My first engine out . . .

T

Tommy3

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Tom
Luckily, it decided to quit during the landing roll, so sort of a non-event. That said, I'm curious about the cause. It was at idle with carb heat on, full rich, and just stopped running 5 s or so after touchdown. There were carb icing conditions that day but the approach and touchdown were normal.

Could the idle have been set too low? Or too lean? Curious to hear what the community thinks.
 
I could offer a world of guesses, but really can't tell from this side of the Internet
 
It would help a little bit to know what plane and engine, too. Not a lot, but a little.
 
I had a carburetor stop working as I was on take off roll. I was very lucky to pull the nob at the first indication of a stumble and have enough room to stop safely.
 
Happened to me recently in a student's C-150. Ran fine in flight, but started dying shortly after landing. Noticed fuel dripping from cowl not long thereafter and ultimately had the carburetor rebuilt which fixed the problem.
 
One of our Warriors had a similar problem that was cured by rebuilding the carb. Took one more write up after the first CND. No problems in flight, just during roll out. ;)

Cheers
 
My Guess is combination of low idle and carb ice. Engine at idle isn't producing much heat.

I have it happen a few time to me, thye usually fire right back up.

Brian
 
I had the same thing happen in a rental DA-20 with the IO-240. Turned out to be idle set too low.
 
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Was the airport you were landing at, at an elevation higher or lower than where the idle was calibrated to?

I flew from a 5,000'+ elevation airport to a sea level one and mine would quit on roll out at sea level but not when I got back home.
 
To answer some questions, it was a C152, 110hp Lycoming. The landing was at the home base of the a/c. Restarting the engine required a little fiddling with the throttle but pretty much started right away.

All's well that ends well, but if it had been a slightly longer base/final then there could have been problems!
 
I need more than idle set too low. If that was case then how did it make it past a run up before takeoff. Last step is to pull to idle to make sure it will idle without dying.
 
EppyGA said:
I need more than idle set too low. If that was case then how did it make it past a run up before takeoff. Last step is to pull to idle to make sure it will idle without dying.
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Increased drag from the engine windmilling at idle with some forward airspeed versus sitting in the run-up area?
 
I'll go with idle mixture needs adjusted, depending on what region you're flying out of.

20 degree air is a lot more dense than 80 degree air.

Or kiss. What's the air filter look like and what kind of shape is your carb heat box in? Easy to check.


-VanDy
 
Tommy3 said:
To answer some questions, it was a C152, 110hp Lycoming. The landing was at the home base of the a/c. Restarting the engine required a little fiddling with the throttle but pretty much started right away.

All's well that ends well, but if it had been a slightly longer base/final then there could have been problems!
Click to expand...

Maybe, but probably not. Even at "won't idle on the ground" throttle setting, the prop will typically windmill enough coming down final to keep it running while in the air. But yeah, get it fixed.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Increased drag from the engine windmilling at idle with some forward airspeed versus sitting in the run-up area?
Click to expand...

The prop dragging the engine in the air should keep it "running" even if it won't idle, though it might be rough.

Good idle is something to be checked for during runup though.
 
There's another possibility. The primer wasn't in and locked. At idle the engine will suck fuel past the open primer's shutoff valve and flood itself.

Dan
 
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