Most of us fly aircraft powered by piston engines, a basic technology dating back to the late 19th century. Meanwhile, the modern air-cooled aircraft piston engine’s basic configurations hasn’t changed since before WWII. Given the power output for their weight and fuel consumption, there’s no better solution. But hundreds of metal parts going through thousands of heat cycles year after year eventually find a way to break. When it happens, we’re trained to safely get the airplane on the ground. Most of the time, that’s exactly what happens. In fact, there are no real data on general aviation engine failures except those resulting in a reportable accident.
