What to Do if Your Engine DIES in a Cessna 172 (ENGINE FAILURE in FLIGHT)

What should you do if you have an engine failure in flight in a Cessna 172? How do you accomplish an emergency decent and landing in a small training aircraft? This video goes into EXTREME detail on what you should do if you lose your engine during flight in a single engine aircraft. In this video, we are practicing the maneuver in a Cessna 172, but these procedures are very similar in most small training airplanes!

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[johnstrain]

Once I asked my instructor what I should do if engine quits over a forest, and he used to repeat the old adage, "Find the smallest, cheapest thing to hit and do it at the lowest speed possible."

[SoloRenegade]

landing off-airport in snow can be a whole other issue most people are totally unaware of and unprepared for. there are many different types of snow. Snow can conceal obstacles, downed trees, ditches, rough fields, etc. And it can be far deeper than you think. It could be solid ice, wet and heavy, light and fluffy, and worst it can be ice crust layer on top and fluffy below the crust. this WILL likely flip your plane upon breaking through the crust. A snowy field could also turn out to be a frozen lake with thin ice (very dangerous). Another reason I prefer roads.

[massimomelodia]

I think this is the best "engine failure lesson" I ever seen. Clear, simple, complete, no frills. Great !!!

[tbas]

One reason why these new small electric planes are great for flight schools (couple schools near me slowly getting them) .
Very easy to use and fly just like a little cessna (1 lever for power) 45-60 mins flight times,

Perfect for practising engine failures as there is no motor running and prop can be left to windmill for drag or not, without having to shutdown the IC-Engine.

[jimmydulin]

Very good and complete coverage of engine failure. Because most engine failures are on takeoff, I emphasize low altitude orientation over high altitude orientation. High orientation is best glide. Low orientation is airspeed, and not altitude is life. Think in terms of zoom reserve airspeed like Vcc rather than best glide. Level in low ground effect acceleration on takeoff and pitch only enough to just clear obstructions rather than fly well over is what gives default zoom reserve or Vcc airspeed. Because of crop dusting and pipeline patrol with a 200' AGL waiver, eleven of my thirteen engine failures were low orientation and it was this extra airspeed for maneuvering that gave me the flexibility to survive. They were six second deals. Best glide airspeed or even looking at the airspeed indicator is a distraction. Vx or Vy, almost never appropriate, are way too slow at 200' for much flexibility. Turn at whatever bank angle will make the survivable LZ in the very near hemisphere in front of the wing while allowing the nose to go down as designed. Do not pull on the yoke to maintain altitude. The airplane cannot stall itself, a pilot pulling on the stick is required. Just there just now. It is a six second deal. I was almost always high and fast to this very near LZ requiring full flaps and full forward slip in the turn to target.

So the high altitude orientation is what you will experience on the checkride. What I am talking about at low altitude is more likely what we will get in real life. Turn at 1 g (no back pressure on stick) and you will not stall. Don't stall and you will likely survive. Don't climb so fast you are likely to stall onto airport property. Just maneuver the airplane well (airspeed) where it is.

Again, good job with complete coverage of the subject.

[SoloRenegade]

Agreed, with engine securing prior to landing. But be aware that shutting Everything down can cause problems. Shutting off electrical could disable flaps, radios, etc. stuff you may still need. Make sure to think about this ahead of time and adjust checklists appropriately.

[munchkin]

Once again…you answered all my questions in prep for check ride! I will be so over prepared and that is exactly what I want.

[duanepauls]

At around 5:20 you suggest that a windmilling propeller has less drag than a stopped prop. A windmilling propeller has more drag, not less than a stopped prop.

[SimonAmazingClarke]

In my earlier years I flew Gliders, Sailplanes. If you have a low level cable break, you need to pitch down from 20 degrees nose up. My first practice engine failure in a Warrior I lifted myself and instructor of our seats, my pitch over was so rapid. He said most people are far too slow. He told me to slow down.

