This week dive under the cowling and into the inner workings of airplane engines with renowned maintenance wizard Mike Busch — arguably the best-known A&P/IA in general aviation who literally wrote the book on how GA maintenance should be done!
When it comes to aircraft engines, we really all just have one goal. Keep the fan turning!! As pilots we're taught volumes about how to FLY the airplane... but how often do we pause to think about what's really going on with our ENGINE. Whether you're a seasoned aircraft owner, or a newly minted private pilot, this week's episode of Behind the Prop provides a plethora of knowledge about your aircraft's engine.
Clear prop! Number two following twin traffic on 3 mile final. JB using runway 25 on a 4-mile final.
This is Behind the Prop with United Flight Systems owner and licensed pilot, Bobby Doss. and it's co-host: major airline captain Designated Pilot Examiner, Wally Mulhearn. Now let's go behind the prop!
What's up Wally, hey Bobby How are you, great. We have been asked probably more than any other question. We've been asked about was taking on the topic of emergencies. I probably have been a little bit apprehensive to take on this Because I know there's going to be many differing opinions and we would love the conversation whether via email or social media. Let's talk through these things. Hopefully help pilots. We've we've obviously talked a lot of things related to the killing zone. And what Paul. Craig said and decision making but I think there is still a big gap in what we can talk about to help. Aviators make better decisions during what could be perceived as an emergency whether it is or isn't I think the person they probably wrote in the longest requests for this had all kinds of questions. Can you help me understand when it is emergency when it isn't an emergency What I should do what I shouldn't do and I think there's so many things that that get wrapped around every scenario that we can talk about. It's impossible to answer those questions. Yes or no. What are your thoughts. Yeah I agree I used to when I was an active. CFI used to tell my students when in doubt don't and we were basically talking about weather decisions if you're sitting here trying to make a decision. Oh jeez should I go. I don't know well the fact that you're you're sitting there having that conversation. Maybe with yourself probably tells you that you shouldn't go I would say within declaring an emergency. it's free. It's really doesn't cost you anything to declare an emergency now. You may have to answer to it and you may have to explain yourself why you did it and what your thought process was but I don't. I can't imagine any situation where you declared an emergency and then You know I. It's like calling but calling. The police are calling 911. I was talking to Bobby talking about You know a a health scare. I had many many several years ago. I thought I was having a heart attack and I went to the hospital Went to the ER and boy you tell them you're having chest pains and they get you you go to the front of the line and I went in and they checked everything and actually kept me overnight and and Released me the next day and everything was fine. I went to a cardiologist. Had this full cardio or workup. And and the the cardiologists referred to my heart is disgustingly healthy He said I’m fine. There's nothing wrong and We determined that it was indigestion You know head some spicy food the night before but Yeah other than the time. Investment and yeah. My insurance company paid some money for all that but it was peace of mind. I would much rather do that than not do that. And and be in a bad situation at home so as far as declaring an emergency if you're thinking about it it's probably worth declaring an emergency. Yeah and. I don't think that we could tell you each of those scenarios but what we thought we would do. Today is kind of of talk through three or four things that we thank. You may experience during your flight training during your student or private pilot era of training That may help you think through how you are going to respond to those situations and maybe some thoughts that you can draw on on that in that situation they might help. You do better to get yourself out of that situation So really the the few. We'll we'll scour through one at a time. You know one of the things. It's probably going to happen. And these older aircraft to all of us while we're flying is we're going to lose one of the radios if not both of the radios. That could be a comms problem. I've dealt with a lot of maintenance. So I never think it's the radio first off anymore. I think it's electrical. I think it's views. I think it's an antenna. I think at someone's headset. We trouble shot a radio for months and it was because they had a Thing was they had a light speed or something. It was one millimeter shorter on the input. Then other headset so wasn't quite making the connection while and it was brutally painful how hard we trouble shot that I guess the point I’m trying to make is it may not always be the radio and it may not always be the headset. The not always be the intercom right. So how are you going to decide. Is this time the time that it's an emergency. Yeah the other parameters have to come into play. We've talked about your halfway scenario and check rides. The question is a pretty pretty one that I think we've explored. Let's talk through some other examples. What would you do. would it be an emergency. I guess if you were flying on a no ceiling day perfectly calm. And you lost your radios in echo airspace between two cities. No absolutely not Do you divert. do you pick up the phone. Meaning cell phone call someone. There's a lot of options still there that you probably would not call that a mercy. Same scenario Foggy day two-hundred-foot ceiling and you