Great GA Video - Piper Arrow Inflight Engine Problem
Discussion
My friend Jon (aka The Flying Reporter) recently posted a video of him having an engine issue in flight during his practical IR training in his Piper Arrow. I thought I'd share it here as it's a really interesting and educational video for many reasons, not just the technical aspects but in particular flight planning and human performance. I really admire Jons own humility and willingness to put himself "out there" warts and all and not just be a typical YouTuber only sharing the good things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXrz2F2XdJY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXrz2F2XdJY
Great vid.
Reminds me of an incident I had when I was flying in a PA28 south of Chicago. I was in the right seat being safety pilot and a friend was doing instrument training under the hood in the left seat as PIC. We were in VMC. He was tracking a VOR (pre sat-nav days) and I was keeping track of where we were in very familiar territory. He started to get overloaded as we were getting towards busier airspace and the VOR he was tracking to, saw the needle eventually go full right.
I asked him if he knew where he was, which was when he noticed the VOR needle fully right. He was a bit unsure, so I gave him a vector to correct. At that point there was a loud bang from the engine and the plane was vibrating severely. He got the same surprised reaction as the guy in the video and panicked a bit. I knew we were overflying an airfield so I said my airplane, take your hood off and get yourself sorted for a power-off approach and landing. Clow (airfield) is just off to our right, put the CTAF in the radio at the same time I closed the throttle.
Once he was ready I handed control back, when he said you do it. I was more situationally aware so probably made sense. I flew a very modified RH circuit at a normally LH circuit airfield and made a few radio calls to clear the area. We came in high so crabbed it to lose height. Another plane from our home airfield was in circuit and had just radioed that he was leaving to go north. I managed to call him ask for a lift home before landing and rolling out. We used the engine to taxi off and park and my god was it rough. We parked up and opened up the engine cowling to find one of the 8 spark plugs had blown out and was lying on top of its cylinder still connected to its cable.
An interesting flight to say the least, in fact my heart is racing just recalling and writing this.
Reminds me of an incident I had when I was flying in a PA28 south of Chicago. I was in the right seat being safety pilot and a friend was doing instrument training under the hood in the left seat as PIC. We were in VMC. He was tracking a VOR (pre sat-nav days) and I was keeping track of where we were in very familiar territory. He started to get overloaded as we were getting towards busier airspace and the VOR he was tracking to, saw the needle eventually go full right.
I asked him if he knew where he was, which was when he noticed the VOR needle fully right. He was a bit unsure, so I gave him a vector to correct. At that point there was a loud bang from the engine and the plane was vibrating severely. He got the same surprised reaction as the guy in the video and panicked a bit. I knew we were overflying an airfield so I said my airplane, take your hood off and get yourself sorted for a power-off approach and landing. Clow (airfield) is just off to our right, put the CTAF in the radio at the same time I closed the throttle.
Once he was ready I handed control back, when he said you do it. I was more situationally aware so probably made sense. I flew a very modified RH circuit at a normally LH circuit airfield and made a few radio calls to clear the area. We came in high so crabbed it to lose height. Another plane from our home airfield was in circuit and had just radioed that he was leaving to go north. I managed to call him ask for a lift home before landing and rolling out. We used the engine to taxi off and park and my god was it rough. We parked up and opened up the engine cowling to find one of the 8 spark plugs had blown out and was lying on top of its cylinder still connected to its cable.
An interesting flight to say the least, in fact my heart is racing just recalling and writing this.
Edited by fatboy b on Sunday 26th October 11:22
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