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It was finally my time. After ~2500 hours of flying with no emergencies, I squawked 7700 for the first time this weekend after the Rotax engine in my Icon A5 seized at 2,000 AGL over the Navajo Nation desert (close to Four Corners). I have encountered minor issues before in other planes (PFD failure, erroneous airspeed data, magnetos going bad, generator overload etc) but nothing close to where I had to do a forced landing.

But let’s rewind a few days before I continue the story.

Our big summer adventure this year was to fly our new G3X Touch Icon from Vacaville, CA home to St Petersburg, FL and sightsee our great nation along the way.



We started in the Bay Area and flew down to Santa Monica along A1A, stopping in San Martin, Pismo Beach (overnighted), and Camarillo (Ronald Reagan Museum) along the way.



After two nights in Santa Monica, we flew out to Catalina Island for lunch. Amazing location. Flying above LAX in the Special Flight Rules Area without an ATC clearance was unique!



My oldest son goes to school at San Diego, so from Catalina we skimmed over the Pacific and met up with him to tour Midway and enjoy a Padres home game.


Next, we set our sights on Las Vegas, crossing over Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave Desert. Stopped for fuel in Twentynine Palms on the way. Desolate.



The following day we flew over the Grand Canyon, obeying the various sector’s altitude restrictions. It took some time to climb to 11,500 ft required for the northbound corridors, but we made it. We discussed the various engine out options, which at times were limited. Gliding down and landing in the Colorado River was considered!



A huge thunderstorm was stationed over Page, AZ, so we stopped in Marble Canyon (L41) to wait it out. This place felt right out of the Pixar movie Cars!



After refueling in Page our trip continued through Monument Valley, Four Corners, and a planned stop in Farmington, NM for the night. Monument Valley was amazing, just as seen in the movies.



Enroute there was a storm growing between Four Corners and Farmington. Datalink only showed light green dbz, but it was really dark below the bases. Did not look inviting. So we decided to turn southbound and go west of the Carrizo Mountains before turning back on course. Good decision for what followed.

One minute after turning southbound, the engine starts vibrating. “Oh that doesn’t sound good” I recall muttering. I reduced the throttle to try to find a spot where the vibration would stop, but no success. 24 seconds after the initial vibration the engine completely seizes. It took another 10 seconds to accept that this happening, regain clarity, and I turn towards a rural road on my right. We are at 2000 AGL so I know I need to make some decisions quickly.



While setting up best glide I squawked 7700 and transmitted on 121.5 MHz “Mayday, Mayday Icon N639BA transmitting in the blind, squawking 7700 engine failure close to Four Corners, setting up to land”. I tried cycling the ignition twice, but no change. An airline pilot immediately jumped on relaying my message and asked for a more precise location. I told him to standby as my eyes were totally outside the cockpit by then (via Facebook I later learned that @joejenie was at FL410 overhead and heard the whole exchange!).

At this time I had two roads in my scan, one running West-East (US 160) and one North-South (35). Grid transmission power lines were running along the southside of US 160, so I quickly ruled that out. Next decision was between landing on road 35 or pulling the chute. Just like the Cirrus the Icon has a full airframe chute, the ICON Parachute System (IPS). The POH says “There are no restrictions on the use of the IPS. Optimal IPS actuation is from level flight above 500 ft AGL.”

Surveying the road for any signs of utility poles and not seeing anything of concern, combined with feeling good about my energy management I decided to land on the road.

I setup on a tight left downwind as I didn’t want to land towards the transmission lines along 160, and this also allowed me to scan the road again for obstacles. I overshoot final due to my tight downwind but got aligned followed by a firm but normal (1.3g) landing. Having the AOA gauge in my sightline was crucial during the final turns, to provide assurance of my AOA margin. I totally understand how people can stall on an approach like this, you become so fixated on your landing target and have no options other than to unload the wings.

From first vibration to touchdown was 2 minutes and 52 seconds.



One car was approaching a few thousand feet away as we landed, but as I assumed they stopped. Oddly they just continued past us once I steered the plane towards the shoulder. I transmitted on guard that we were safely on a road and that we would call 911. The airliner crew was very relieved and congratulated us.

After high-fiving I jumped out and folded the left wing to not block traffic. What now??? We contacted 911 and they dispatched Navajo police officer from Shiprock. The next priority was to secure the plane, as that storm we were deviating around was coming this direction blowing some pretty good gusts. I ended up jamming some shoes behind the tires and had my son holding the brakes (the parking brake wasn’t holding pressure well enough). Luckily the rain never arrived and the gusts shortly dissipated.