[mtkoslowski]

It depends.

If you are in the cruise, the very first thing that you should do is trade some of your horizontal velocity for altitude. Pull back on the stick. Yes, you do this BEFORE anything else. Those couple of hundred extra feet could just save your bacon.

Edit: if you’re flying a single with a constant speed unit FULLY COARSEN your propeller to reduce induced drag if you think you won’t make that field. It WILL stretch your glide. Yes, I know your 172 doesn’t have one.

[MozNugz]

thank you! i am scheduled to do my first lesson on emergency procedures tomorrow in the simulator. Great information and I feel a bit more prepared to handle these issues! cheers everyone!

[ABQSentinel]

8:00 What's interesting is that my instructor taught me to not go spot-shopping, but if I see a better spot on my descent, to definitely go with the better one. However, the chief instructor, when he was doing my checkride pre-check said I needed to pick a spot and stick with it because that's what the DPE expects (and he was right, the DPE wanted to see if I would make the spot I originally selected). But honestly, this notion always seemed like a really good way to pull into that Great Big FBO in the Sky.

[michaelgriggs]

We just recently had an engine/power failure scene in Nashville Tennessee. Family of five and no survivors but the pilot landed right beside the interstate in a grassy area and saved a bunch of lives by not landing where a bunch of vehicles were traveling.

[AFO]

Extremely well put together vid! Good work. I taught my students to memorize the engine failure, engine fire, and electrical fire checklists then reference them when things are a little more under control. Gotta do memory items when they get to the airlines anyway so teach em early I say.

[MENSA.lady]

All of the first 50 or so landings I did were dead-stick. yes, I did my initial training on gliders.

Dead stick landings I can handle. I suggest all pilots do a few trips in gliders, you will definetely improve your landing skills.

[darrenthedude]

Super Incredible Video, and although a bit long, I will be watching it again. You can never invest enough into surviving an emergency in this wonderful 'sport'. I do hope more pilots practice this scenario with the seriousness and attention it deserves. (amateur pilot here)

[waynenocton]

On most general aviation aircraft, full nose up on the trim wheel is very close to the best glide speed. I like to test that in each new plane I fly, and of course have checklists with the correct v speeds readily accessible.

[brackenquinton]

Really really really awesome video. Something that I think you could also touch on is the approach speed to landing. My chief pilot just taught me recently that you want to fly your Vg the way till you are leveling off for the flare. With a prop not windmilling creating the spiraling slipstream (prop wash) over the elevator you are going to hit the ground HARD if you try to rotate at your normal approach speed. You lose a ton of elevator authority. He explained it much better than I did but hopefully you get what I’m trying to say.

[rolandocrisostomo]

I can really appreciate the clarity this gentlemen explains everything

[frankbedell]

I had an engine failure on take off in a 1959 C-150 I had been flying for about 1000 hours over 4 years. I knew this airplanes slow flight characteristics as I used the aircraft for photography and surveys.
It was cold that morning, 23 degrees f. With a direct crosswind. The preflight and startup were normal. Taxi and run up seemed normal except for a very slight drop in rpm on the carb heat. Take off was always brisk and a cold day ROC of about 700 FPM came rapidly with a control input to maintenance runway heading was held. At about 350' indicated and past half the 3200' runway the engine quit suddenly. No surge, no warning. Here's the headline: push the nose down and keep speed up the second the power goes out. In the seconds after engine failure I was reaching for carb heat astonished the thing quit. The airplane was nose high bleeding off airspeed at 300' . Only when I heard the stall horn did I snap the nose over. I was about 200 feet off the CL to the right side of the runway . The left wing was stalling as I was trying to squeeze a left turn to the safety area at the end of the runway. The plane was almost fully stalled but didn't have altitude enough to roll off and did lift her nose a bit. The left wing and nose contacted the two feet of crusty snow . I walked away from it. The stall horn saved me. Your comment about muscle memory is IMHO spot on. Fly on!