If they are far away then the pilot did in fact lose his engine.
 
robin ardoin said:
I’ll probably have more confirming information about the sequence of events by the weekend. I know pilots on the field as well as some acquainted with the pilot of the aircraft.
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Let us know. Wild guess is he pulled up into the fog then pushed over and didn’t see the ground.
 
Interesting to see if there is any indication of prop strikes on anything before the engine came off. I've seen props chew through other parked airplanes as well as what happens when you fly into the runway with the gear up. Pretty distinctive pattern.
 
Any updates? News still going with it fell off in flight. If that was the case I’d expect AD’s coming out.

Why did one and only one center spar accident / failure in Australia ground and AD the whole fleet? I say it was a one off event.
 
No information from anyone with direct contact with the pilot yet. Don't expect an AD from this one. A couple of people that have direct knowledge of that particular aircraft's maintenence, as of late, said it was likely contributory (regardless of whether the engine was lost prior to ground contact...which I have not confirmed either way).
 
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