My Last Flight

by André Durocher, COPA Flight 8

Last Saturday, I started my engine. Black smoke then fire appears around the cowling. I continue cranking and the fire stopped. Then, while taxing my turn coordinator stopped working and on take-off my airspeed was showing zero. Then, the vaccum pump and my radio went dead. Landed in Gatineau with no left brake. Took off from Gatineau and my engine quit at 400-500' AGL. Landed at the end of the runway and stopped in the grass. I managed to restart the engine and took off on runway 09 with 10 kts tailwind. Once in the downwind the visibilty went down to 2 miles. I found the downwind for 09 in Rockcliffe (the wind shifts 180 degrees!!). Before turning base, the engine quit, again, landed short of the runway but we walked away.

It was lots of fun, I learned a lot from my instructor in the Red Bird simulator in Rockcliffe.

I plan to do it again!