Engine Failure Over the Mountains and Lessons Learned

When I wrote Max Trescott’s G1000 Glass Cockpit Handbook, I couldn’t have imagined that it would connect me with pilots around the world, some of whom have come to California to fly with me and others for whom I’ve traveled to fly with them at their home airport. For example, this week I’m flying with a pilot from the U.K. and am teaching him the instrument rating in a Cessna 208B Caravan—more on that soon.

This week I also got the final email in a series of exchanges with another European pilot who came to the U.S. to fly with me last summer. He went on to buy a G1000-equipped aircraft and had an engine failure in that aircraft a month ago. With his permission, I’m publishing most of our email exchange because I think it contains important lessons for all pilots.

For this particular flight, the owner had leased…

his aircraft to the manufacturer so that they could give a demo flight to a perspective customer. My friend was flying with one of the manufacturer’s demo pilots. I’ve deleted the name of the aircraft company since it could have happened in any aircraft. Here’s the email exchange I had with my friend:

Max,
Very close call on Monday night flying with a [company name] demo pilot over the Pyrenees. Engine quit, declared emergency, engine came back very underpowered and managed to get down. At night, VMC but with low ceiling and terrain. I believe that the G1000 and Jeppview (had to fly the approach as there were mountains) were critical and thanks to them I am here to write this.

I'm glad you're okay. Having an engine quit is very unusual. Of course at night, everything gets worse, since it's so much harder to find emergency landing spots. I've always thought that the G1000 would improve safety and it sounds like you feel the same way. When you find out what the problem was, please let me know.
Max

Thanks Max. [company name] was leasing the plane–for a demo–so they are taking this very seriously. Technicians from [company location] are been flown out to examine what happened. Neither the test pilot nor I could figure it out. It was a very unpleasant experience. Engine and prop vibration was extreme–as if the engine what going to unmount. Add a thick cloud layer, 60 knot winds and bad turbulence, terrain and at night. I don’t know how much more adverse it can get. [company name] pilot was outstanding. We suspect fuel contamination, but it is pure speculation at this point. I am seriously considering switching to twin engine flying, but all is too fresh now.

Interestingly, the twin fatal accident record is no better. Twins require a lot of recurrent training to be flown safely when one engine quits. Another way to reduce your risk would be to limit the amount of flying you do a night–particularly in mountainous terrain! You could also look at getting a turboprop. Turboprops are very reliable compared to piston engines.
Max

Thank you Max.
What I learned is that the test pilot relied too much on the plane and I relied too much on the test pilot. Simply, I don't do night flying at all and would not even go day IFR over mountains. But I said,"well if the test pilot thinks it is fine, it must be fine.” My lesson is that even if Chuck Yeager says it is fine and you think differently, you need to stand up (easier said than done) to your own standard and err on the side of caution. I like the idea of the turboprop and will investigate. The G1000 is awesome, but it does not matter how good you are and how many hours you've got if your only engine fails. So what I learned is that even with only 230 hours of flight experience, I am ready to say “No” regardless how experienced the pilot is next to me, and that is not easy!

I think you've reached some very important conclusions. Often when people come to fly with me and the weather is poor I ask "Would you fly on a day like today?" and they always say, "No, but I would with you." That doesn't always make me feel that good. There definitely seems to be a tendency for pilots to relax their standards when they're with another pilot. It seems like they defer to the other pilot, so the standard becomes worse than if either pilot were flying alone. Just remember when you fly, you're the CEO in charge, regardless of how many hours the pilot next to you has!
Max

Thank you Max, and I fully agree. I think that is something that the CFI world, FAA exams and curriculums could emphasize a lot more and develop in pilots as much as slow flight and stalls. I consider myself very fortunate to learn this lesson unharmed. We were going down and it is hard to forget the whole scene with the violent vibrations and noise that the prop and engine were making. It was surreal and I don't wish that experience on anyone. I believe that this was a shocker as well to the test pilot, who by the way did a super job. The load was immense: clouds, high turbulence (60 knot winds), mountains, night, unfamiliar area, engine and prop screaming, and a not very friendly ATC.

Max,
Last week we met with [company name] technicians and managers to inspect and fix the airplane. It was a magneto failure. Sounds simple and basic, however that is the case when it completely fails. This magneto simply "went crazy" and was sparking all over and with no sequence. At altitude where the air is thin and there is less resistance, it was arcing. The engine started firing all over the place and eventually quit. The violent shaking was an imbalanced engine. Switching to the good magneto would have been enough to get out of trouble, but in the heat of the moment, when the engine restarted–with little power– it did not go through our minds to start experimenting with new things in the emergency approach to the airport, especially at night, in cloud and over mountains. The evidence was all over; large carbon deposits and burns of metal and plastic all over the magneto. Both magnetos and the propeller governor were replaced. All fuel systems tests were good, so was the air filter and the borescope inspection. A test pilot flew it for an hour and then took it to a service center for further inspection and service. No more problems were reported.

Although this was a frightening and time consuming experience and one I wish on no one, I did learn a lot out of it.

So blog readers, what critical lessons have you learned while flying? Feel free to post your comments. Have fun and fly safely!