are ten miles inbound for your for your Final stop at a destination. Would you declare an emergency. I don't know yeah. I'd be pretty nervous in that situation right. Did I just get cleared for the approach. That might change my situation. Would I- squawk seventy-six hundred versus seventy-seven hundred. I don't know. Would it be. If I was alone. I would probably think it was an emergency. Yeah I probably in that scenario would if I only had zero communication with the tower at that point I would probably squawk seventy-seven hundred. Yeah yeah and the thing about declaring an emergency. If you can't talk anybody you can't utter those words. You can't say declare an emergency so basically your only option is to use your transponder. And of course if if there's a total electrical failure at and you're in the clouds your your ability to navigate is going to be compromised and obviously your ability to squawk seventy-seven Hundred is compromise. So that's kind of a different situation a total electrical failure you. Let's just hope it's the radio's right right for sure right. But I could get harry. Yeah I I’m going back and looking at my flying career a lot of our hours. I can only think of one time where I said the words. I declare an emergency and it was It was over a medical emergency a. A passenger in the back. We were going into Los Angeles. And we're probably on about Oh what ten or twelve miles. Final approach ILS or visual approach to two five left and We got a call from the back from the flight. Attendants that which we're sterile cockpit. So the fact that they were calling us tells told me that something was You know it was pretty important. And I answered and They said they had a customer who was appeared to be not breathing and they had him out on the floor and they had a doctor and they were performing cpr on them. And I just picked up. Well I guess we're a headset. So I just keyed the mike and I said we're declaring emergency. We have a customer passenger. Who is unconscious and operating and they switched us to the inboard runway and it was amazing. How fast They were able to get traffic out of our way. We got to the gate really fast. And and I and I don't know it was. It was a time thing but you know as I checked up the The guy was was alive when he went in the terminal. On the gurney with the with the paramedics.
Yes so that's just one example of an emergency we might not deal with general aviation but you twenty-four thousand hours and you've declared one which was not equipment was not situational. Was right someone else that you were trying to take care of Shows it's probably going to be few and far between in the will never will never be ready for the one when it happens but right It it's probably likely that will declare one at some point. We talked about radios and that turned into a little bit of electrical. But I mean. Electrical is one that I think in these g aircraft that I fly is the one that I think I'm going to experience that sometimes not matter of if but more win and when I do experience it. I think it's going to be those outs outside. External factors that are going to decide whether or not I call. are declared emergency depending on if I even can Vocalized emergency in this example. Let's talk a little bit more about some of the other questions that this person asked in their in their write into you know Maybe some timing of things like we simulate this engine failure lot and check rides in practice. And we do things as we've discussed often by the checklists and seventy-seven hundred is like number. Nineteen out of twenty You joke instinct that we should all move that up. Which I got to agree. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah why let's talk through the reasons. Why seventy squawking. Seventy-seven hundred if we decided to declare an emergency before an electrical failure or an engine failure. Why does that make sense to do it earlier than instead of later. Well seventy-seven. Hundred is obviously a transponder code and You get down to low and The the ground-based equipment that we're using to read transponder codes. Can't pick you up. So if I’m if I’m at a you know my my farm. That's out in the middle of nowhere. And I got an airplane and I go out and sitting on the ground turned the transponder on In all likelihood air traffic control is not going to pick you up. They're not going to pick you up until you're in the air and the longer they can see you on that code. Just just the better off You know I've got flight aware on my phone. Which most of you probably do I. It set up to where. I get a text. If if an airplane squawk seventy-seven hundred anywhere in the world so I get lethal text alerts and it's very interesting because There's a lot of lot of emergencies. Being squawked out there and you know if you really want to get into it and try to research that gets a little cumbersome trying to figure out actually what happened but it is kind of interesting What I what. I see when we practice this or evaluate. This maneuver on check. Rides as maybe we're up at three three thousand four thousand feet something like that. And we simulate an engine failure well most of our airplanes. We have two checklists. we go through. The first checklist is the engine failure in flight. Checklists I and basically the gist of that checklist is trying to get the engine restarted. And almost everything on there has to do with fuel fuel control mixture primer carb heat which really I guess you could say has a little bit to do with fuel. But but the the first checklist that we're trying to do is to get that engine restarted and then typically if the engine will not restart we go into a Landing without power or force landing checklist her whatever The checklist may be called. And you know it has you. Shut things off And usually toward the bottom. That