Forced Landing Poll

[Twotter76]

520 hours in piston aircraft, 1 forced landing due to extreme engine roughness. Fortunately that landing was on the crosswind runway that was nearby.

 

[tarp]

A couple of comments about your unofficial poll and I am looking forward to the results you print.

1.) Congratulations on a job well done. Eight's on means you were flying about 1,000ft agl and you still put it down in your "safety zone". And, of course, now that you know that engines can fail - I'm thinking you will teach your students with just a little more emphasis on "engine out" procedures and picking safe sites for performing ground ref. manuevers (leave yourself an out!)

2.) I think your poll will be a little skewed towards a pretty ugly number - mainly because people will probably not answer you with a "no failures" answer. Don't let the results discourage or intimidate you. We fly a LOT of hours without failure. I personally own an airplane with a "bulletproof" O-360 Lycoming under the hood. The engine has run 4800 hrs and of the three owners in its life (I have 1800 hrs in it), this little plane has never let us down. However, as an owner, I take great pride in the plane and do some pretty regular maintenance.

3.) I think the engine question is legitimate. I remember seeing an article in Aviation Consumer magazine many years ago that reinforced my decision to buy a simple Lycoming like the O-360. My engine failure was in a Continental TSIO-360 with 800 SMOH. Engines which are high performance or are turbo-charged to boost their performance are more prone to failure (IMO).

4.) Life as a CFI will expose the pilot to far more airplanes and in more questionable condition than most pilots out there. As a private pilot after my initial training, I probably flew maybe 15-20 different airplanes. When I got my CFI rating and started working in that field, I could go through that many in a work week. At my airport, there are about 20 FBO planes, about 30 in different flying clubs and then another 200 owner airplanes. I have no idea who does the maintenance on all these planes, but I review the logbooks, do a pre-flight and go (if all passes muster).

Experience is a wonderful thing.

 

[Speedtree]

about 2000, no engine failures or forced landings. MOst of the time was as CFI in Houston,TX or training.

I heard a long time ago from an unremembered source that the averages are about 1 engine failure per 5000 hours flown. Obviously this depends on the type of flying you are doing. Generally SEL a/c are relatively safe if you don't do anything stupid. Without doing research, it seems to me that most SEL accidents are pilot induced ( loss of control, etc.)

 

[tcoll777]

1200hrs., 1 multi shutdown, 0 single engine forced landings

 

[dlwdracos]

A 152 has a TBO of 2400, not 2000. Your plane was 100 hours short of TBO. As Avbug says, TBO is meaningless. Congrats on handling the situation!

 

[aggiepilot87]

Not high on hours at ~1250 nor terribly serious issues, but I've experienced two forced landings in singles. One was due to a cowling that came apart and the other a rapidly rising oil temp. No multi shutdowns in ~200 hrs. One instance was while receiving training and the other was while giving it. Made it to an airport both times, thankfully. I'd imagine off-airport landings could sure be a hassle.

 

[V-1]

One of our Chieftains had a prop feather itself in flight while the engine was running (and continued to run). Wish I could take credit for that one!

3600 in piston airplanes/0 failures.

 

[RJFlyer]

One cylinder failure directly over an airport at about 100 hrs. None since. Learned to ALWAYS know where the nearest suitable landing spot is.

 

[eriknorth]

hey you said anybody...
3.3 hours, no failures

 

[chperplt]

One of our 1900s had a prop feather on the takeoff roll with the engine still running.. Had another one go into ground fine at 50 feet.. That wasn't fun!!

1000 or so piston/ 1 electrical fire

 

[Tim47SIP]

In 2700 hours of piston time (2300 as a CFI/CFII/MEI), one forced landing, fortunately directly over an airport. Broken valve. My brother, with about 4000 total piston time has had one. That was in a Cherokee Six that we both owned so it could of happened a second time to me. Again, directly over an airport, cylinder came loose.

 

[dav8or]

One multi engine shutdown resulting in a landing (density alt above SE ceiling) Made it to a private strip.

One split flap in the pattern 172.

One blown oil seal in a 152 made it back to the field under power.

952hrs piston

 

[Simon Says]

1350 Total Piston with one forced landing on a freeway.

4000 turbine with 33 engine failures/fires........about half of those are v1 cuts. Sometimes we had smoke in the cockpit. 4 dual engine failures. Only 1 approach down to mins with the peanut gauges, all sorts of hydraulic failures resulting in split flaps, fluid leaks, and not able to get the gear down. Hmmm.........come to think about it that was all in the sim. So I have about 4000 turbine hours with zero engine failures. Hope that helps

 

[V-1]

Yeah, the simulators my company uses are pieces of crap too. You'd think a fifteen million dollar video game would be able to get from point A to point B without catching on fire, losing cabin pressure, having engine seizures, etc. multiple times on the way!

 

[SLCPilot]

1300 TT
0 shutdowns