EAA Sport Aviation

I’LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN
BETTER PILOT
Engine Failure Over Kentucky
It’s better to make a precautionary landing than be forced down
BY MACK MCKINNEY, EAA 1007109
THE WELL-WORN CESSNA 152 was new to the rural Maryland air-
strip’s rental lineup. I rented the airplane for a springtime
cross-country trip to Kentucky and launched into the summer air.
There was a lot of thermal activity, and the light 152 sometimes
rolled 45-60 degrees as strong updrafts caught a wing. I didn’t
think much about it at the time, but this likely contributed to the
emergency that was to follow.
About two hours’ flight time after refueling in West Virginia, my
destination of Owensboro, Kentucky, came into view on the hori-
zon just 12 miles away. As I
dialed in the tower fre-
quency, the cockpit fell
silent. Prop-loafing, heart-
stopping engine failure. My
training kicked in (thank
you, Tom Davis). I added
carb heat (late, I know),
checked the fuel selector
(should have an hour’s fuel
still in the tanks), flipped
through the left and right
mags, and pushed the mix-
ture knob into full-rich. No
change. Then about 10 sec-
onds later the engine surged
back to life.
Whew, maybe a little
water in the fuel, I told
myself. Then the engine
sputtered again, twice, and
roared back to normal rpm. I
pondered my options: I
could continue on toward
the airport, but what if the
problem under the engine
cowling was about to cause
an engine fire? Or what if I
was out of fuel! I hadn’t kept
close track of my time aloft,
so was it possible that I was
running out of fuel? There were no farm
fields between me and those distant run-
ways, just subdivisions of houses. And I had
heard about too many pilots who had hoped
they could make the airport and passed up
several acceptable landing areas, only to
slam into trees or houses short of the air-
port. So I promised myself that I would set
it down if that engine sputtered even one