checklist is squawking. Seventy-seven hundred. So we wasted all this good time to where if we really had an emergency where you really lost the engine Maybe if we squawked that seventy-seven hundred a little bit earlier ATC could get a very good Pinpoint of our location. Because if we if we go down we want we want. ATC to be able to tell the authorities where we are. No doubt no doubt the other. There are the radios are pretty important that timeframe too and we talk about it. And I think I practiced it and I’m sure everyone that you evaluate goes through the same scenario of okay. I've lost my electrical system. Or I guess more in this case losing my engine I want to change the radio one to one point five. Because that's what I’ve been taught to do Is that something that you would advise. If a student or a pilot thinks they're having emergency always the switch to one-to-one point five. I would say to switch to one-to-one point five if you don't know who else to talk to if if you're leaving say class d airport and you are on the tower frequency and you're heading away from the airport. Let's say you're fifteen miles out you're out of your technically out of the airspace of of the class d airport But you still got tower. Frequency tuned in You've if you will. You've developed a contact with the tower. Although you're you're you're leaving the airspace and you're perfectly free to to leave the frequency If if I can call up and say In our case hooks tower Cessna one to three Fifteen miles west. We just lost our engine. I'm just going to. I'm just going to stay with that guy. I'm not going to try to reestablish a contact with a with another Another frequency on one. Twenty-one five but if you're if you're not talking anybody one twenty-one five is always a good good go to place in delta Charlie any towers going to have the means to get you the help you need right. They're just they're just they're just going to talk to the other people that may need. Help you get what you need to get right right. The reason you you know the reason. I think I wouldn't change in this. Obviously I’m talking to someone. I would want to be talking to someone but it's I don't want to try to change it and get it wrong. You know yeah you might dial in one to two point five and you're talking you think you're talking to somebody and one to two point five. Who knows what that is. Yeah that could be a could be time sensitive scenario that you don't want interact with for sure right so let's talk through some of these electrical products. We didn't alternator and electrical system. Show awhile back but It was probably a month or so ago at the flight school. Here we had We had an electrical failure of some sort. We weren't sure what the student and CFI were in the plane. The I had a Bluetooth headset with a cell phone connected. Ultimately made contact with the tower. Is the radio. Started to get intermittent or weak. Obviously seeing that the batteries draining the CFI made that phone call and was cleared to land over the phone I believe he did squawk seventy-six hundred I was watching him on flight. Aware because the tower alerted me that that one of our planes said Reported a radio problem and at some point on flight aware disappeared or stopped moving Was fourteen hundred feet in the air. So I knew he didn't just disappear right but his ADSB single must quit working so flight aware didn’t see them anymore. I walk out on the ramp shortly thereafter. Taxis in gets out of the plane. And you can see he's elevated emotionally. your heart's pumping and I congratulate him on a job. Well done. he did not declare an emergency Because it wasn't right. I mean the engines. We know the stop. And I think I sent you a text and said well. We finally had an alternator failure. And I think you're responsible something to the effect of. I bet it's not the alternator. And I was so sure this time that it was the alternator I was about to bet on it and guess what it was. Not the alter alternate was just fine. What was it was a wire on the back of the alternator. That came off the source of juice going to that battery had come undone right. Yeah it probably had been connected to that alternator for hundreds of hours right. Yeah and for one reason. Or another wiggled out or came out of the the joint that was in it and I would have better thousand dollars at the see if I would have bet. It was an alternate because every symptom was that of a discharging battery that was no longer being charged. Would she was But had nothing to do with the alternator it just became disconnected. That's interesting because you know the if if you look in the checklist at least her Cessna’s. The checklist is not alternator failure checklist. It's a low voltage checklist so You know regardless of whether it's an alternator failure or in this case a wire of it's It is both low-voltage. Yes so in. What case can you give us an example. Wally they were an electrical problem may be an emergency. What would what would you. What would you think about And declared emergency if it was an electrical failure or a low voltage scenario. Yeah well it first of all. I mean if they're smoke involved then there's fire and that's absolutely an emergency then no so. That's that that that's that's the one I fear the most. Yeah yeah And I you know at this point. I think you have to know your airplane. You have to know your environment. in If you're going into a place where you're having a flying instrument approach and All your your navigation and communication radios are electrical. Well you've you've got a limited time so You know you need either. Need to fly toward good weather or You know you need to expedite and get get in and The best way to expedite is to declare an emergency. Just says I alluded to a my My scenario going into Los Angeles They expedite expedited us