Instructor pilot of a light sport aircraft reported an engine failure shortly after take followed by...

Narrative:

During the takeoff climb; at about 800ft AGL; the engine began running very roughly and the cabin began to fill with smoke. The instructor (me) took over control of the aircraft; shut the engine down; and called the control tower to announce we would be making an urgent landing on runway xx. The controller acknowledged and asked if we needed emergency equipment. We declined. Given our proximity to the airport; our altitude; and a tail wind; it would be very easy to glide back to the runway with a 180 degree turn - in fact we had to use a forward slip to get rid of some excess altitude. Winds at the time were 310 at 9 kts gusting to 19 kts. The control tower said there was a trail of smoke behind the airplane; gave us the winds; and cleared us to land. The landing was uneventful though the landing roll was longer than normal due to the very strong; gusty tailwind. No damage to the airplane occurred other than the failed engine. There was no property damage and no injuries. We were able to roll out and clear the runway near the control tower without any power and the airport remained open.during the pre-takeoff run up; takeoff; and climb; the engine ran well and all engine indications were normal right up to the failure. The rotax engine had just had two new pistons installed and the engine ran fine during the mechanic's testing prior to the aircraft being returned to service.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Instructor pilot of a light sport aircraft reported an engine failure shortly after take followed by a successful return to the departure airport.

Narrative: During the takeoff climb; at about 800ft AGL; the engine began running very roughly and the cabin began to fill with smoke. The instructor (me) took over control of the aircraft; shut the engine down; and called the control tower to announce we would be making an urgent landing on runway XX. The controller acknowledged and asked if we needed emergency equipment. We declined. Given our proximity to the airport; our altitude; and a tail wind; it would be very easy to glide back to the runway with a 180 degree turn - in fact we had to use a forward slip to get rid of some excess altitude. Winds at the time were 310 at 9 kts gusting to 19 kts. The control tower said there was a trail of smoke behind the airplane; gave us the winds; and cleared us to land. The landing was uneventful though the landing roll was longer than normal due to the very strong; gusty tailwind. No damage to the airplane occurred other than the failed engine. There was no property damage and no injuries. We were able to roll out and clear the runway near the control tower without any power and the airport remained open.During the pre-takeoff run up; takeoff; and climb; the engine ran well and all engine indications were normal right up to the failure. The Rotax engine had just had two new pistons installed and the engine ran fine during the mechanic's testing prior to the aircraft being returned to service.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1538607
Time
Date	201804
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Sport Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Engine
Person 1
Function	Instructor
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 2990 Flight Crew Type 112
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor