This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
My student and I worked on a weight and balance sheet for the performance of the Cessna 152. We then walked outside to do our preflight inspection. Performed our run-up and took off.
We worked on some go-around, crosswind landing, and normal landing procedures. Then we departed to work on maneuvers, such as slow flight, steep turns, and stalls. Everything was going well.
We then decided to head back and do a few laps in the pattern to work on my student’s landing skills.
Coming on our third pattern we were on base to final when all of the sudden the engine started sputtering to quit. At this point I cross check that our carb heat and full mixture was in — sure enough everything was there.
I then evaluated the circumstance and realized that we wouldn’t be able to glide into airport and would need to land else where.
On base to final we would fly by a park. I made a 180 towards it to manage to land on the field but was too fast and too high for the field. I attempted to do a steep spiral above the field to lose altitude without getting faster, at about the 180 of my 360 turn, we started to hear the stall horn, we were too slow and far from the landing field.
I quickly would need to select another option in front of us.
By the grace of God I managed to put it down in between two house in a residential area.
I believe that this event could have been avoided by simply cross checking the amount of fuel we had after the student went out to check as it is not yet determined what the factors were to the accident.
As simple as cross checking the fuel quantity of the aircraft or any other things that only take a few minutes to do should be performed and not overlooked.
Even the smallest routine should not be taken slightly and, with this being said, I hope that others can learn from my mistake and avoid making the same mistake that could have potentially cost us our lives. Create your own checklist before getting into the plane with your student, analyze all aspects of the situation, and do not get complacent.
Primary Problem: Human Factors
ACN: 1992074
What screws up the standard pattern is the GPS approach’s. Hard to fit into the pattern when straight in from miles out on GPS approaches are being conducted.
Lesson here is someone needs to go back to school.
How about “cross checking” the fuel status before taking off?
Yes – sounds like another unfortunate flight where the fuel was not checked before the flight and not monitored during the flight.
The comments about keeping the pattern close enough to be able to glide to the runway are well taken. But that’s not something you can always control due to traffic that may require an extension of the downwind. And it means you are not practicing power-on approaches which will be required for a check-ride and in other cases where great accuracy is needed or in models where gliding to a landing is impractical. And you can forget about ever having an instrument rating.
You’re in the pattern and can’t make the airport when the engine quits?
Fly power off approaches every time! Someday you might have to do a real one, and you will be glad that you have practiced it!
Absolutely right, Mr. Dave.
If you’re on crosswind, downwind, base, or final in a training airplane like a C152 and cannot make the runway, then you’re doing something wrong.
There seems to be more aircraft crashing off airport while in the pattern. ?
I think that part of the problem is that using the vasi/papi lights puts an aircraft on a very shallow approach slope. [ designed for an ILS approach ]
A 3.5 degree approach is a 16:1 slope. I don’t know of any powered aircraft that has that glide ratio. So, if the engine quits on the turn to final, there is no way the aircraft will make the runway.
My Cessna has a glide ratio of about 11:1, so I use about 5-5.5 degree approach on base and final, so I’m always seeing ‘2 white’ on short final.
A good exercise to do some ‘power off 180 to a landing ‘ on the initial descent, abeam ‘ the numbers’. Actually see how close to the runway the aircraft needs to be in order to reach the runway.
Lesson here is that your pattern was too big. If you can’t make the runway turning base to final and the engine fails then you are too far away from the runway. I see this all the time at my home airport. The CFI’s are trying to give their students more time to setup a good approach but by doing this they risk not making it to the runway in an emergency. Many of us airport tenants don’t like it when they fly these “bomber” patterns as it also causes others to lengthen their legs as well…
+1
And to add to this and others that posted: To get a CFI you have to have gotten a CPL. To pass the check ride you have to do the CPL Precision 180 engine out landing. Not knowing what the CFI check ride is like, but that should be included since if one teaches CPL, you have to teach that technique.
We all need to practice the 180 engine out from time to time. So get with a CFI to learn how this needs to be done. Hint: for C/S prop, pull the handle, it allows a longer glide.