Originally Posted By SkyFive:
Flightaware shows the plane over flying the airport, at pattern altitude and then making a turn back.

Audio, it dosen't inspire confidence in the pilots situational awareness.

JWN Tower Audio

Air Traffic Control: "Are you trying to land at John Tune?"
Pilot: "My engine turned off. I'm at 1,600. I'm going to be landing. (sigh) I don't know where."

Near the end of the audio you can hear another pilot offering some advice 'fly that airplane'.

Originally Posted By Redec:
They came down way to hard. Wonder if he stall/spinned. That area is terrible for emergencies. All hills, trees, businesses and houses. Very few viable fields. You have to choose between the interstate and ditching in the river.

The cockpit and cabin were destroyed by impact forces and fire, and most flight instrumentation and gauges were destroyed by impact and fire; the vertical speed indicator read -400 FPM and the manifold pressure/fuel flow gauge that was heavily fire damaged indicated 15 inches manifold pressure and zero gallons per hour fuel flow. The airplane was equipped with an electronic engine monitor that was heavily fire damaged, however, the internal components were relatively intact and retained for further examination.

The propeller blades (3) remained attached to the hub and engine at the propeller flange. Two of the blades exhibited little to no chordwise scraping with one of the blades having a slight forward bend and minor polishing. There were no leading edge gouges. One of the blades was bent aft mid span about 60°. The propeller spinner was crushed and lacked rotational damage signatures. The propeller governor remained attached to the engine at the mounting pad. The propeller governor control linkage remained attached to the control arm.

The engine crankshaft was rotated by hand through numerous rotations beyond 720°, and compression and suction were observed on all cylinders. There was no grinding or limitations to movement and crankshaft continuity was confirmed. Valve actuation was confirmed. There was oil throughout the engine and in the oil sump, the oil filter was free of ferrous material or debris; the oil filter screen contained some unknown foreign debris but was not obstructed. A borescope was inserted through the top spark plug holes and no anomalies were observed on the piston faces, valve faces or cylinder walls. The turbocharger was found intact, rotated smoothly when spun by hand. There was no damage to the compressor or bearings, nor was there any oil staining or discoloration. The unit remained attached to the engine via its mount and the attached turbine manifolds/air intake.

Both left and right magnetos were manually operated with a drill at low rpm through high rpm, both magnetos produced blue/purple spark at all the posts and at every rotation speed. All the spark plugs displayed normal coloration and normal electrodes as compared to the Champion Aerospace AV-27 Check-A-Plug chart.

The fuel injector lines were tested via compressed air into the fuel line coming in from the fuel servo. Fuel was pushed out of cylinder Nos. 1, 3, and 5. No fuel was pushed out of Nos. 2, 4, and 6. There were no obstructions in the engine fuel lines. The No. 5 fuel injector nozzle contained a small amount of debris that did not inhibit the fuel nozzle opening and all other fuel injector nozzles were clear. The engine driven fuel pump was operationally tested with no anomalies noted. The fuel servo was retained for future bench testing.

The fuel selector handle, fuel selector valve/fuel strainer, and fuel selector torque tube were fire damaged and deformed by impact forces and were separated from the airframe. The fuel selector valve was found between the off and left main tank positions, slightly favoring the left tank position. The fuel selector valve/fuel strainer was opened revealing significant carbon and fire damage.

The left wing was mostly consumed by impact and fire. The left wing aileron bellcrank was burned away from the mounting location in the wing. The aileron control cables remained attached to the bellcrank. The aileron balance cable was overload separated mid-cabin. The left side primary aileron cable was cut by emergency personnel about 1-foot from the drive chain. Aileron cable separations not attributed to recovery cuts revealed overload signatures and fire damage. The right wing remained attached to the airframe and remained upright. There was approximately 5 gallons of fuel in the right tank, and it was leaking where it connected to the fuselage. The fuel was tested for water revealing negative results. The flaps were in the 10° position and the landing gear was in the up/retracted position. The right wing aileron was actuated by hand by pulling the aileron cable ends at the wing root. The aileron moved freely in both directions to the stops during this testing. The right side primary aileron cable revealed a cut made by emergency personnel.

Aileron control continuity was confirmed for both wings through flight control cables to the cockpit. The empennage (consisting of the vertical stabilator, trim and rudder) was separated from the airframe and was held in place by the control cables. The pitch trim actuator was indicating a nose down configuration. The rudder, stabilator and stabilator trim control continuity was confirmed.

Originally Posted By SkyFive:
Flightaware shows the plane over flying the airport, at pattern altitude and then making a turn back.

Audio, it dosen't inspire confidence in the pilots situational awareness.

JWN Tower Audio

Air Traffic Control: "Are you trying to land at John Tune?"
Pilot: "My engine turned off. I'm at 1,600. I'm going to be landing. (sigh) I don't know where."

Near the end of the audio you can hear another pilot offering some advice 'fly that airplane'.

Originally Posted By BillofRights:


That was tough to listen to.   Poor guy was panicked.  He knew he was all out of options and in way over his head.    
I did a bit of instructing in Cherokee 6’s and Saratogas, and they glide like a brick.   Simulating engine failure just once, was enough for me to know I’d never want to own one.