PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Total 416
Troubleshooting; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Aircraft Equipment Problem Dissipated; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; General Maintenance Action; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Aircraft
My student and I were doing traffic pattern work and on the 5th or 6th lap; our engine had a major reduction of power at roughly 600 ft. AGL. I admittedly did notice a little bit of engine oscillations during some climb outs before the RPM drop lap but only after we were well in the air. I adjusted the mixture to rectify and it did solve the problem. When the event did happen; we were still in our upwind leg and were certain we were going to put the plane down on route 1. I checked to see that we didn't have the mixture out; that our throttle was open; we were on a tank and not off or in-between (we knew that our time in the air was not remotely enough to drain a tank); and that our fuel pump was on. I tried seeing if it was rectifiable with reduced mixture but it did not work. Only after cycling the throttle did we regain power and able to nurse the plane back to the runway. We did request priority handling.
PA-28 Flight Instructor reported a significant loss of engine power while in the traffic pattern. The Instructor managed to regain partial power and make an immediate landing.