A somewhat bewildered police officer arrived after 30 minutes and after going through the formalities (license, registration, have you been drinking) we started formulating a plan to move the aircraft. The officer made contact with NTSB who confirmed that as long as there were no injuries and the aircraft wasn’t damaged (other than engine) they didn’t want a report. He did email them some pictures of the aircraft, and maybe the local FSDO will track me down as I declared an emergency.

Unexpected location for a sunset shot:



Son calling grandma with good news:



My police report:



A flatbed tow truck was dispatch out of Farmington, NM (our original destination for the day). I confirmed with Icon that this was an acceptable mode of transportation under the circumstances. Usually a custom made Icon trailer is required, as any other method requires an inspection for stress damage but we were not about to get airborne soon anyways. The tow truck drivers were amused but professional and got the plane loaded perfectly (we had about an inch clearance between the tail and the ground while loading).



Three hours after landing we were on our way to Atlantic at KFMN. They stayed open after-hours and helped us unload the plane and push it into a hanger. Probably one of the smoothest off-field recoveries ever!

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As to why the engine failed, not clear yet. The prop is seized. No visible exterior damage or leaks. Icon dispatched a technician from the factory overnight and they arrived by noon the next day. They are working on it now and downloaded data from both the data recorder and engine management unit.



I grabbed data from the G3X and uploaded it to FlightData.com (which I originally created years ago as CirrusReports).

The log suggests something started in Cylinder 1 (EGT1 drops). That is when the vibrations started, followed by the complete failure ~20 seconds later. When the engine stopped the data went null.



Oil Pressure and Temp were good right up until the engine stopped turning. I had checked oil level earlier in the day.



In hindsight, I should have flown a wider downwind to limit the amount of maneuvering needed down low. The VisionJet engine-out training high-key low-key was very much on my mind and excellent preparation!

The engine failed at the right time. Three hours earlier we were over the Grand Canyon. Thirty minutes before we were above really desolate parts of the Navajo Nation desert. I am confident that we could have landed safely on that terrain under the chute, but recovery would likely have required picking us up by helicopter. It is debatable that I should have been with Flight Following on this leg (wasn’t sure if they could pick me up that low). Between 121.5 MHz, ADS-B out, 403 Mhz ELT, my Zoleo communicator, and cell phones I felt we could be located fairly quickly. In fact, my ELT had gone off earlier in the day at GCN (I think I hit the test button while stowing a window), and the Air Force called me within 5 minutes.

If there is an ideal single-engine plane to have an engine failure in, it has to be the Icon A5. If you are over water, just land as normal. If over a suitable soft surface, land gear up and the huge hull should keep you upright. If over a suitable hard surface, gear down. And if no suitable landing area, pull the chute. Respect the AOA gauge and you won’t stall. If you stall you won’t spin (spin resistant wing).

Glad (kinda) to have joined the club of pilots with engine failures…

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Followup: ICON quickly trailered the plane to California and completed an initial engine teardown.

They found that the piston in cylinder one was badly damaged and the exhaust valve was broken off. The retaining clip for the valve spring had cracked in half, with one-half of the retaining clip found wedged between the cylinder head housing and the exhaust rocker arm. The exhaust rocker arm was forced open as a result of this.

It would seem that the following has happened:

1. The retaining ring failed in flight leading to poor exhaust valve closure and shuttering engine performance

2. The failed pieces of the retaining ring bounced around in the valve cover until one of the halves wedged into the exhaust rocker arm wedging it open

3. The cylinder closed onto the forced open exhaust valve and within seconds mechanically seized.

The engine was shipped to the OEM for further investigation. While no root cause has been determined yet, the retaining ring failure was likely caused by air entering the lubrication system. ICON issued a Service Letter: Mitigation of air contamination in engine lubrication system after this forced landing.

My gut guess is that the oil system wasn’t purged properly during installation.



ICON installed a new engine under warranty and ferried the plane to Florida, where both my son and myself have been enjoying it since.

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Excellent job handling this emergency! Glad you, your son, and your plane are safe a testament to your skills!

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Marcus! Outstanding job! OMG, with your son onboard no less, talk about stress!

Edit: Autopilot discussion moved to https://www.iopa.org/threads/3-SD-Sl...-(SD-111521-B)