TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
Didn't see this already posted. A C172 loses the ENTIRE prop with four people aboard. Makes a successful emergency landing on a road.
In-cockpit video: Cessna in Mexico loses prop in flight
- Thread starter TangoWhiskey
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TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
Having a couple of people in the back seat was lucky for them, as losing the prop (heavy, way out front) can significantly change the weight & balance... I'll have to pull out my charts and run some calculations to see if they'd be out of CG with the prop missing and only front-seaters on board.
Ted
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I wouldn't be worried about the CG impacts of a 172's fixed-pitch prop getting thrown off. This would be a bigger deal on a 182, 206, etc. with a constant-speed prop.
But that is never fun!
But that is never fun!
Tom-D
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Actually the CG would run aft. having weight in the back makes it worse.
Tom-D
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it weighs 47 pounds at 50 inches, do the math, and remember its a negative arm.
Considering the prop is in front of the CG and rear seat behind, the only consequences of having more weight in the back is negative. Regardless, losing the prop off a 172 is not likely to cause a serious hazard if the plane was previously within the envelope.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Nice job El Capitan! 
TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
DOH, yup.
TMetzinger
Final Approach
Losing the prop sucks but at least it wasn't one of those "lose a blade and rip the engine off" events - that's probably unsurvivable.
rottydaddy
En-Route
Too bad the moment of "departure" is not in the clip... must have made an interesting sound. You can see from the ground shots that it beat up the front of the cowl as it "walked off". Did the bolts fail, I wonder, or the shaft itself? Can't really tell.
Also too bad the back-seater with the camera was so scared they forgot that you can't see much when it's held in your lap, LOL.
But as the man said, "Muy bien, Capitano!" That was a well-handled emergency.
Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
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Correct. If the prop just falls off, it's survivable provided, as Henning said, you're within reasonable envelope to start out. If the prop rips the engine off (expect this to happen if you lose a blad), you're looking at a really, really bad day.
Arbiter419
Cleared for Takeoff
Assuming you're cruising around at a normal power setting and a blade departs the airplane, how long do you think you have to go for the mags before the engine is ripped off the mounts? Or is it going to go bye bye no matter what you do?
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe
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Light and Sporty Guy
The people who have had it happen (that I am aware of) have not been able to report on how long it took.
I wouldn't expect it to take more than a couple engine revolutions once a blade is gone.
denverpilot
Tied Down
There's a thread with a photo around here somewhere. The photo showed where the engine spun around and the cowl held on to it, getting bashed from the inside. I'd say, it's virtually instantaneous considering the forces involved.
Dan Thomas
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Not long, but you wouldn't be able to do much about it anyway because the whole airplane would be vibrating so much that finding the throttle or mag switch or mixture might be difficult.
Dan
Tom-D
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One of our Fairchild operators had a blade leave the Ranger powered 24, he flew it 25 minutes back to his home field and made a safe landing.
the mount for the ranger is built into the fuselage forward section and acted like a roll cage for the ranger and it held the engine in the aircraft.
F-24s are tough old bird.
the mount for the ranger is built into the fuselage forward section and acted like a roll cage for the ranger and it held the engine in the aircraft.
F-24s are tough old bird.
MSPAviator
Cleared for Takeoff
So if you own a Mexican registered airplane in Mexico, can you just fly it till it breaks or when you feel like fixing it, or do you still have annuals like in the USA?
Mexico has more stringent MX requirements than the US, I have been told.
TomRV4
Pre-Flight
Had a friend lose 20" off one blade of a two blade prop. It was an experimental RV. He had his hand resting on the throttle when it happened and immediately pulled the power back to idle...probably less than 2 seconds he thought... He then cut off the mags.
It about shook his eyeballs out.
Fortunately, he was at 8,000' within easy gliding distance of a large airport, and he landed successfully.
Broke an engine mount, broke a main longeron, shook the tail hard enough to crease elevator skins, broke some cowling fiberglas, and other minor things.
He got lucky. Another few seconds and the engine probably would have daparted...
Tom
TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
If you lost the entire prop, hub and all, my FIRST guess would be a failed (sheared) crankshaft.
Ted
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It should be noted that one shouldn't expect similar performance from the typical piston birds out there.
Or the safety wire broke and the bolts have worked their way out.
Seen both happen.
TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
Wow. Six bolts (on the installs I've seen, I'm sure that varies)... they are safety wired in pairs.... I have a hard time picturing this scenario. I'd think the bolts would fail due to becoming loose and picking up the prop's movement as a tension force, before they'd all work themselves loose at once. How often have you seen this? I suppose it's impossible after the fact to know if only one wire broke pre-prop-escape, or if the wires weren't there to begin with.
Ted
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Only once, and I believe it was because the safety wire wasn't done properly.
U
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Out of curiosity, is pulling the mixture a suitable equivalent to cutting off the mags in this case? (Thinking about being in the right seat, i could pull the mixture faster than reaching the mags or getting the left seater to get the mags)
gismo
Touchdown! Greaser!
Killing the mags will stop an engine much more quickly than pulling the mixture on most airplanes although we're talking about something like half a second vs 2-3 seconds.
FWIW, I've seen pictures of airplane that lost no more than a few inches of a prop tip with the result being the engine breaking loose from it's mounts and hanging by the wires and control cables.
Hiperbiper
Line Up and Wait
That video is just wierd.
The flange is still on the crankshaft. So the prop (extension?) and the prop left the airplane without removing the right wing?
There shouldn't be any nosebowl left on the cowl.
The taxi light is popped out and the air filter is displace aft but the exhaust pipe is still centered in it's hole?
Where is the oil? If you unload the motor set for criuse flight (2500rpm?) the motor will zing up and put the rod(s) out of the case. This would vent the oil all over the airplane.
I'm a Grassy Knoll kind of guy...this just looks strange to me.
The flange is still on the crankshaft. So the prop (extension?) and the prop left the airplane without removing the right wing?
There shouldn't be any nosebowl left on the cowl.
The taxi light is popped out and the air filter is displace aft but the exhaust pipe is still centered in it's hole?
Where is the oil? If you unload the motor set for criuse flight (2500rpm?) the motor will zing up and put the rod(s) out of the case. This would vent the oil all over the airplane.
I'm a Grassy Knoll kind of guy...this just looks strange to me.
Looks totally normal to me, the prop is pulling all the way until it releases, then the laws of gravity, inertia, and drag take over making it impossible for the prop to hit the wing; but then I never believed the grassy knoll idiots either.