Extremely efficiently. but you know there's a situation where if you're fifteen minutes away from landing You know you think you've got thirty minutes of battery you may you may not. He may have forty-five. You may have fifteen who knows But thirty minutes is the number that most of us come up with. You're supposed to have thirty minutes a battery life. And if you're you know if you're fifteen minutes away and you get vectors and now you're thirty-five minutes while you can see. There's a problem there so Every scenario is different and You know outside influences. I e weather and and then Knowing your airplane and You know how things are affected in your airplane by the loss of electricity. Some airplanes are going lose flaps. Some airplanes are not going to lose the ability to move flaps. All make sense august tips. The next example will walk through is maybe not an engine failure but but what appears to be sick engine. Something's running rough. Yeah something's amiss yeah Is that something you would immediately declare an emergency on I wouldn't say immediately. But I would certainly I would get my guard up and I would probably I. It's it's hard to say.
Every scenario is different but I'm definitely looking for an airport to land at. If I think I’ve got an airplane With with an engine. That's being sick. I mean I you could use the the scenario of we've all we've all had little stomach aches and You may walk into a public building. Maybe the first thing you look for as or is the restroom. Just in case I need to get over. Get over there So landing at an airport or were figuring out an airport To go to and and in in in my airline career. I mean I’ve never had The vast majority of issues we have. Or I have had personally are are passenger related And sick passengers and You know the second we get that call upfront about a sick passenger man. The first thing we're doing is going down our looking for our closest airport in. How quickly can we be there if we need to be and I've I’ve diverted one time for a sick passenger but Most of the time you don't end up diverting but we always had that option of where we were going to go and how quickly would take us to get there and so sick engine doesn't necessarily mean that's going to stop but I guess as an experienced pilot and I’m not that experienced but I’m going to I fuel but the probably were my mind you go. I'm probably going to reach over and just naturally pushed that mixture in. Because I may have gone from high to low and not push that in that could be an indicator it could be it could be a fouled plug could be a lot of things but the next my mind would probably go to the magneto switch like have I have. I lost a wire on my magneto is it. Grounded than my running on one or something causing that. And I would probably go f- go through left and right and both and see if I had something different. Yeah very possible. My chief has a A real example of doing some maneuvers in the engine immediately are extremely rough. Describes it as the scariest thing that can happen to you in an airplane and and we've talked about an unbalanced engine right so now running on one magneto. That's extremely rough running. And he immediately reached over and switched in. Everything was fine. Yeah oddly enough. He chose the declared an emergency that day. He thought will now down to one magneto. And I don't know what's going to happen by. Lose the other magneto right. That's the only thing keeping the engine running at that point So he climbed declared an emergency back home landed without incident and never never had to do paperwork. Just the phone call with the towered over report. What happened in probably the owner of the flight. School had to write a letter but he talks about that as the that that emergency gave me all the better opportunity to get on the ground safely. Yeah climbing and going through class bravo airspace under an emergency situation is never going to be a problem. They're going to clear you out. And he got to where he was high enough to where he could take advantage of the glide ratio and and if everything would have failed made an made a normal landing here without power so Very interesting that it became something that was rectified. We would think is rectified. The roughness went away. The sick engines didn't seem to be a sick engine anymore. But that's when he declared the emergency yeah Which I’ve always thought interesting and is in the back of my head that if I have that situation. I'll have that in my toolbox possibly use as a reason to to to help me get on the ground safely right. I would go to the closest airport in many many situations. Obviously if I couldn't resolve the but one thing. I talk about in probably haven't talked openly with you Wally is. My biggest concern is that someone has a cylinder problem. One of my biggest concerns is a student has a cylinder problem on a cross country and they decide to put it down in a field because they don't really know how to diagnose that they don't know how to understand what's going on and they don't know the roughness is so scary that they take that opportunity to not understand if they still have airspeed. And if they're you know holding lift on maintaining altitude. Those sorts of things. I I think it would have to be every scenario and everybody in that scenario to really be able to diagnose and go through what what am I going to do here right but I sure hope that a cylinder rough running a cylinder that's cracked maybe makes it seem extremely roughened and bad but still has enough power to create lift and could still get to an airport. Yeah I just hope. They don't choose a field when they they could continue to fly the aircraft. Although it's scary in rough right What would would you go through that process and your own aircraft. Would you think. am. I creating enough power.
