Cirrus SR22 · NTSB accident record

Partial Power Loss on ClimboutERA21FA263

A partial power loss on climbout, and two airports at very different distances

Date
Monday, June 21, 2021
Time
~9:00 AM CDT
Weather
VMC · overcast 2,200 ft · 10 SM · wind 230 at 12 kt · 82°F
Location
Departed Memphis (KMEM), Tennessee — climbout
Age
83
Hours in type (Cirrus SR22)
3,568 hrs
Hours, last 90 days
38 hrs
Cockpit moment

Climbout — The Power Won't Hold

You're in a turbocharged SR22, climbing out of Memphis toward Asheville.

The morning is workable VMC, and you're headed for 15,000 feet.

Through 3,000 you're talking to departure, and everything looks normal.

Then, climbing through 6,600 feet, the airplane stops climbing.

It starts losing altitude.

About ten minutes in, your manifold pressure spikes past its limit, then begins to fluctuate.

You key up and tell the controller you have an engine issue with manifold pressure.

You tell him you are not declaring an emergency.

The engine is making partial power, and you can't hold altitude.

McKellar-Sipes, where the airplane is maintained, is about 27 miles northeast.

Bolivar sits closer, about 10 miles off your right.

You have a parachute overhead and altitude that's bleeding away — where do you put it down?

By the numbers
1,200
partial power-loss accidents
80
a year
86%
were survivable
252
lives lost in them
81%
of Cirrus parachute pulls survived
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NTSB accidents, 2011–2025
The decision

The engine is making partial power and altitude is bleeding away. Which airport can you still reach — the familiar one, or the nearest one?