PA-28-181 Flight Instructor reported an engine malfunction in the traffic pattern on base leg. The Instructor took control when the engine lost power; turned to the runway and landed just short of the runway in the grass then rolled onto the runway where the engine stopped and the Instructor and student evacuated unhurt with no damage to the aircraft or runway lights.
Synopsis
PA-28-181 Flight Instructor reported an engine malfunction in the traffic pattern on base leg. The Instructor took control when the engine lost power; turned to the runway and landed just short of the runway in the grass then rolled onto the runway where the engine stopped and the Instructor and student evacuated unhurt with no damage to the aircraft or runway lights.
Narrative
Here is my official statement as Pilot in Command and Certificated Flight Instructor for the events that took place. The aircraft in question was a Piper Pilot 100i PA-28-181. The engine had roughly 53.9 hours on the tachometer at the time of the incident. The aircraft was running without issue for the entirety of the flight up until the last lap in the traffic pattern at ZZZ. On the upwind leg of the traffic pattern; there were no issues to report; but there was some slight engine roughness when reducing the power to 1900RPM on the downwind. My student and I configured the aircraft for approach to landing when abeam the numbers for runway X. We reduced the power to 1500RPM and set the flaps to 10 degrees to set up for a normal traffic pattern approach. When turning base after my student set the flaps to 25 degrees; I started to notice that the aircraft speed was getting slow; so I told my student to add a little bit of power. After adding the power; I noticed that the increase in the throttle had less effect on the aircraft than usual; so I pushed the throttle lever forward myself. While turning final; I pushed the throttle all the way forward. I noticed a slight increase in RPM; then the RPM slowly rolled back to about 1000RPM and continued windmilling with zero thrust; and it felt as if the aircraft had completely lost its engine. After feeling this sensation; I quickly took the controls from my student. At this point in time; our altitude is 500 feet; airspeed is 65kts; and distance is about ¾ of a mile from the runway. I maintained the best airspeed possible which amounted to about 68kts with the remaining energy in flight; and I retracted the 2nd notch of flaps to reduce the descent angle. I had my student switch the fuel tanks while I tried moving the throttle and mixture levers; checking the magnetos; verifying that the auxiliary fuel pump was on; opening the alternate air; and checking the engine indicators to make sure it wasn't spark or air flow issue. Upon reaching the realization that the engine was not going to restart; I said the following to tower: 'Tower; Aircraft X [requesting priority handling]; loss of engine on short final runway X.' After stating that; I realized that my descent rate would put me just short of the runway in the grass; so I came low over the tree line at the approach end of the runway. Upon reaching ground effect; I deployed all remaining flaps to try and float to the runway hard surface. The aircraft ended up touching down about 20 feet short of the runway in the grass; but the nosewheel of the aircraft was held off until reaching the beginning of the runway. I notified tower that we landed safely and that we were taxiing. After rolling onto the runway; the propeller stopped spinning; and the aircraft had enough momentum to roll onto runway XX via a left turn then clear of runway XX just before Taxiway 1. After coming to a complete stop; we shut the aircraft electrical system down and awaited ARFF (Airport Rescue and Firefighting) as well as FBO for movement and debriefing. The two souls on board were without injury or harm; and the aircraft had no visible damage. The airport employee also stated that there was no visible damage done to any runway lights.
Second reporter narrative
Myself and my instructor were involved in an engine failure. We had come back from ZZZ1 where we worked on slow flight; power off stall; and practice engine failure landing. Upon return; we flew four touch and go traffic patterns. On the final pattern starting upwind while turning crosswind; My instructor asked me if I had also noticed engine roughness. I had not noticed it. We flew downwind and added first notch of flaps. We started our base turn and added second notch of flaps. In the middle of our turn base the engine went silent and our propeller slowed down. My instructor took the controls with a clear exchange of controls. I was only asked to switch fuel tanks. He made our radio call to ATC and informed them of the situation. We cleared the tress and touched down in a grass field 40-50 feet short of the runway. We had enough speed to keep rolling onto the runway and eventually clear the runway. The engine would still not start so we towed it back to tie down.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.