In Flight Engine Failure

[rfinkle]

Fellow BCP'ers.

I lost my airplane on 7/22/11 while flying from Johnson Creek to Chamberlain. I know a lot of you are flying older airplanes
like I had (1963 Cessna) and my inflight engine failure is something that could happen to any of us.

What started out as a day adventure to do some fishing in Chamberlain turned out to be a very difficult situation. We left JC
to get some fuel at Salmon, and then departed for Chamberlain. A TFR for firefighting was in effect at the Nort Fork of the Salmon
River so I proceeded North to ensure that I stayed clear of the firefighting activity. I thought about going through the Selway Canyon
but decided against it 'just in case'. I proceeded further North before turning West.

I turned in a Westerly direction around Votler Creek and things went very bad and literally downhill around Hells Half Acre. I heard
an unusual metal to metal sound from the engine compartment and immediately turned toward West Fork, MT. The engine began to run
very rough, the EGT's & CHT's were all over the place and I thought the seats were going to come off the rails.

My initial thought was that I had thrown a propellor blade due to the rodeo ride we were getting. I thought I was uptight with all
the unusual sounds, but in about 4 minutes everything went quiet over the Painted Rock Lake in Montana. It was now commitment time
as I knew I would not make it to West Fork. I did a 180 and headed back to a wide spot in the canyon with a visible dirt road. As
a side note, it is true that the prop keeps us pilots cool. You should have seen me sweat when it quit turning. :)

I got it down and we got out of the plane, but my ship was damaged beyond repair. I was lucky because the Forest Service Rd I landed on had an emergency response team
conducting an exercise. My wheels were on the ground when I passed them sitting in the bushes eating lunch. The plane was foamed down within 10 minutes of impact and
the EMT's were treating us immediately. The Fire Chief thanked me profusely for improving their response time. I can tell you we were both happy about that idea.

The NTSB has issued a preliminary report and released the airplane and here is what they found.

The engine is an IO470S with 520 hrs since factory new. I have put 7200+ hrs on the plane. The airbox failed on the inboard bottom side right behind the air filter and began feeding the engine metal. It didn't take long for for a complete shutdown since the airbox fed the engine enough metal to leave a hole around 1.5" x 4". The airbox
had been repaired at the failed area in 1985. It seems to have started where a crack was welded.

Lessons Learned:

Communicate:
I was enroute with another aircraft who communicated my lat/long on 121.5 (Thanks Brent & Bob N952WK). An airliner picked it up, communicated it to Salt Lake Center who notified the FAA & NTSB the location of a downed aircraft. Search & Rescue was initiated and I called it off about 10 minutes later when talking with the FAA/NTSB
after getting out of the plane.

Aging aircraft:
I have been tuned into the idea of an 'aging aircraft' and have modified my preflights to look for symptoms. I even looked at the inside of the airbox with a flashlight and mirror about 10 hrs before this incident happened when I changed the oil, filter & air filter. I didn't see any evidence of a problem. AOPA has a nice short online course about aging aircraft. It would be a good 30 minutes of your time to review the obvious.

Landing:
Make every landing as if it is your last. Pick the spot and hit it everytime. This idea was pounded into me during flight training and I make every landing as 'dead
stick' as I can. Pick your point, get to pivot altitude over the point and make a normal landing for the circumstances. It will be second nature to you when you need it and
with fewer distractions.

Fly the airplane:
Fly it to the scene. Stay on the controls until the plane stops. I surprised myself how I was able to dodge obstacles and get through
cattle guards up to point of impact. BEWARE of the OVERWHELMING desire to get those wheels on the ground when you are close. DO NOT RUSH THOSE LAST FEW SECONDS SINCE A HARD BOUNCE WILL DEFINITELY ADD TO THE PROBLEM! AVIGATE, AVIGATE AVIGATE even when the wheels are on the ground.

