Duchess 76
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 217; Flight Crew Total 925
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Inflight Shutdown; General Declared Emergency; General Maintenance Action
Company Policy; Procedure
I was on a training flight and my student and we had an engine failure during initial climb after takeoff. We had just taken off. After 500 FT my student; who was flying at the time; brought the throttles and prop levers to 25' Manifold pressure and 2500 RPM as per take-off procedure. When we got to 700 FT and started our turnout westbound; we had a large drop in performance and I noticed the RPM dropped to 1400 RPM. At this time; I took controls of the aircraft and followed engine failure procedure as per the checklist. I feathered the inoperative engine and let the Tower know of my intentions to come back in and land at the airport. The Tower gave me the closest runway and cleared me to land. I was unable to completely shutdown the engine thus the propeller was still windmilling during touchdown. After touchdown the propeller stopped windmilling and I was able to evacuate the runway onto the taxiway; from where; we were towed back to the ramp. After opening the engine nacelle; we notice that the magneto in the left engine was completely off its place from the screws on which it should be attached. Not wanting to make any assumptions; I would recommend a thorough check on the aircraft after maintenance works on it as it had just come from a being checked for a mag drop during run-up and they cleaned the spark plugs. I would also recommend there be a Supervisor to check and ensure that the aircraft parts repaired have been done well and is in proper working operation prior to being returned to service.
A BE-76 engine lost power after takeoff so the Instructor took control; shut the engine down and returned to the airport. A Mechanic had failed to secure the magneto after preflight maintenance.