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Complete Engine failure at 300 Ft

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Klr94ss

Advanced Aviation Reno
Joined
Apr 9, 2017
Messages
838
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268
Location
Reno, NV
First, let me start with no one was injured and we both walked away without even a scratch.

http://www.kolotv.com/content/news/...-crash-landing-at-Reno-airport-469828463.html

If you want to listen to the radio transmission.... (I know some will not want to listen as it is very surreal)

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/krno/KRNO-Jan-17-2018-2300Z.mp3

Midway thru the 13 mintue mark you will hear Cherokee 4027W at runway 16 left ready to take off (me), you will hear the tower respond I am cleared for takeoff. Being new to this plane with just 4 hours in it, I taxi out, look for traffic, line up 16L and double check my checklist for takeoff. PS, this is the last time I will EVER take off at 13 minutes after the hour, I will wait one full minute next time.
A few ticks after the 15 minute mark you will hear my emergency call and intention, followed by Reno tower clearing me to land (not like I gave them a choice, nor had a choice). Then there is 30 to 40 seconds of eerie silence... (the tower did a great job not to interfere with the job Steve and I had to do in the plane, they didn't ask us any BS questions about our situation, although it was unfolding right in front of them as the engine quit just as we passed the tower and they heard it).
The next voice you hear is mine giving our location (dumb as they knew) and that we had two occupants and were safe. An ecstatic tower controller replies how glad he is to hear it and lets us know help is on the way. I then let him know we are leaking fuel and getting out and will no longer be talking on the radio.
It is a bit eerie, so I'm not sure how many will want to listen, the silence between my two transmissions made my hair stand on end as I can remember every second of it. The actual time from declaration of emergency to landing was probably 15 seconds of that, the rest was making sure Steve was OK and assessing his condition, reaching over to open the door top latch, and gathering myself for a second. As you can tell my tone is a bit different upon landing, I might have been a smidge shaken :)


That's the background, now here is where I need opinions on this as I meet with the FAA tomorrow to get the books for the plane to them and we begin the investigation and I want to be as involved as I can be to help prevent future failures. My background is a new pilot with a smidge over 100 hours, less than three months with my PPL, transitioning into a PA32-300 with a newly minted CFI friend who I've flown with so much lately that we can read each others minds and that fact saved our lives as he had my back when I froze initially and took the controls and I had his back because I could see the stall light and saw the nose of the plane starting to slide into a spin and I took the controls back and am the one that put it into the gravel as we are not reaching a runway (at least not lined up with it).

Not looking for flying advice, looking for mechanical opinions here. I have been dyno tuning cars and engines for 20 years and know a TON about engines and their internals and operation. I am also an Electrical Engineer, so I know wiring and electrical systems. Run up on the plane was VERY clean and this plane had not given us a hint of troubles in the few hours we had flown her. Between 300 to 400 FT during takeoff we lost all power. Not a single noise, there was no lack of fuel sputtering, there was not ignition sputter like one bad mag, there was no bang/rattle/squeal like a broken rod, spun bearing, broken piston, etc... and even so I'm sure that big ole IO-540 would have kept on chugging for at least long enough for me to get her on the ground. It was like someone turned off the Ignition. I never got to try the ignition while in the air, but on the ground I noted the ignition switch was definitely in the BOTH position, fuel was on left main and fuel pump was still on.
I have two thoughts on this, one is a complete failure of the ignition switch, grounding both P-leads and killing the MAGS both at the same time. The second is the one I believe we are going to find and that is the drive system off the crank. I feel we (FAA and NTSB actually) are going to find the MAG drive sheared thus killing both MAGS at once. I am researching the IO-540 a bit more and this was one with individual mags and drives, but there is still a common gear lower in the engine from what I could find. I believe if this is shot we can find it right away by pulling a valve cover and turn the prop looking for no valvetrain movement. Engine got a new cylinder 4 about 10 hours ago. Not sure if improper rocker clearances (too long of pushrod for the new cylinder) could put undue stress and possibly break the cam or put stress on that gear (I imagine a lifter would collapse first, or the cam would just get galled up, but I know a lot more about car engines than airplane engines). It could also just be a gremlin in that gear that was waiting for the exact moment to strike (it picked the absolute WORST moment it could). The only time I've heard a car engine just stop dead like that was a 2010 Camaro with a new camshaft install that I was dyno tuning. The timing gear set which is bolted to the cam and has a drive pin sheared the pin and at 4500 RPM instantly went quiet and stopped running without a spit, sputter, backfire, etc... It was such an eerily similar failure.

I'm hoping the FAA/NTSB will be willing to listen to my theories although I am sure they will tear into this pretty far because I did not prop strike it (I set her down right on the mains, I only lost the right main because the gravel tore it off as it dug in) and the whole underside and cowl area and nose completely intact and I think it is one of the few times that something like this happens that they get the chance to have the front of the airplane to be 100% intact. Piper is coming, especially with an apparent new AD about the fuel selector OFF AD on the 4 tank planes, but it sounds like Lycoming is not coming yet. I really think if we pull a valve cover and have no valvetrain movement Lyco should be brought in asap.

Would love to hear the opinions of A&P's, IA's and engine builders.
 

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