Engine Failure! | Deadstick Landing in the Chinook 

Thanks! I hope to back in the air within the month.

Thanks! I'll see what I can do for footage of the engine swap. If nothing else, I'll at least post a video with a detailed look at the finished product.

Yes and that was a hard landing, or at least I thought it was.

Wow, thanks for the comment. Very much appreciated. :-) Ya, the Patreon flopped pretty hard. I just don't have the numbers. But that's ok, I enjoy making the content regardless of whatever support or viewership I have. I'm just glad that others find it interesting too.

Me too! :-)

Hey Don, my name is Drew and I'm a 400+ hour private pilot based in northern New Jersey, USA. I'm just finishing the priming of my Chinook build, after which I'll do final color coat. Then time to mount the Rotax 912UL, plumb, and think about electric. Where are you in your build? Hit me with some pics at drew.harteveld@gmail.com

I've heard good things about the HKS engine. I'd love to try one out someday.

I think we were around 2500' AGL. I was aiming for an approach speed of 55 mph but got a little slow right at the end.

I'll try.

Explanation for the hard landing is in the video. I'll be replacing the engine with another 582 as it wasn't the engines fault that it failed. Properly maintained (and not damaged by previous owners) it's my opinion that the 582 is still quite a reliable engine and the best one for this application.

Look forward to seeing you get back in the air!!

Both the engine and the plane are fantastic. This engine had unknowingly been "mistreated" by a previous owner which caused the issue. I have the same engine on my Beaver and haven't had any issues with it that weren't my fault. If you run it right, it'll last for a very long time.

It takes a good hour with 3 guys to take the wings off and about 2 hours to put them back on. The body of the plane is 20 feet long so I guess that'd be the shortest trailer you could get away with.

I'll likely be too greasy and sweaty to run a camera while swapping the engine. I'll see if I can get some footage though. Thanks for the kind words! :-)

I'll do what I can. No promises though. I'd rather concentrate on hooking it up properly rather than focusing on the camera.

Sweet! I wanna see pics! Wait no longer. There should be a new one up by the time you read this message. :-)

Yes it was. A good example of just how rugged the gear and airframe are since there was no damage caused by it.

Will I have to paint it red too and name it after some dragon....? ;-)

Got over oil injection as in took it out? Or converted to it? I've heard that the Rotax injection system is darn near bulletproof as long as it's operated correctly. I use a standard run-of-the-mill USB headset when I do voice overs from the editing room.

mmatt .....Thanks for the headset info. I've got one too. I think it's a 70 year old voice verses a what? 35? On the oil pump, I just like the oil in the gas. It's there with no chance of failure. Others swear by the pump. To each his own. Thanks!

Hi Matt, I think billcallahan9303 was referring to inverted mount to up right installation. Rotax supports this as well as they reduce the service hours of an inverted installations vs. upright, the crank bearings get better lubrication with upright mount. There may be work around for inverted installations though?

Aha I knew your voice sounded familiar, I think I was turned onto slamfire by Kowalski and Fur-latte both from Kens now defunct podcast and the reloading podcast...

Yup, I started out on Canadian Reload Radio and then transitioned over to Slam Fire Radio. It's been a few years since I've been on now though. Flying kinda takes up most of my time.

Didn't rebuild it, it was too damaged for that. Had to buy a new one.

@@mmatt OUCH ,sorry I asked

Checked and it's all good.

No, Rotax 582.

Two-strokes are murdered, they don't typically fail if you run them right. This one was no exception. It was seriously damaged by the previous owner and that damage wasn't reported to us until after this event otherwise we would have had it repaired. The damage occurred when it was run without any oil and it seized. They simply let it cool down and unseized it and then continued to run it. That very likely severely damaged the crankshaft bearings which led to their early demise. As they say... buyer beware. lol

@@mmatt If airplane engines aren't differently referred to that other engines, then (I believe) a "short block" is everything below the heads and adding the heads, valve covers, intake, etc. it becomes a "long block". I hope that you're up and flying again. Great Emergency landing👍😎

I hope that ended as well as it could for you.

It did... we were out over Puget Sound so I set things up for glide, then do the mag check flipped it off then back to both. Check fuel it had been turned to off, set to both. Pull on carb heat get the nose down, got the engine windmilling and she started running again. Dad had the Cub on floats at the time so it was no big deal with a water landing. Dad was in the back seat I looked over at him and he had a grin on his face.

Ha ha ha! Sounds like he liked to keep you on your toes! :-)

He did when we were flying together, 23,000 plus hours bush flying in Alaska and Northwest Canada in the 40s 50s and 60s hones your skills of staying ahead of things and alive. Dad was flying the Dew line before there was one. Lost him about five years ago he is very much missed.

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like he was a great man and pilot.

