Engine failure

I have had exactly that happen to me in a Citabria with a Lycoming
engine.

I suspect carb ice. Intesting thing about carb ice is in above freezing
temperatues as soon as the engine stops turning the Ice starts melting.
It would not have to completely melt, only enough to let the engine
restart.

Clearing the engine is mostly just a good way to ensure it is still
running.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

Yes, but that engine is a bitch to restart and will quit as soon as you go
to idle. OP said that restart was easy and wouldn't quit again. I still
think it was carb ice.

Jim



"Orval Fairbairn" wrote in message
newsrfairbairn-

Loose nuts on the studs attaching the carburetor to the engine are NOT
all that uncommon! I have known of several. That will cause the engine
to stop at low power/idle settings!

Happy Dog wrote:

I was flying into La Guardia on Air Canada and I saw a Bonanza rolling out
with the engine stopped. By total coincidence, exiting the plane, I got a
call from that pilot's instructor who'd briefed the pilot on this X/C. He
said that there was a known problem with that plane and, I think, said that
it was not an uncommon problem with that type of plane. Odd thing,
coincidence.

My fuel-injected, turbo-normalized Bonanza had a newly rebuilt engine
installed last February. Upon completion of the work, I took the aircraft
up for the proper first flight break-in. When I landed, the engine quit
just as I touched down (low idle) on the runway.

I was able to restart and taxied back to talk to the mechanic. He adjusted
the low-idle mixture so I took the aircraft up for the second flight
break-in. Again, upon landing the engine quit.

Suspecting something else now, the mechanic ran the aircraft on the ground
and was able to duplicate the problem. He then suspected the fuel pump so
he took it off and sent it back to the company who supplied it to the
engine rebuilder for inspection. The fuel pump inspectors discovered metal
shavings inside the fuel pump that were cutting off fuel flow at low idle.
That opened up an entire finger pointing session. Nice...

The source of the shavings was never identified but it was concluded that
somehow they were introduced when the engine was on the test cell.


--
Peter
























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I agree it is probably carb ice & a remelt situation. My 150 hp 172M
will actually ice up to a limit quite quickly under the right
conditions. Note that OP probably had a very low power approach over
his obstacle in which case there would be little heat available for the
carb heat stove.

Those who say Lycomings won't ice up just haven't encountered the right
conditions - yet.

Is this an injected engine?





Jase Vanover wrote:
I had a situation yesterday at the end of my local "just because" flight
(you know, one of those where you really have no place to go but the weather
is favourable and you just want to go flying).

Was flying a rental 172. Took off like a rocket (lightly loaded solo...
cold air about freezing), tooled around practicing stalls, steep turns, etc.
Headed back to the pattern and did a couple of touch and goes. On my final
landing, I declared a full stop, and decided I would practice a short field
landing. I cleared the "imaginary" 50 ft. obstacle, dropped the last notch
of flaps and cut power... and the engine quit. No issues, because I had the
runway made (I didn't even realize that the engine had quit until rolling on
the runway... I knew something sounded different, but the prop was still
windmilling and I was concentrating on the flare).

I rolled out and the prop stopped, and I called traffic (uncontrolled
airport) to let them know I was a sitting duck. Checked the primer
(locked), mixture (full rich), fuel selector (both... and lots of fuel... I
filled up with only just over an hour of flight since), and restarted with
no problems and taxied off the runway.

Though it turned out to be no danger, I couldn't help but feel a little
disconcerted. A low level power off descent away from the airport could
have had a more serious outcome, or what if I misjudged and didn't have the
runway made when I cut power?

I taxied to the maintenance hanger (after being directed there by the FBO
via radio notification of the situation), and explained what happened to the
maintenance guy. He said that there is a stop on the throttle to keep the
idle setting from being too low that probably needed adjustment. Even so,
during shutdown (after restarting), idle setting on the throttle was still
800 - 900 RPM, which should be enough to keep the engine running I would
think.

Anyone else experienced this and can share their thoughts? I'm about a 60
hour pilot, so not much experience.

A Dakota on our field was owned by a VFR only pilot. Last summer on a trip
from STE to GRB and back, he reported having carb ice 3 times during his
trip. He questioned that it was really carb ice, but said that each time
the engine started to sputter, carb heat smoothed out the roughness in text
book fashion. Each time, the engine then ran smoothly for awhile then got
gradually rougher until carb heat was applied again.

I was at the airport when he returned and reported the problem to the
mechanic. To satisfy the pilot, the mechanic looked over the airplane and
found nothing wrong. It was simply the effect of a very humid day.

This happened in SUMMER?

Very weird. In our plane, the carb heat is checked prior to take-off,
and never touched again. In fact, I've only activated carb heat once
in flight (in ten years and 1500 hours) in ANY flavored Cherokee -- and
that was just an experiment.

Cessnas are another animal altogether, of course.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article .com,
"nrp" wrote:

I agree it is probably carb ice & a remelt situation. My 150 hp 172M
will actually ice up to a limit quite quickly under the right
conditions. Note that OP probably had a very low power approach over
his obstacle in which case there would be little heat available for the
carb heat stove.

Those who say Lycomings won't ice up just haven't encountered the right
conditions - yet.


I've never gotten carb ice at a low power setting, it has always been at
cruise or even takeoff power.

I put a carb temp guage in my 182..at low power settings the carb temp
is near ambient air temp. It's only when you start sucking a lot of air
through the carb that the temps drop.

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

Yep, happened last summer. Surface temps were around 70. It totally
freaked this guy out. So bad that it became one of the reasons he sold the
plane. (not a valid reason in my book, but to each his own.)

From a teaching stand point, especially to renter pilots, I've always taught
to use it on landings. Keep the procedures as similar as possible between
airplanes unless there is a good reason to deviate.

I've only needed carb heat once. It was IMC, in the spring, in an Archer.

Jim

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...

This happened in SUMMER?

Very weird. In our plane, the carb heat is checked prior to take-off,
and never touched again. In fact, I've only activated carb heat once
in flight (in ten years and 1500 hours) in ANY flavored Cherokee -- and
that was just an experiment.

Cessnas are another animal altogether, of course.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

The OP said this was a 172.

Jim


"The Visitor" wrote in message
...
Is this an injected engine?

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 15:26:19 -0700, "RST Engineering"
wrote:

The OP said this was a 172.

Jim


"The Visitor" wrote in message
...
Is this an injected engine?

Some are.