Ultralight Has Two Engine Failures

[pelmet]

Seems like most of the ultralight guys have a story or three when it comes to loss of power........

"The pilot of C-IJQP, a Quad City Challenger II advanced ultra-light aircraft, had just conducted an
approach to Picton (CNT7), ON and was heading back to Gananoque Airport (CNN8), ON when
the engine (Rotax 503) lost all power. The pilot conducted a forced approach into a farm field
approximately 4.5 NM N of Picton. The aircraft was not damaged during the forced approach. After
some trouble shooting it was determined that the 2 ignition plug leads had come off the ignition
plugs on one cylinder. The ignition leads were re-secured to the ignition plugs. After running the
engine for approximately 8 minutes and checking the aircraft for any damage the pilot took off from
the farm field to continue back to Gananoque. Shortly after takeoff at approximately 30-40 feet the
engine lost power again and the aircraft stalled aerodynamically. The aircraft crashed in the field in
a near vertical attitude. The pilot received minor injuries and the aircraft was substantially
damaged."

[challenger_nami]

Thanks for sharing this story.

My take away:
If I EVER got lucky ONCE and survive my engine failure in a Rotax Powered Finicky single Engine toy plane ... or any other airplane for that matter , I would NOT push my luck.

I would hire professionals to do a proper diagnosis and see why that engine failed the first time, instead of just a field repair of what I think might have caused the problem.

I am glad the pilot survived.

[digits_]

Impressive he survived a stall crash.

[lownslow]

Seems like most of the ultralight guys have a story or three when it comes to loss of power........

I once met a UL pilot and with the stories he told I’m not convinced he ever landed by choice.

Of course, I won’t talk trash about ultralight flying in general, all flying can be good flying and I sometimes partake myself. It’s just that the UL rules give you more than enough rope to hang yourself if you so choose.

[Big Pistons Forever]

My 01 cents

4 of my PPL students ended up buying Ultra lights with 2 stroke engines. Every single one had a least one engine failure. 3 went back to flying certified GA airplanes and the other gave up all flying after sustaining major injuries in the crash of his ultra light after an engine failure.

Good incident accident data for ultra lights is hard to find but it appears that the accident rate per 100,000 hrs is up to ten times higher than for light certified GA airplanes.

Personally I have never flown in and would never fly in an ultralight.

[linecrew]

This aircraft has a significant crash history...

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2016/07/q ... ident.html