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Engine failures and other nasty stuff.

 
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Float Flyr



Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 2704
Location: Campbellton, Newfoundland

PostPosted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 12:13 pm    Post subject: Engine failures and other nasty stuff. Reply with quote

Lowell this is a good topic for a fresh topic so here goes...

I know of several engine outs, both in amateur built and certified aircraft. That comes with being a Canadian AME (intern)

Most of them are problems of fuel... not having enough gas. A few were not recognizing carb ice and a couple were mechanical in nature. One prop departure I heard of landed safely and one cylinder blown.... Actually the one with the blown jug could have made it back to the airport but it meant flying over a town and there was a nice bare vacant highway just under him. BTW that was on a C-$1.52.

I’ve seen several occasions where a plane landed that could not take off again...
My ‘Fox had a perforated gas pump diaphragm and flooded my base but the engine continued to run... That could have easily led to a fire as when I stopped the engine gas poured out the carbs! (582) On climb out I started having trouble when I reduced the throttle so I immediately returned to the pond I had left ten minutes earlier. The problem worsened as I approached the hills surrounding the pond and I ended up landing with full power on, to the flare. I was able to keep the engine running almost to the beach from there I got out and pulled the plane back to where I had the trailer.
On another occasion a guy brought his C177 to our AMO (Authorized Maintenance Organization) for its annual... I found a birds nest built around the mixer for the stabilator, and the alternator belt stretched to the breaking point. The guy said the plane wasn’t charging. The boss found the plane was out of time on the last inspection but the fellow decided to fly it home (2 hr flight) recharge the batteries and fly back the following week. The part I didn’t like was he had his three young children with him. Sometimes you have to strain to keep your mouth shut!

When I took my flying lessons I would find a snag with the plane just about every flight if I was first to the plane in the morning. Most were easily cleared but at least twice I decided it was not worth flying until the snag was fixed. The other students liked when I did the first pre-flight for the day because I picked up things they missed... The owner of the flight school once threatened his maintenance staff to let me pull the floor inspection plates. Truth was the maintenance crowd there did an excellent job and would have done better if any snags had been reported directly to them instead of the instructors.

Noel



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