1 Fatal ...r.a.h or r.a.p?

"Al" wrote in message
...
I was tempted once, but the temptation went away with the
altitude...quickly.

I lost an engine on a C210 at about 300 ft, on departure. The thing
quit
like someone had pulled the throttle, which turned out to be very close to
reality. In the shock of the moment, I thought about trying a turn, but
decided to plant it off the end of my departure runway(I was 3000' down a
4000' runway), instead. The clearway at the end was level and had no large
trees. I had already cleaned up the departure flaps, was climbing at
80kts,
and the gear doors were just closing when the thing quit. I immediately
selected the gear back down, and was flat amazed at the sink rate that
developed, no power, windmilling, with the gear in transit. At about 20',
still over the runway, I had to hold it off using flaps, to wait for the
gear to finish extending. The main gear came over center in the saddles,
just as I ran out of elevator, we touched down on the mains, and had to
hold
the nose gear off long enough for it to extend. I slid onto the numbers at
the far end with the gear pump still running to close the doors, and got
it
stopped. The engine lit off, and we taxied back to the tiedown, and
deplaned.
It turns out that this aircraft had recently come out of 100hr., and
for
some reason they had the Airquipt(sp?) hose that runs from the air cleaner
to the turbo-charger off. When the mechanic put it back on, he didn't know
what to do with the ends of the metal wire that winds around the inside of
the hose. He bent each wire end into a little "U" shape, and hooked them
together in the middle of the hose. (They should have been placed under
the
hose clamp at each end) A couple of hours later, with vibration, the glue
holding the wire failed, and hooked in the middle the wire collapsed like
a
slinky, allowing the hose to collapse, shutting off all air to the turbo.
What really amazed me was how fast the altitude and airspeed went
away.
When the thing first quit, I would have sworn I could not get down to my
departure runway before going off the end. I was wrong. Wrong by over a
thousand feet.

Al CFIAMI


I never tried it "for real", but had the experience on one "simulation"
about 25 years ago.

I was a student pilot in a Cessna 150M, with an instructor. And, I suppose
that I had always been visibly nervous regarding the "what if the engine
quits" scenario.

In any case, we took off into a head wind of around 12 knots (on the ground)
from a 3000 foot paved runway on a little "training only" airport. The
instructor said to climb until I believed that I could make it back to land
on the reciprocal, then pull the power and try it. I really doubt that such
a demonstration was approved, much less encouraged, even then; and it may
have been my first attempt at a down wind landing as well!

In any event, we climbed to a little more than 350 feet before I pulled the
power to idle; and promptly began my turn back tothe runway. As I
mentioned, I had heard all of those horror stories about how it was suicidal
to attempt a turn greater than 90 degrees; and this required a turn or at
least 225 degrees, a short straight glide, and then about 45 degrees back
the other way--all before the final glide, flap extension, and flare. I did
not simulate the customary 4 seconds of disbelief, nor did I simulate a
reasonable period of indicision regarding what to do next--to turn or not to
turn was never the question--I just applied the carburetor heat, pushed the
nose over, and cranked it into the turn ... and the limitations of my chosen
procedure only gradually became apparent.

Now, I should mention that I am not really a fan of high winged aircraft. I
admit that they have their practical side--lighter structure for a given
strength, ease of undercarriage inspection, and the wing is well clear of
most of the "stuff" on an narrow and unimproved runway. Still, as I said, I
am not a fan. A wing is really a think that one should sit upon; it is not
a thing that one should attempt to look through.

So, I continued around the turn, still at a safe altitude and with the
engine idling smoothly, and the runway eventually came into view. And I
continued around, still at a safe, and saw that I was really not far from
the runway at all. Therefore, I continued the turn to about the 270 degree
point before making a roll reversal--and finally getting the flaps down. By
then, I was just about over the runway and diving with full flaps. It then
became intuitively obvious, to even the most casual observer, that I was
much too high.

As to the outcome? We flew away without lnading.

One of these days I still plan to get back to flying, and to make the
transition from former student to current pilot. Until then, there are
memories of a time when flying was more innocent, a little crazier, and a
lot more fun!

Peter