Cirrus Engine Failure at 1500 Feet

If you're a single engine private pilot, I am pretty sure one of your biggest fears is facing an engine out. It certainly was for me. Recently that incident became a reality. What didn't happen was the paralyzing fear I assumed would follow. Join me in this episode as I hypothesize why the fear never entered the cockpit and what we all can do to mitigate our concerns and put us in the best position possible to handle an emergency.

My hope is that my experience can somehow translate to a path to proficiency and confidence for you that results in the best possible outcome of any unexpected "situations" you encounter.

Blue Skies and Tailwinds!

[nrv]

I’ve had 4 emergencies in 52 yrs of flying, fortunately was able to nurse the plane to an airport each time. Just as you describe, I found my mental awareness instantly became hyper focused, alert and decisive. It’s fascinating to experience how the brain works when flooded with adrenaline.

[NovejSpeed]

I love how the big boys were talking with you. Aviation is an amazing community.

[brentameszimmerhanzel]

I love how another pilot on frequency reminded you to fly the airplane to the ground and how aviation is such a close community. Good job on this emergency and this video.

[douglastisdale]

I had an engine failure in February of this year. I had 82 total hours. Jut like you said, training kicked in and lucky for me and my wife, I had an airport 3.5 miles away. It was an uneventful landing. I credit my fantastic CFI's with pounding that training in my head!

[gawebm]

I've been a pilot for 30 years and an aircraft owner. I watched a hundred engine out videos. I'm a worrier and I believe it can, and will, happen to me. I practice engine out landings regularly. Still I have the fear of the real thing. IN all the videos and information I have studied, I never heard your perspective on this. The idea that all the training and practice I continue to do will allow my brain to act appropriately when it is necessary. It's a wonderfully positive thought that I will remember. And of course I will keep practicing and training for emergencies. Thank you for posting this. It really struck home to me.

[afdchocolatemilk]

I'm a new pilot who is fortunate enough to own a plane and when I am flying with my wife she asks why are you always looking at the ground, and I say I am looking for place to land and she gets worried. I then let her know that I was trained to always look for your engine out landing area. Great job on your emergency landing!!

[ericsd]

Excellent flying, excellent video! TRAINING TRAINING TRAINING!! I'm a 30 year pilot, 23 year 121 driver, CRM/TEM instructor. I cannot give you enough hi 5's. I certainly appreciate your vulnerability, candor, and professionalism. Nice work my friend.

Thank you for putting the time and energy into making this video. I hope it empowers everyone watching to put the same effort into their airmanship as have you.

E

[furtjager]

Great work!! I command the NW Ohio Civil Air Patrol and got a notice of your distress call from one of my lieutenants. I alerted my team and we tracked your ADSB data to that field while we got to our HQ/hangar. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we heard you were un-injured. Fantastic after action report, looking forward to hearing about the engine!

[nealhere]

Brilliant. I am a cfi and am taking this to tell me to give my students even more practice in this area. Mix, pump, tank switch. Mags. Air source (carb heat ). Thanks for putting yourself out there for us. All the best neal sw fla

[daverohn]

I'm a new pilot and I watch as many of these videos as I can get my hands on to see what can go wrong and how the situations were successfully handled. I appreciate all the time people put into making these videos just so that others lives can be spared, should they be exposed to the same scenarios. Keep the blue side up!

[cbp]

Always chose BROWN over GREEN. Perfectly done here. As a glider pilot "out landing" is quite normal. No need to get scared. Just land at the lower or lowest end of the speed range! And keep the front wheel up... As long as possible

[TeachAManToAngle]

Glad you are safe and appreciate the time it took to share your experience.

[OneTequilaTwoTequila]

Thank you for your excellent job treating an emergency situation properly and not just pulling the chute. I hate it when Cirrus pilots have a manageable problem and just use their chute as a crutch to avoid having to deal with their problem. They belly-flop into a residential area, risking the lives of others, and damage their airplane, which causes insurance rates to go up for all of us. Meanwhile, there's a field or barren stretch of highway half a mile away.

The true test of your composure in an emergency will only come when you have that emergency. I've had about 10 in over 22, 000 hours of flying. I wouldn't change a thing on any of them. You remained calm and did what you were trained to do. Well done. Not everybody is like that. On two of my emergencies, my first officer froze in fear and shut down. I had to secure the engine myself and talk her down afterward to get her to take over the radio.

You talked about the brain being wonderful by shutting off hearing the "pull up" calls to focus on the important things. That's not exactly a good thing - but it is something that affects all humans at a point of task saturation. Nobody is completely immune to it. The hearing is the first thing to go in a stressful situation. In some cases what you are not hearing (not in your case) IS the priority. Consider the Eastern Air Lines 401 crash in the Everglades. All four pilots were pre-occupied with a burned-out landing gear indication light, and not one of them heard the autopilot disconnect, the altitude warnings, or ATC trying to call them to check their altitude. 101 people died on that flight. The important take on that is to be aware of that Human Factor and try to avoid falling into its trap.

Nicely done, sir! You should be proud of your accomplishment. Textbook prioritization example!

[mrvoyagerm]

Back when I was a student pilot on my first cross country I reached the Set heading point and went through the set heading checklist which starts with pulling the carb heat on. I did that and the engine quit. Well instantly one of my Dads many and hard earned aviation anecdotes came jumping out at me. He used to say "if you move a lever or switch a switch and bad things start happening - move it back to where you found it" . So as I was reaching for the mic button this hit me and I simply pushed the carb heat back off and voila, the engine came back to life. The training school changed the carb the next day.

[WiredForFlight]

Thrilled to hear you are all right and here to fly another day. I have added this video to my CFI Training list to share with students. Thanks for sharing with us.

[RobMiller]

Took a lot of courage to make this video. Thank you for the great advice and candor. I’m so glad you are okay!

[kenross]

I heard this somewhere recently...."In an emergency, you don't rise to the challenge, you sink to your training". We've all trained for off airport landings, and we all hope we don't have to remember our training.

[bobnashnash]

How right you are, I had an engine failure a few weeks ago and I didn’t panic it was all automatic. Made a safe landing back at the airport I had departed.

[austincamsmith]

Excellent handling of this emergency. Glad you are still in the land of the living. I've had one emergency in my time - a night electrical failure when I was a low time pilot. I experienced the same feelings: extremely heightened awareness and decisive decision-making. I'm somewhat ashamed to say, I've never felt more alive. Training and proficiency are everything. Keep up the good work.

[aero]

You really put together a great video here. Showing the lesson with a CFI going through engine out emergency in the same airplane you had the emergency in was brilliant. Most GA pilots fly 50+ yr old, one engine airplanes. I feel the most important thing for GA pilots is to is keep a vow that you will never be afraid to make an off airport landing, and this landing will be the best landing you will ever make. When I fly my 1972 Cessna 182 I always know the winds (smoke from stacks etc are great indicators), and I'm always looking for the closest airports and open fields.