- Joined
- Mar 22, 2017
- Messages
- 228
- Reaction score
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Traveling from Ohio to South Carolina yesterday. On an IFR flight plan and about 1.5 hours into flight and 30 minutes from our scheduled fuel stop in Elkins NC (KZEF), during normal scan noticed a slight drop in oil pressure and oil temp was below 180 (normally around 195).
I notified Indy Center of the issue and let them know I was diverting to the nearest airport, KJFZ, which was about 15nm SE and that I was going to add some altitude (was at 7k). Oil pressure continued to drop and I was looking for potential places to set it down in the event engine stopped. If you’ve flown in that area, you know there are very few good options in those mountains. Two minutes later, engine started running little rough and I had gained about 500 ft. I let my wife and daughter know that we were in a bit of a situation, and that we were going to be landing soon, airport was about 10nm. Major bang came from engine and plane started to shake, shaking so bad audio panel slide out of its tray. Ran thru emergency checklist, got it to best glide, and had airport in sight, engine still running, and had audio panel back in place (wife holding it place). Declared to Indy Center and switched to Unicom and let local traffic know where I was and my plan to land on runway 25. Got lined up, and insured the wife and daughter that we had plenty of altitude to make runway. About mile out, had to slip it pretty good to drop remaining altitude. Came in a bit fast, no flaps, but got it down and stopped. Had enough power to taxi it back to ramp. Looks like connecting rod broke and came thru top of engine casing.
Glad we train for these types of events and very blessed that it didn’t happen 10 miles sooner, or we may have ended up off airport in those beautiful western Virginia mountains. Wife and daughter did great, although they did admit they didn’t think we were making airport. Indy Center called airport and verified we made it in and canceled our plan.
Anyone been in situation like this, plane is 6 hours away by car and will need another engine. Airport manager was awesome, totally accommodating , gave me names of couple local guys that may be able to help and said I could keep it there as long as we need to.
I notified Indy Center of the issue and let them know I was diverting to the nearest airport, KJFZ, which was about 15nm SE and that I was going to add some altitude (was at 7k). Oil pressure continued to drop and I was looking for potential places to set it down in the event engine stopped. If you’ve flown in that area, you know there are very few good options in those mountains. Two minutes later, engine started running little rough and I had gained about 500 ft. I let my wife and daughter know that we were in a bit of a situation, and that we were going to be landing soon, airport was about 10nm. Major bang came from engine and plane started to shake, shaking so bad audio panel slide out of its tray. Ran thru emergency checklist, got it to best glide, and had airport in sight, engine still running, and had audio panel back in place (wife holding it place). Declared to Indy Center and switched to Unicom and let local traffic know where I was and my plan to land on runway 25. Got lined up, and insured the wife and daughter that we had plenty of altitude to make runway. About mile out, had to slip it pretty good to drop remaining altitude. Came in a bit fast, no flaps, but got it down and stopped. Had enough power to taxi it back to ramp. Looks like connecting rod broke and came thru top of engine casing.
Glad we train for these types of events and very blessed that it didn’t happen 10 miles sooner, or we may have ended up off airport in those beautiful western Virginia mountains. Wife and daughter did great, although they did admit they didn’t think we were making airport. Indy Center called airport and verified we made it in and canceled our plan.
Anyone been in situation like this, plane is 6 hours away by car and will need another engine. Airport manager was awesome, totally accommodating , gave me names of couple local guys that may be able to help and said I could keep it there as long as we need to.
