A little engine trouble

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...
Any idea of what your passengers were doing at the time. In my airplane
(an
RV-6) there is a noticable change in the tone and volume of cockpit noise
(and vibration) either the pilot or passenger shifts his/her feet on the
floor.

No, no idea. But I've never experienced anything like that before, and I
have often flown with passengers over the years.

The one "passenger-induced emergency" in my airplane I'm aware of is that
the front seat passenger can actually push on the yoke lever with their
feet. Oddly enough, the one passenger to show this to me (unintentionally,
of course) was the same one that a few years earlier kept messing with my
elevator trim on a nighttime flight, by repeatedly alternating the position
of his seat back (it was a clear night, he was in the back seat in a 182RG,
and he kept lowering the seat back so that he could look at the stars, and
then raising it again to look out the side and front).

One other thing to consider is a stuck valve. Your description sounds
similar to my understanding of the symptoms of a stuck valve.

Unfortunately, that's the best conclusion I've been able to come to as well.
I've never experienced a stuck valve with this engine, so I don't know what
sort of power loss to expect. I'd *think* it'd be more significant than
what I noticed, but I don't really know.

The engine just got all new exhaust valves and guides a few years ago, so if
it's an exhaust valve problem, I'll be sorely disappointed. I suppose it
could be an intake valve problem, even though they don't get the kind of
wear and tear the exhaust valves do.

Pete

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...

much snipped

The one "passenger-induced emergency" in my airplane I'm aware of is that
the front seat passenger can actually push on the yoke lever with their
feet. Oddly enough, the one passenger to show this to me
(unintentionally,
of course) was the same one that a few years earlier kept messing with my
elevator trim on a nighttime flight, by repeatedly alternating the
position
of his seat back (it was a clear night, he was in the back seat in a
182RG,
and he kept lowering the seat back so that he could look at the stars, and
then raising it again to look out the side and front).

Pete

Hijacking the thread here, but...

We had a fatal accident in an Ercoupe in the local area last year that
possibly/probably involved accidental control manipulation by the passenger.
Apparently, the aircraft ran out of fuel and the pilot had lined up for a
landing in a field. Most likely survivable, possibly even a field he could
have flown out of after adding fuel. However, the airplane went in almost
vertical at the "approach end" of the field. Speculation is/was that the
passenger used his feet to brace himself for the off-field landing and
unknowingly used the elevator control linkages in the footwell as a place to
brace. The harder he braced, the more the airplane pitched nose down...
Right into the ground. Two fatalities in an accident that shouldn't have
even resulted in injuries.

KB

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 16:39:51 -0700, "Peter Duniho"
wrote in Message-Id:
:

I've never experienced a stuck valve with this engine, so I don't know what
sort of power loss to expect.

It's not only a specific engine that characterizes the nature of a
stuck valve. The magnitude of the effect of a stuck valve can vary
depending the position in which the valve sticks. If it sticks wide
open, it could contact the piston possibly with catastrophic results.
If it just sticks open a smidgen occasionally, it would obviously be
less severe.


--

Irrational beliefs ultimately lead to irrational acts.
-- Larry Dighera,