By Warren McIlvoy, BC-1

My wife and I were going to Page for the Breakfast Club event to the Wahweap Lodge. After a normal run-up, we took-off on Scottsdale’s runway 3. At about 500’, we turned towards the north. The take-off was normal, the climb-out was normal (at least up to this point). At about 2800’ MSL and about 3 miles north of the airport, I suddenly felt and heard a loud bang. My very first impression was that a tire had blown-out. But after a very few brief seconds, I felt a slight vibration with an associated power loss. The elapsed time between the bang and my decision to do a 180, was maybe 8-10 seconds.

I called SDL tower while in the turn and informed them that I was declaring an emergency. I told them that we heard a loud bang with a power loss. The controller began scattering planes in all directions like kicking over an ant hill. It was not until completing the turn back that the windscreen began to take on a sickening opaque appearance. In less time than it took to think about it, all forward visibility ceased. I could still see out the side windows but nothing out the front.

As I reached the departure end of runway 3, we were still plenty high with a slight overshoot. A sharp bank to the right brought the white stripe that is along the side of the runway, into view. From there, it just a case of bleeding-off airspeed and trying to maintain our position over the runway as best we could. Eventually we landed (actually pretty good considering I had no clue as the height above the runway), and as we were rolling-out, the engine finally wound down and stopped. I had enough momentum to make an exit on Alpha 4 and stopped just across the “hold short” line. The tower called to inquire if we needed fire equipment but I told them that it was a cylinder issue but I could sure use a tow.

It wasn’t until we opened the cabin door that we began breathing again. As best that I can guess, the elapsed time between the onset of the incident to turning-off the runway, was maybe 3-minutes but it seemed like 3-4 days. Airport ops met us on the taxiway and after making arrangements for the tow, offered us a ride up to KILO ramp to retrieve our car. We drove back down to TANGO ramp but by that time, the line guys were now on their way up to KILO. We met them there and after securing the aircraft, we removed our personal items. I attempted to remove some of the oil from the windscreen and other surface areas to help avoid having the sun bake it on making the removal process more difficult.

From the position and altitude that we were in at the time of the incident, I believe that most everyone could have returned to the airport, but the thing that was the most difficult, was not being able to see anything out the front window.

Warren's story first appeared in Gary Wiblin's Aviation Safety Forum, a fine online resource for pilots of all ages and all experience levels who are interested in safety issues and trends in our industry. As Gary says, "you're always a student in an airplane."

FMI: www.efc.org.au