Checklist:
I had a checklist, and I referred to it. But I still missed a few things and really don't know why. I have now put another copy of emergency check list in the
co-pilot pocket of my replacement plane and explain to the right seat passenger what they need to do in the event of an emergency (READ ME THE FRIGGIN LIST ONE ITEM AT A TIME UNTIL I ACKNOWLEDGE THE ITEM).

So guys & gals, if you are flying older aircraft pay attention to the critical things like wheels, fuel systems, intake systems and exhaust systems. It may make a difference.


Final Resting Place for 27Z



The airbox




The spark plugs. Think they chewed up some metal??? Look at the fine wire position.


The last 8 mins of flight

[jomac]

nice job of puttin' her down on purpose and successfully...! it's just metal, and u can replace that!

[Bighorn]

Very Good!!!!

[SixTwoLeemer]

Wow! Quite a story and thanks for sharing it. I'm going to look at my air box thoroughly now.

The photo of your planes final resting place doesn't look like theres any room to set a plane down so I'd say you did a stellar job.

As for the 205.. what a bummer. I remember when Cory visited you and did a write up with some photos in front of your plane. I thought "what a nice plane to own and fly the whole family around." Very sad for your loss but happy to hear the outcome was positive.

[fern_hopper]

Nice landing! It looks like the outcome could have been much worse looking at the topography

[emflys]

Rich! So sorry to hear but glad you are all ok. Thanks for the sharing the experience.

[GumpAir]

Amazing how these light aircraft will tear themselves up to save you if they're flown till they stop moving.

Gump

[260Driver]

Thanks for the good "lessons learned" review. It was great flying with you this weekend!

[Emory Bored]

What an amazing story. Thanks for sharing it. Way to go.

[OregonMaule]

I had my air box on the Maule crack 2 years ago. We didn't weld it we riveted a patch over the cracked area. I guess some of the Maules have a problem with the air box touching the cowl which causes stress. I had mine modified so it doesn't touch. Glad you are such a good pilot Rich it probably saved your life.

Cheers...Rob

[piperpainter]

Do you have any pictures of the actual road you landed on after the fact? I think you did a great job. I just hope all of us can remain calm and clear headed enough to do this should we ever encounter the same situation.

[Littlecub]

Thank you for the narrative, giving us a 'heads up' on older aircraft-which most of us fly. Especially thank you for the PX that graphically show the source of the problem. I am forwarding this link containing the pix to my A&I as a heads up to him. If I was computer tech savvy I would lift the PX and email just those, but the link will get it done-admittedly less elegantly.
You prepared yourself for what 'might' happen and it paid off handsomely! Congratulations to your instructor (you owe him a NICE dinner), Congratulations to you for heeding the instruction, and then again one more CONGRATULATIONS for making it all 'come together' at the right time.

Bravo
lc

[Grassstrippilot]

Once again, nice job Rich. I'll echo Rob's comments. So glad that you came out of it ok. When the pressure is on, it's easy to miss a few things on the checklist.

You didn't include the other happy conclusion to the story! Right after I went to visit Rich, he told me of a really nice 205 I needed to buy. Let's just say that it came off the market pretty quickly and has found a good home. I can't wait to see it!

Again, thank goodness you are alright and thanks for posting this for us to learn from.

Cory

[patrol guy]

rfinkle,

You get another excellent job from me too. I am curious if you had a plan "B" if that wide spot and road had not been there?

I find myself in lonely rough country in West Virginia often, and there are sometimes roads or rivers in the valleys, but mostly it is just more trees. I would like to hear from folks that have made successful crash landings in tree covered mountains.

I have two plans that I hope might work.
1. if there is a wide enough river I would do some mexican water skiing near the shore and surf into the river bank slowed down some. (my excuse for practicing that non-sense).
2. glide into the valley area to keep up some speed, then climb up the next slope right at the tree tops and push in just as stall happens.

Have no idea if either of those is a good option, but they are AN option.