This is really rough. But I’m I’m able to stay in the air. Yeah because I know if I if I put it in a field Chances are very good. We're going to significantly damage the airplane and Again that's not a huge concern but the chances are very good there. We're going to hurt people on board the airplane landing in a field I mean obviously the the most the best place to land is your destination. Second best place to land is an airport short of your destination and third is off airport right so if you can if you can limp that airplane to an airport So that's that's why. The I you know as soon as I feel that there's an issue bum. I'm thinking where is my closest airport in while. I'm going to troubleshoot this. I'm going to be aiming at that airport right. I just think air speed and altitude are both key if you got him might keep going. If I’m not seeing smoke. And I’m not thinking more more problems or happen and but every situation's going to dictate a different different response. Yeah the last one. We'll talk about that. I've seen be an emergency. And I’ve seen it not being an emergency is a bird strike. We have some really big birds around here. I've seen a bird strike on the chord line of a wing that you would be impressed with how much damage a bird on the cord. Line of wing can do. And I’ve seen a twin-engine aircraft with a bird. The went through the windshield and created a lot of blood and guts and Neither one of those oddly enough were declared emergencies But were both significant To the pilots for sure but there were reasons why they were really close to fields and airports and they landed without incident And I think they still had comms so they just talk themselves through it. But I can definitely see where a bird strike could be in a mercy and a bird strike by not being emergency. Yeah part of it is just recognizing what happened Because you know unless the bird hits you head on You may not really know what it is. You may just hear something. You may feel something if it's out on the wing And of course by the time. You have the wherewithal the lookout at the wing. There may not be anything any evidence of it I mean there may be a dent or something like that but It it takes a while you know in Probably most of the people have have watched the Movie with would Sully in the miracle on the Hudson You know they're talking about reaction time and there is. There is something to be said for that. It takes a while for the brain and the and everything to figure out. Okay what just happened. I know something happened. But I’m not really sure what happened. so I think that could be an issue with bird strike. I I had one Very early on in my career it hit right on the cowling did quite a bit of damage to the the front of the cowling but I we we did see something but It it took a while to figure out that we hit a bird. Up silly thing was a good one. Because I thought it was interesting through that trial that they also may talked about that when they made those people wait. I think it was like thirteen or fourteen seconds. They all failed to accomplish the mission of getting back to the airport because it it took just enough time to for them not to be able to get there. And I don't know how I would react If you watch a YouTube videos it is shocking how fast. The bird strike happens when it goes in through the windshield. And then how much noise and damage and the emotions that she must be going through to think I never. I never thought I was going to fly an open canopy airplane on all of a sudden you are with a dead bird in your lap. It's going to change things. And I think each and every one of us will have to decide if it's an emergency or not but I guess keep your wits about yourself react and then do what you came the land in an airport. That's number one for sure. Yeah I don't know if we answered everybody's questions as relates to emergencies but this was our first best effort to answer your questions. If you have more things you would like us to cover on the show.
Please send us an email at Bobby@behindtheprop.com Or Wally@behindtheprop.com, as always fly safe. Stay behind the prop. Thanks for listening. Thanks for checking out the Behind The Prop podcast. be sure to click subscribe and check us out online at BehindTheProp.com behind the prop is recorded in Houston, Texas. Show creator and host is Bobby Doss. Co-host is Wally Mulhearn. This show is for entertainment purposes Only. and not meant to replace actual flight instruction. Thanks for listening and remember: fly safe!