I had an 87 Blazer and the transfer case jumped into 4wd at 65mph (didn't know it was worn out). I thought I was going to have to throw away my pants and take a shower🤣🤣🤣 It sounded like a small cannon went off. LoL

Yup, I've heard that people do that as well. I've also heard of people who have forgotten to pre-mix and ran the engine on pure gas. There's always a way to mess up! lol! There are benefits to the oil injection such as reduced carbon buildup and lower operating cost since the injector meters just what you need so you end up using less oil. I guess it just depends on how much you trust the injection system. I haven't seen one fail yet that wasn't due to operator error.

Ha ha- Trent Palmer....You had probably one tenth the time he did when you lost your engine. A Chinook is gonna give you maybe 2 turns at most from 500 AGL. I see you had about 50 seconds on the video . That means you had your field and decision in probably less than 5 seconds. I don't think Trent had those kind of reactions times. We need more instructor out there like you.

Ha ha! You just never know what's gonna pop out of the ground. :-)

Was... lol One of the crankshaft bearing seized up and and then something punched a hole in the case... It had been run without oil by someone who should have known better and we were never told about it. I'm surprised the engine lasted as long as it considering the previous damage.

I think for the most part, everything went as well as it could given the circumstance. Had I been able to see the road a bit more clearly, I probably would have greased the landing which would have been a near perfect engine out scenario. As it was, I'm happy with the outcome. I guess one thing I'd add is, don't touch the throttle if the engine starts making funny noises. It wasn't until I started messing with the throttle that it shut down completely. I think Trent said the same thing in his video. It seemed to run just fine on one cylinder (albeit with much less power and bit more vibration) and I MIGHT have made it back to the airport. I doubt I would have actually tried though since there was a lot of unlandable terrain including a river in my way. And there are good arguments for shutting down a partial power engine anyway since often times a pilot may rely on it to make it to a landing spot when you never know when or if it'll finally quit completely. Oh, and sorry about your engine. Totally not my fault though! :-P

I just watched! Looks like you were having lots of fun! Nice to see another Beaver in the air! :-)

Upside down 2-strokes are very common and the preferred way for many people on this style of airplane as it keeps the engine behind the fuselage and out of the airflow which drastically reduces drag. Having it this way also keeps the weight closer to the vertical centre of gravity which means the aircraft is more stable. When the engine is running, it has no idea which way is up or down. The only downside is that when the engine is stopped, the fuel/oil mixture will settle in the plugs which sometimes make it a bit harder to start.

Two stroke engines draw their air-fuel-lube oil mix through the crankcase lubricating the bottom end before it goes through the transfer port to the combustion chamber so it makes no difference how it's mounted. The only limiting factor you have to deal with is float type carbs. I enjoyed your video Matt & I don't hear any crappy music when I fly either! ;-)

Bwahahahaha! You win good sir!

Ha ha! Snakes are cool! (says the guy who lives in an area with no venomous snakes) I'd probably have different outlook if we had rattlers around.

VW engines weigh between 150 - 190 lbs. The 582 is just over 100. On a plane this small, that weight is a bigger deal than you think. There are some Chinooks with Rotax 912s (140 lbs) on them and most pilots report that the plane becomes very unstable with the extra weight located where it is. This was a case of a previously damaged engine finally giving up. (We didn't know it had been damaged until after this event.) A properly maintained 2-stroke can be just as reliable as a 4-stroke and given the power to weight ratio they provide, are a much better suited engine for planes this size in my opinion.

@@mmatt I thought you had a 912 on it . I flew a 1915 VW for 15 years on my KR2 with no real issues . It was 161 lb . I suppose the half VW wouldnt have enough power . The other guy might could use a VW . Fly safe !

@@mmatt You have the blessing of being young . Maybe you should build an airplane .

This is a common theme in my videos... lol If I don't film the interesting stuff then there wouldn't be anything interesting to watch.

If my buddy had just survived an engine out landing I don’t think I’d mind wrestling his plane around while he took a break.....

Just depends on your definition I guess. As long as you treat them right, they do a very good job for what they are. They're definitely more reliable than most other 2-stroke engines that are available.

So I'm not lumping in all 2-strokes. Sorry. Rotax 4-strokes seen a little more reliable . First mistake with a Rotax 2-stroke is depending on oil-infection (injection). Their system has been un-reliable since it's inception. PWCs, Snowmobiles, ect. they all blew up. Mix that oil!!!!

I hear some guys say that and I hear others swear by the reliability of the oil injection. The Rotax certified mechanics I've spoken with have collectively only ever seen one fail that wasn't user error in the past 10 years. That's not to say that others don't fail but I think they might be more reliable than you think if you discount the user errors. They definitely gotta have oil to work! LOL!

Yeah having the tank full of oil helps for-sure....Rotax tried to make a do-it all engine back in the day. Yours was not injection fail for sure. A rod let go, or so it looks to me. Usually lack of top-end oil will just make them seize and won't ventilate the block like yours. I just would not trust my life to one. All I'm Say'in.