Close Calls

摘要

FOR MANY YEARS, my wife and I have been flying a Cirrus SR-22 between Massachusetts and Florida. It's a 6.5-hour flight, so we stop for fuel midway, in central North Carolina. In early 2020 we set off from Massachusetts as we'd done many times.We flew right over JFK [Airport] and watched Manhattan glide by, then along the coast toward our fuel stop in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. I love the Cirrus avionics suite. Great navigation and engine information. The autopilot was keeping us straight and level, and air traffic control was updating us on traffic and directions. About 15 minutes from Elizabethtown, I heard a slight "pop" and the autopilot disconnected. Hmm, that was odd. The prop slowed to around 1,600 rpm (from 2,400 in cruise), but the important stuff on the engine page was still green: oil pressure was good, fuel flow good, and still plenty of fuel, but engine wasn't responding to power changes. What's going on? I found the best glide speed, ran through the checklist, and had a conversation with ATC, then decided to pull the parachute. Altitude was about 2,000 feet by that time.