1st in-flight emergency

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charris911

Pre-takeoff checklist
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charris911
Nice day for a morning trip from Houston (KDWH) to Austin (KAUS), in the trusty 152.

Enjoying the view at 4,500, engine made a little vibration, then lost my RPM's...good feeling gone. Informed the controller, asked for nearest airport, Brenham (11R) 12-miles past.

Turned-around, looking for a nice field. Engine kinda came back to life, but only moments at a time, then nothing...nursed it back to the 11R, and actually had altitude to spare. Slipped it on final and made a nice landing.

I'm sure my blood pressure was thru the roof, and I know I sounded terrible on the radio...but oh well. GREAT Controller at Houston Approach, and thanks to a Bonanza pilot that was passing thru and relayed WX and traffic info from the CTAF. Magneto at fault...I had done all normal pre-flight checks, and leaned at cruise.

Little shaken, but an experience for the logbook.
 
Glad you made a safe landing!! And it sounds like your training paid off and you kept your cool, well done!

Did you happen to try switching to left or right mag only?


-VanDy
 
Yeah...left kinda had some life. After I switched, I knew it was gonna work out.
 
Yep...pulled the carb! Checklist...check. hehe!
 
thanks for sharing your experience. it pays to keep cool when something like that happens!
 
As they say "Any landing you can walk away from...."
Good job.
Let us know what you find was the cause.
 
Most of us get there eventually . . . some sooner, some later.

New pants are cheap. And its nice to need to have to buy them . . . .

Good job.
 
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Shepherd said:
As they say "Any landing you can walk away from...."
Good job.
Let us know what you find was the cause.
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Didn't he say that the magneto was bad? I had a couple of adventures with a magneto that would go bad when it got hot. Thankfully the other magneto held up. It took a while for my mechanic to figure that out since the magneto was always good when it was cold and first started.
 
Older bendix mags have a bad habit of the coils breaking down due to heat. I had a string of fun in the Navion where you'd fly it for an hour. Stop for a break. Start up again, do all the mag checks you wanted, they were were fine. Take off and about five minutes into flight the mags would start misfiring.
 
Wow glad you are okay!!!it's good for you pilots with hours but what about to the pilots doing their first cross country solo or newly minted you are training but time and experience really comes in for situations like this!
 
It looks like a level head prevailed. I guess one of the hardest things to do in that situation is to remember to continue to fly the airplane. Congrats on keeping your cool.
 
It's great to read these story's with positive outcomes came from the great decision making that happened by the pilot. Excellent job.
 
We're you using flight following, is that why you were on Houston freq?

Glad to hear you kept a cool head under the pressure.

I fly out of KIWS.
 
Warrior said:
Didn't he say that the magneto was bad? I had a couple of adventures with a magneto that would go bad when it got hot. Thankfully the other magneto held up. It took a while for my mechanic to figure that out since the magneto was always good when it was cold and first started.
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I thought maybe they would do some testing and find out why\what failed on it.
 
Nice flying sir. I bet your glad to be reading all these messages right now!

I'd imagine you must feel a little confidence knowing you can handle the situation thrown your way.
 
Glad you walked away from the issue! 11R has a nice BBQ place too if you had to wait to get picked up. The good thing about where you had your problem is that there are tons of fields to set it down if you lost the engine.

Was it a rental, or your plane? I have to ask - who you rented from if it isn't yours.

I fly out of KEYQ/KIWS, and have been looking at a few rental options at Hooks.
 
It was a coil break down, the mechanic ran it when it was still hot.

In the air, I felt a little vibration, that I had never felt before, I immediatly knew something was about to happen.

Yes, I had flight following. I asked if Giddings (ahead) or Brenham (behind) was closest. As the controller was giving me distance/vectors, is when I thought the engine quit. Got turned around, glide speed, carb heat, checklist....I could hear the engine sputtering. It was alternating betwen what I thought was NO RPM's and full power.

Really didn't think I was going to make it. But, I could see the airport just past the town...and I wasn't descending as fast as expected. When the controller told me 11o'clock and 7 miles...I knew I had it.

What would, I have done different.

1) Changed from both to left or right mag faster...didn't even think about it till I was turning for a long final. It was reduced RPM's but engine sound was better, than the sputtering.
2) Take a deep breath...

All in all, I am happy with my preformance, I called my old CFI today and thanked him. I did end up finishing my flight to Austin Berstrom and returned. NO problems!
 
Nicely done!
 
I just hope this doesn't ever happen to me around KNVY (LA). Not many options around here for a good landing. Congratulations on a job well done!
 
charris911 said:
It was a coil break down, the mechanic ran it when it was still hot.

In the air, I felt a little vibration, that I had never felt before, I immediatly knew something was about to happen.

Yes, I had flight following. I asked if Giddings (ahead) or Brenham (behind) was closest. As the controller was giving me distance/vectors, is when I thought the engine quit. Got turned around, glide speed, carb heat, checklist....I could hear the engine sputtering. It was alternating betwen what I thought was NO RPM's and full power.

Really didn't think I was going to make it. But, I could see the airport just past the town...and I wasn't descending as fast as expected. When the controller told me 11o'clock and 7 miles...I knew I had it.

What would, I have done different.

1) Changed from both to left or right mag faster...didn't even think about it till I was turning for a long final. It was reduced RPM's but engine sound was better, than the sputtering.
2) Take a deep breath...

All in all, I am happy with my preformance, I called my old CFI today and thanked him. I did end up finishing my flight to Austin Berstrom and returned. NO problems!
Click to expand...

Glad things turned out well - good cockpit ADM. I had a mag problem in a 152, but I was in the pattern so not as harrowing as yours. Just enough RPM to maintain 400 AGL (had just run out of runway and headed for the crosswind when it occurred), options were a dirt road or take it around. Mine was more stable than yours and I had dirt road options on every leg of the pattern. Didn't land reverse traffic, but that was an option after I made the downwind turn.

Have had a few "incidents" in 7 years of flying .... I ALWAYS hear my original CFI in my head. He'll be glad you called as one of his current students will get the benefit of your experience. Job well done.
 
comanchepilot said:
Most of us get there eventually . . . some sooner, some later.
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First off, glad to hear you had a good outcome! I bet it was the most stressful thing ever,

So like they say in the motorcycle world "it's not if you go down, it's when you go down." Is the same true for engine malfunctions?
 
flyingron said:
Older bendix mags have a bad habit of the coils breaking down due to heat. I had a string of fun in the Navion where you'd fly it for an hour. Stop for a break. Start up again, do all the mag checks you wanted, they were were fine. Take off and about five minutes into flight the mags would start misfiring.
Click to expand...

Not just bendix.
 
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