The above ideas are for low flying pipeline routes. Years ago I did have another plan when I use to fly from Ohio to NC on weekends... at altitude in champs and citabrias. I wore a parachute and if things didn't go good, I was going to eject the door, put on my shop goggles, and cross my legs then pull the cord.

[Littlecub]

....glide into the valley area to keep up some speed, then climb up the next slope right at the tree tops and push in just as stall happens.

I think as good plan as any for 'round' type trees. Maybe keep tail low going in, tho.....???
My thoughts are (if steep and thick wooded like a lot of PNW mtns) to have enough airspeed to go up the slope just above the trees and try to stall tail low (in rel to slope/trees) so the tail goes down (backwards) into the trees and provides a long 'crumple zone' if the plane makes it to ground (usually rock on the steep). Our trees are typically 'pointy' (pine, etc) which would help guide the plane down in backwards.... Might have trees between wings and tail, too, but they get bigger as they go down, so some natural energy dissipation there too, likely. Might carry a good strong rope to let yourself down with if you are suspended high for a final stop.
I figure the plan would vary greatly based on the density of trees.....
Some places that are mostly steep rock, stall just beyond/above a few/couple trees to (hopefully?) stop an accelerating tumble/slide DOWN the slope from happening after the 'landing'. They say "Fly the plane till it stops". you might need to have a plan to help it 'stop'.

Always lookin' for a better plan....
I'm all ears.

Addendum : If you plan any maneuver that requires an increase in altitude, remember to have the airspeed available for that maneuver-when you need it..... What I am describing is a broadened U shape, and you don't want to fall/stall out of the bottom of the U or arrive without the energy/momentum to continue into the altitude increase up the slope.
Well, I hope I was clearer than mud.....
lc

[Cary]

Good job! And great write-up about something none of us is ever fully prepared for.

I threw a rod 7 1/2 years ago, but I was able to land in a field with minimal damage, other than to the engine, which was totally toast--the only salvageable items were the intake, exhaust, and after being rebuilt, the oil cooler. But I certainly agree--that fan is out there to keep the pilot cool.

I often fly into the rocks west of Fort Collins, and keeping an eye out for places to land occupies a lot of my time. There are an amazing number of places that would be suitable, although the airplane would likely get bent. I'm glad you were able to find the place where you set it down.

Cary

[soaringhiggy]

Wow, great job under extreme pressure. I do not know what you may have missed on a checklist, but it is obvious that you had all of the important ones checked off and flew instead of read.

[Darinh]

Rich,

I can't believe I haven't heard about this. My family owns a cabin 4 miles up the canyon (and 1300' strip) from where you "landed". In fact, if you look at your google earth picture about halfway between where you landed above Painted Rocks and where you made your turn north, you will see a small pond just left of your track. Our strip runs north/south along the ponds. Too bad you didn't know about it then, likely your plane would be in one piece.

http://maps.google.com/?ll=45.638887,-114.29369&spn=0.099498,0.222988&t=h&z=13&vpsrc=6

You can see one of our ponds at the bottom of this linked google maps page.

Here's a close up of the strip.

http://maps.google.com/?ll=45.595408,-114.32107&spn=0.006223,0.013937&t=h&z=17&vpsrc=6

I post this at the expense of opening up myself and family to some liability but if it could save people and planes then so be it. Having said this, please don't use this strip unless it is an emergency like Rich had or you have made prior arrangements. We operate a 182 out of this strip so you should have been able to get your 205 in fine. My parents are there most of the time. Sorry this information wasn't out sooner to save your bird but I am happy to hear you are ok, aircraft can be replaced.

[z3skybolt]

Rich,

Super job of airmanship. Most of us would not have turned out so well. Under the same circumstance I'd pray for your skill and good fortune.

Bob

[rlhawk11]

There is still more to the story. Tell us about how the three of you got back home and the problems in transportation, picking up your camping gear at JC and McCall, and getting a vehicle to get home in. Also how you replaced your plane in 10 days and what with.

Hawk