Engine trouble, emergency landing!

[jnisley]

Today after flying a "practice" RNAV21 approach into KFKL (Franklin, Pa)  I experienced a partial engine failure and needed to do an emergency landing (see attached flight track photo).  I had just climbed through 3600' MSL (2100'AGL) and was three miles northwest of the airport when I started losing power, my engine monitor warning light started flashing and all four EGT/CYL probes went cold. I immediately turned toward the airport, switched fuel tanks, and went through my emergency landing procedures and declared an emergency on the Unicom, the engine continued to surge from no power to partial power.  I saw right away that I’m high enough to make it to runway 12 (100x3593’) if I did everything right. I lowered the gear and flaps when it looked right but was high and a bit fast and needed to slip it down. The landing wasn’t textbook but good considering the circumstances. I was able to limp to the ramp under partial power.

 

The engine starts fine, is doggish at high power setting and runs very rough under 1200 rpm and it doesn’t idle at all, fuel pressure is good,mags check good . It smokes, especially at lower power settings and smells like a lawnmower that has its mixture set too rich.

 

Bad fuel servo?

[RobertGary1]

Did you notice fuel flow? When my servo went out in flight it was pushing about 30gal/hr. The engine doesn't like to run in those conditions. I assume you didn't find any intake blockage?

-Robert

[bonal]

Nice work getting down safely let us know what you find out

[Shadrach]

What color is the smoke? Was the wastegate closed? Do you have downloadable data?

[mike_elliott]

One thing is for certain, you'll need new under ware. Very glad you are ok, that looks like very rough terrain to have not made it back in. Engines are very very cheap compared to Emergency room stints.

[N201MKTurbo]

I would check the turbo. If it seized, it would severely limit your power and it could be pumping oil into your intake.

[Danb]

John ..wonderful job and outcome. All your practice fortunately was worth it

Super pilots like yourself makes our mooney community look Good

Thank god for the outcome....and your precious family and friends should be proud...I am

[M20F]

Glad you got it down. I would advise against running it on the ground and trying to diagnose it and get it to a mechanic to look at.

[Mooneymite]

Good job!

[jnisley]

On a Rayjay turbonormalizer the waste gate is fully open when the turbo isn't in use so it's not producing any significant boost. Not sure what the color of the smoke was because I couldn't see it from the cockpit, it was my two passengers that informed me.

I haven't had a chance yet to download the data from the EI UBG-16.

I didn't notice fuel flow.....too busy:)

[Seth]

Good work. Glad you are safe. Please do let us know the diagnosis once determined.

-Seth

[ryoder]

Glad you and the airframe are ok.

[RobertGary1]

Welcome to the Mooney glider botherhood! Don't be surprised if, after the plane is fixed, it takes you some hours to rebuild your trust in the bird. I know a few pilots who end up selling because they're never able to feel that trust again. 

 

-Robert

[jnisley]

Thanks for all your kind responses!

I'll keep you posted on what my mechanic finds, he won't be looking at it until after the weekend.

[carusoam]

Thanks for sharing your success story, John.

Best regards,

-a-

[cliffy]

Fantastic job of doing things right!

I take my hat off to you!

Standing by for the post flight report.

[Browncbr1]

Congratulations on a safe landing on the runway. I'm glad we didn't have to read another mooney down story. We look forward to learning what went wrong!

[Marauder]

I spent part of my life in Titusville. That area is hilly and very tree covered. Nice job nursing the plane back to the airport!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MyNameIsNobody]

Well done sir! Way to fly the airplane! Looking forward to hearing what went wrong. Made my day to hear you are O.K.

[rbridges]

Another congrats on a safe landing!

[DXB]

Thanks for sharing - great job!

[chrisk]

Great Job! 

[BKlott]

The hardest flight is the first one after the repairs. Always a great job to get her down safely!!

[jnisley]

Here are the engine monitor results, you can see when I initially leveled off, when I leaned out, when I descended during the practice approach, climbed, leveled off......and when things went south:(

 

The first two photos I seperated CHT and EGT, the third I combined them.

 

My mechanic will be troubleshooting the problem in a day or so.

 

I'll keep you posted.

[Shadrach]

I beleive this was turbo related. Nothing that is instrumented seems to be the problem. Everything I see in terms of EGT/CHT looks like it's a symptom of something else. I think of a turbo coming apart acting sort of like a banana in the tail pipe. Do keep us posted.