2024-04 · NASA ASRS report 2108086
Flight Instructor and student reported a power loss and rough running engine after takeoff. The engine failed while the flight crew was returning to departure airport and they landed safely.
My instructor and I were planning on a cross country to ZZZ1 and had taken off of XXR at ZZZ. After getting switched to ZZZ Approach; we started to fly with a heading of 260. After a couple of minutes; we experienced engine roughness. My instructor took the flight controls while I ran through checklists. We told ZZZ Approach that we were troubleshooting a problem and that we might have to return to ZZZ. We told them we had engine roughness; and they gave us a 290 heading in case we needed to go back. We then continued troubleshooting; but nothing worked; and we did not know the cause of the roughness. There was no clear indication of what the failure was. The oil pressure was in the green and the other gauges read normal. We switched fuel tanks and checked both magnetos. My instructor [advised ATC] and we headed back to the airport. On our way back; I continued to troubleshoot and recheck everything. We lost RPM; the engine was rougher; and the plane started shaking. The engine eventually failed. We were initially told [Runway] XXR by Approach; but then we requested Runway XY. We were able to make it to the Runway; and my instructor remained calm and made a safe landing. We were not able to pull off the Runway because the propeller stopped. We exited the plane and communicated with the fire department. My instructor and I remained calm in the situation and worked together to make a safe landing with no engine power. We had to decide if we would make it to the Runway; and using a tool to tell us our gliding range; we were able to decide that the Runway was our best option. I am unaware of what caused the failure; my flight school's Maintenance department is inspecting the plane. We had full fuel before we took off and did a thorough preflight.
I experienced a partial/complete power loss soon after takeoff from ZZZ. I am a flight instructor (CFII) and my instrument student and I were on an IFR Cross-Country to ZZZ1. Neither my student nor I noticed any defects during our preflight inspections. We did not notice any abnormalities during startup; taxi; runup; or takeoff. During runup; magneto drop was normal - around 100RPM on each magneto. My SP (student pilot) and I both verified engine instruments were in the green during takeoff. Initial climbout was normal and we received some radar vectors that put us approximately 6 miles due south of the ZZZ airport at around 3;000ft. While at full throttle; the engine suddenly dropped approximately 200RPM. The throttle was fully open; mixture was full rich; and we were only able to produce a maximum of 2300RPM while level. We also smelled something similar to burnt oil. I immediately took the controls. We [advised ATC] and requested to return to ZZZ; and were given vectors for an immediate return. We ran our engine failure checklist which did not change the situation. As we descended; our oil pressure became lower and lower; and our maximum RPM continued to drop. Passing through around 1000 feet abeam the ZZZ campus; the engine stopped producing any power with the propeller windmilling. We were in glide range; however; and after I verified I could make Runway XY I extended the flaps; made a forward slip to landing; and made a safe landing without power. Our aircraft was towed to our Maintenance hangar without incident.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.