Florida in 6.3 hours!

Welcome back to March snowstorm land.

I must admit that we watched with glee as Minnesota and Northern Iowa were
crushed by a late-winter snow storm. I'm now convinced that Florida TV
stations make their living by showing endless footage of northerners
suffering in the cold, as this seemed to make up the lion's share of the
news while we were there.

Is there a different power setting technique you could use when forced to
drink that stuff? Would it matter? If it's worked in the past, what do you
think was different this time?

Yeah, with our engine you have to lean severely on the ground to make 100 LL
work, which we *thought* we were doing. Unfortunately we were trying to
depart on Friday while President Bush was in Orlando, which meant that in
Titusville (where we spent most of the week) we were 2 miles inside the
30-mile TFR. Thus, in order to depart we had to be under a VFR flight
plan, which somehow got "lost" in the system, which meant a long period of
"idling" while we waited for them to sort out the mess.

After 15 minutes running at the departure end of the runway, we were finally
assigned a squawk code, and cleared to depart. At about 500 feet the engine
started running roughly, and my JPI monitor showed #2 cylinder off the
bottom of the scale. I announced that I had to return to land, at which
point the controller asked if I wanted to declare an emergency. I told him
no, that I just needed to land because of a rough engine, and he cleared me
to land on any runway.

The landing was uneventful, but I couldn't get the engine to run right, no
matter how lean we ran it up. Eventually I found an A&P at the helicopter
place on the field (the largest helicopter school in the world, BTW. I've
never seen so many choppers in one place!) to help me, and he lent me the
tools to pull the plugs. Little BB's of lead fell out of a couple of them
as I pulled them, and after cleaning they all tested okay.

We re-installed them, and all was well the rest of the flight home -- but it
was certainly unnerving, not knowing if it would happen again.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote:
Little BB's of lead fell out of a couple of them as I pulled them, and
after cleaning they all tested okay.

My Lyc's plugs used to do that until I switched to hotter plugs. Also,
for taxi the mixture must be leaned almost to the point that the rpm
drops and taxiing must be done at no less than 1,000 rpm. All three of
these precautions are according to Lycoming's plug fouling bulletin. In
addition, before shutdown the engine should be run lean for 15-20
seconds at 1,800 rpm.

That gd LL is a mortal pain. Unfortunately, my O-360 is
high-compression; there's no STC for mogas.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

On 2005-03-21, Dan Luke wrote:
My Lyc's plugs used to do that until I switched to hotter plugs. Also,
for taxi the mixture must be leaned almost to the point that the rpm
drops and taxiing must be done at no less than 1,000 rpm.

I don't even push the mixture all the way in on start anymore. I have
an IO540 so the start happens with the throttle cracked and the mixture
full lean. I just push it in about an inch with my thumb when the
engine starts to catch.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

"Jay Honeck" writes:

After 15 minutes running at the departure end of the runway, we were finally
assigned a squawk code, and cleared to depart. At about 500 feet the engine
started running roughly, and my JPI monitor showed #2 cylinder off the
bottom of the scale. I announced that I had to return to land, at which
point the controller asked if I wanted to declare an emergency. I told him
no, that I just needed to land because of a rough engine, and he cleared me
to land on any runway.

The landing was uneventful

Yeah...but was it a greaser or did this break your streak, Jay? :-)

Dan.

The landing was uneventful

Yeah...but was it a greaser or did this break your streak, Jay? :-)

Actually, it was pretty good. I had departed to the north, and then --
after being cleared to land on any runway -- I tried to swing it straight
around for Rwy 09, entering from the base leg.

This proved impossible, as in my haste to get back on the ground I had
turned in extremely tightly, which turned out to be too tight for a safe
landing on 09. So I just kept it coming around into a downwind for 36, and
landed without difficulty.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"