Have you been on a airplane... that was taxing out and had to turn around because the engine would not start/?

Question

OR even better in the air when an engine goes out?

Answer 1

No, no, no Mountain Top. Lose an engine in a multiengine airplane and don't land at the nearest suitable airport and you'll be without your license for awhile. The FAA will likely throw in a fine as well. There is one reason and only one reason to have more than one engine. Because YOU NEED MORE FRIGGIN POWER. But no. I've never had an engine not start on taxi out. We allways start them all at the ramp. In almost forty years and over sixteen thousand hours in the air I've never had an engine quit on me. Shut one down because of a false engine fire warning AND LANDED AT THE FIRST AVAILABLE AIRPORT, but it turned out to be a shorted fire loop in the center engine. Embarassing but whatcha gonna do? Not keep going to the destination I hope. Unless of course the destination is Hawaii and you have passed the equal time point. If every war story that pilots tell about losing engines and such were true, there is no way the FAA would keep certifying engines. The chances of a pilot losing or even shutting down an engine in his lifetime are less than the chance that he'll be struck by lightning. The next time you have to sit in a bar and hear a pilot start with, "No sh--, there I was," just take a sip of beer and say, "Oh really?"

Answer 2

Yes. I have had both happen to me.

I was a passenger on a flight that had to turn back to the gate when one engine wouldn't start. (By the way, most airlines taxi most of the way to the runway on only one engine anymore to save fuel. Unless of course, they need to make tight turns or are extremely heavy.)

I have had only one instance of shutting down an engine inflight. We were going from OKC to CVG when a piece of the cowling came off the engine. It did some damage to the oil pressure sensor that indicated we had lost all oil pressure. This, accompanied with a loud bang, prompted us to shut the thing down. We diverted to the closest available airport, TUL, as that is what is required by the FAA. We landed without incident and all of the passengers were rebooked on other flights out of TUL.

Answer 3

Engines not starting , It happens quite often but what the actual reason the pilot told isn`t always the reason. Inflight shutdowns ,It could be something insignificant but the faa rules are shut it down and get it down. The bottom line, It`s safer to fly than drive and the airline employees have always put lives inhead of money

Answer 4

No - neither one. Might be scary, but I do know that as long as one engine is there, landing is still do-able. As for while taxiing, I'd rather that they find it on the ground that after take-off ;-)

Answer 5

yes... it was like august last year and we were taxiing to the runway and there was something wrong with the engine so we had to go all the way back.. thats why we are never flying united again......another one was becuase someone left a bag on the plane!ahaha! and they thought it might be a bomb.. so we had to taxi back and take it off board cuase no one claimed it...lol...

Answer 6

yes i have one of the engines stopped working during mid flight but we kept going and we landed safetly

Answer 7

"No sh--, there I was..." is always the beginning. They always end with: "...And I swear we almost F---ing died!"

And that's the only difference between a sea story and a fairy tale. The fairy tale begins with: "Once upon a time," and ends with:..."and they lived happily ever after."

John B's explanation reminded me of that old adage.

Answer 8

Yes. Would you rather they didn't tell you and just kept going? They CANNOT do that, by the way. It's illegal.

Answer 9

While they can't legally take-off without all the equipment functioning, if one engine stops in the air - they can continue on to their destination. After all that's one of the reasons there a multiple engines to start with.

In the air, the airplane only needs a fraction of the thrust necessary to take off, so it's reasonable and safe.

Answer 10

Yes, I have.

Doesn't happen very often. A professional crew will handle it smoothly, and you may not even know it happened.