Flight Training - March/April 2021 - 16

PREFLIGHT FLIGHT LESSON

BY JOHN BRIDLE

POOR MAINTENANCE

2,500'

DID THE LAST GUY TAKE CARE OF YOUR RENTAL?

WHAT HAPPENED

Suddenly the engine quit, an ominous silence
except for the sound of rushing air.

IT WAS AUGUST 3, 1986, A LOVELY CAVU DAY IN TEXAS, IDEAL FOR

JARGON
CAVU

Pronounced " cavoo, " this
informal aviation acronym
describes a beautiful flying
day: ceiling and visibility
unlimited.

16 FLIGHT TRAINING MARCH/APRIL 2021

DECISION MAKING

ON AGAIN,
OFF AGAIN
Intermittent failures
pose insidious risk

Restarting the engine
gives a pilot more,
potentially safer
options for landing
after an engine failure.
But with more options
comes the temptation
to believe you can
make it just a little
farther back to the
airport-bypassing
suitable off-airport
landing sites along
the way.

P-51 pilot Mark
Levy discusses
his decision
making after an
engine failure
in this AOPA
Air Safety
Institute video.
airsafety
institute.
org/videos/
P51engineout

LEFT: ALEX WILLIAMSON; ABOVE: STEVE KARP

a local VFR flight for that famously expensive hamburger. My son
Paul and I did a normal preflight check on a rented V-tail Beechcraft Bonanza 35; the tanks were full and everything looked good.
I was a relatively new pilot then with only 250 hours of pilotin-command time, but I had rented this same airplane five times
the previous month for short trips, including one to Galveston,
with no problems or equipment failures.
Looking forward to another enjoyable trip to Scholes
International at Galveston Airport (GLS), we departed Skylakes
Airport (now 37XA, Skydive Houston) into clear blue, sunny
skies. The direct flight distance was only 71 nautical miles, but I
planned a pilotage route to stay on the southwest side under the
3,000-foot terminal control airspace for Hobby Airport (HOU),
which would add another 10 nm and also keep us clear of some
high towers en route.
We climbed to 2,500 feet and settled in to enjoy the ride and
the scenery. All was smooth sailing when suddenly the engine
quit, an ominous silence except for the sound of rushing air.
In semi-panic I trimmed for best glide speed and looked for a
suitable landing spot.
We were still over a densely packed residential area on the
west side of Houston, but I saw a less populated area and some
greenery about two miles to the north northwest and turned the
airplane toward it. We had probably lost about 500 feet already,

and I told Paul to pull his seat belt tight.
I then switched tanks and tried to restart
the engine. No luck. Now we were at about
1,800 feet and getting more worried.
There was no smell and no oil or smoke
visible from the left seat, so at the time this
seemed to me like either fuel starvation or
lack of spark. This Bonanza had a back-up
gear extension lever located behind the
passenger seat that I frantically found with
my right hand and started cranking while
trying to restart the engine. Still no luck
and now we were down to about 1,200 feet
and headed for a field that looked long and
flat enough to land on.
Continuing to crank and trying to
restart I got lined up to avoid some trees
near the field, then at about 1,000 feet the
engine spluttered. As soon as I advanced
the throttle it died again. I repeated the
sequence that worked, and the engine
fired up again, and this time I very gently
advanced the throttle just far enough to
maintain level flight.
Luckily we were now only a few
miles away from our departure airport
so I decided to try a slow climb, which
fortunately worked with an intermittent
splutter so we limped our way back at
about 800 feet. We were on a straight-in
final approach when the engine quit again,
but I had enough altitude to make the runway for a controlled dead-stick landing.
While we were waiting to be towed in
Paul said, " Dad, why are you sweating? "
It turned out that the fuel filter was
clogged with sediment caused by poor
maintenance. In my opinion, this is a
prime example in favor of aircraft ownership as opposed to rentals.
If this were to happen to me today, I
think I would touch down in that field
rather than risk finding another safe landing spot at such low altitude, but that's
what comes with the benefit of a little
more flight experience. On that particular
day, thank heavens our guardian angel
kept busy.

https://institute.org/videos/P51engineout https://institute.org/videos/P51engineout https://institute.org/videos/P51engineout

Flight Training - March/April 2021

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