Tag: failure

Cleared To Land, Las Vegas Boulevard?

Back in Episode 58 – Flying The Ford Tri Motor And Landing On Roads, we shared a story about a pilot who made an emergency landing on Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago after experiencing flight control problems. Since then, we’ve received some fun listener mail about their stories of both road and emergency landings.

Today’s mail comes from Mike Hart of the Pilots Journey Podcast. Mike writes,

I did an accelerated program in Las Vegas for my commercial certificate. After a week of intensive training in a Piper Arrow, it was time for my last checkout by the school before signing me over to the DPE. I went up with the Chief pilot of Monarch Aviation and completed all maneuvers to the PTS.

We left the tiny airport of Jean, NV (0L7) and headed back to Henderson, NV (KHND) on the south side of Las Vegas. We were perhaps 800 feet AGL on climb-out and perhaps 9 miles south of KHND when the engine stopped making full power and began coughing and running extremely rough. I turned the fuel pump on, switched tanks, messed with the mixture and mags, looked at the Chief pilot as I pitched for best glide and identified Las Vegas Blvd as the best option for off field landing.

He said, “Keep at it this is real, I didn’t do anything.” When I pitched for best glide, the engine ran better, so I tried to  climb to put some more altitude in the bank, the engine ran rough and started to fail again. We did this dance up and down and we we able to clear terrain barely holding on to 800-1000 AGL.

We called tower at Henderson asking for clearance direct to the numbers with a rough engine. The whole time, Las Vegas Blvd was below but it was turning from a frontage road (which it is  south of the city) into a major suburban artery. I tried to find other clear fields and streets, but Las Vegas Blvd was always my main option until we were essentially over KHND.

We fortunately were able to land on the runway. A citation coming in on IFR with clearence was asked to go around to give us the full runway. On the ground, mechanics later identified that the 4 cylinder IO-360 had thrown a rocker arm and valve guide.

So, I just missed landing on an equally famous road. I got lucky. I passed my checkride the next day (in a different airplane).

It is an old story and was told in Episode #25 of the Pilots Journey Podcast – Short final for Las Vegas Blvd

MAN, that would have been pretty nerve wracking to perform a forced landing on such a major arterial road way such as Las Vegas Boulevard! What an adrenaline rush. What do you think of Mike’s experience? Leave us a comment below.

Got a flying story to share with us? Send us an email!

Broken Throttle Cable In-Flight? Here’s One Outcome.

Today’s listener mail comes from the West Coast and was sent in by our friend Ron of RightSeatFlying.com. Ron share’s his story of a broken throttle cable that caused him to make an emergency landing in San Jose, CA.

As we were exchanging emails with him, we found out he later had a mixture control cable break on him as well. Two different flights, one common clue. Read more  to learn what Ron believes is the dead giveaway to an impending cable failure!

I had more of an emergency landing with a twist. To set the stage when I started the flight the throttle in the Warrior we were flying was rather stiff. It was a friends plane and I got to fly it a lot as the part-owner wasn’t a pilot. So it took two hands to rotate the throttle back and forth and it loosened up after a bit. Yes, I ignored that big clue!

So the flight goes fine for an hour or so and we come back to our departure airport, I do a few landings for some practice and as I’m turning to downwind and reducing power the throttle cable breaks. Fortunately it stayed in the full power position.

I declare an emergency and continue climbing while I have power to do so. The airport was KRHV (Reid-Hillview Airport of Santa Clara County, CA) and the runway is about 3,000 feet long. However, I was a newish private pilot with about 100 hours or less and I wanted more options. So I went over to KSJC (San Jose International Airport, CA) and, even though it was the Monday night of a closing holiday weekend, I shut them down and the airliners scattered and I got the big 9,000 foot runway (or so it was back then).

After climbing up to about 5,000 feet so I can make the 6 mile flight over safely, I pulled the mixture to kill the engine and deadsticked it in. The controller asked while I was on short final if I would please make the high speed taxiway so they can get the airliners in. I said I’d try.

As I flared the prop stopped windmilling and we were committed but I made sure we were going to land a little long as that was the point of going there to not have to put it on the numbers and then find myself short a little. So we touched down and the high speed taxiway is coming up and I make it and coast off the runway and past the yellow lines and tell the tower were are safe and we need a tow.

A police car came out to meet us and I don’t think we got the fire trucks at all. After giving a statement that was it. No other paperwork or repercussions from declaring the emergency.

And here was our reply:

Wild story! To be honest, I don’t know if a stiff throttle would have been a big enough clue for me to consider a pending cable issue. Obviously it’s easy to see the relationship after it broke, but that’s an interesting point that perhaps truly was indicative of a cable issue. Did you ever ask a mechanic if that is a typical clue in such a malfunction?

You were definitely fortunate to find yourself with full power versus the other way around. I’ve often though what I would do if I wasn’t able to regulate or reduce the throttle for landing and all I can come up with was what you did, pulling the mixture. Although, I’m honestly curious if you can manipulate the power setting enough through minor mixture reductions to slow the engine and still keep it running down final.

It would be an interesting experiment in a simulator to reduce the mixture as if you were reducing the throttle to slow the engine before flare and full mixture cutoff.

And then we learned this wasn’t the first time Ron has experienced a broken cable. In his followup response, he explains the second time he experienced a broken engine control cable.

To prove that lightning does strike twice, a few years ago a friend and I were flying to KOSH (Oshkosh, WI) in a Mooney. Departing KPAO (Palo Alto, CA) my friend was flying the rented Mooney and during the prop cycle said the prop [lever] seems stiff. He was referring to the same push-pull on the cable. All seemed fine and we flew to KWYS (West Yellowstone, MT) 5 hours away for our first stop.

I flew the second leg leaving KWYS and during the runup and prop cycle the rpm’s never came back up. We could never get it above 2,000 rpm at full power. [We] Taxi back and shut down and called a mechanic. 2 hours later, as he had to be called from Billings, he pops the cowl and we start it up and he sprays lube on the cable. As I cycle it many times the prop never really goes to flat pitch. After cycling it 15-20 times the cable sheared off at the end of the blue knob and I pulled it all the way out. I raised it to show him the BLUE and he finally understood. [I] Shutdown and he wired it to flat pitch and we went on our way with a mostly fixed pitch prop except in descents.

So the moral is a stiff cable is something indicative of impending failure. I even have that part on audio as my buddy says the prop is stiff. Kinda ominous to go back and hear that.

So there you have it! Moral of the story is a stiff engine control is very likely the onset of an impending cable malfunction. Hopefully these stories have helped educate you of the possibilities of losing engine control and how to cope with it.

Have you ever experienced an incident like this? Leave us your stories and comments below!