Engine failure

Peter R. wrote:

My fuel-injected, turbo-normalized Bonanza had a newly rebuilt engine
installed last February. Upon completion of the work, I took the aircraft
up for the proper first flight break-in. When I landed, the engine quit
just as I touched down (low idle) on the runway.

I was able to restart and taxied back to talk to the mechanic. He adjusted
the low-idle mixture so I took the aircraft up for the second flight
break-in. Again, upon landing the engine quit.

Suspecting something else now, the mechanic ran the aircraft on the ground
and was able to duplicate the problem. He then suspected the fuel pump so
he took it off and sent it back to the company who supplied it to the
engine rebuilder for inspection. The fuel pump inspectors discovered metal
shavings inside the fuel pump that were cutting off fuel flow at low idle.
That opened up an entire finger pointing session. Nice...

The source of the shavings was never identified but it was concluded that
somehow they were introduced when the engine was on the test cell.

I had a similar situation with a carburetor on the club's Archer. It
had been at the maintenance shop for some carb work. After ground
testing and a short flight around the patch, everything seemed be
working fine. So I took off and flew home. On final my descent rate
was a little fast, so I went to tweak the throttle and nothing happened.
Since I was less than a half a mile from the threshold with plenty of
altitude, it was no big deal to dead stick it in. I actually had enough
speed left on landing that had I been going the other way I probably
could have made it off the runway. (The runway at our airport has a
slight grade and I was landing uphill.) Instead I rolled to a stop
almost exactly mid-way down the runway and had to call for a tow because
the engine wouldn't restart.

It was discovered afterward that the shop that had worked on the carb
had gotten a washer stuck between the top half and bottom half of the
carb that prevented the float from properly shutting off the fuel flow.
The result was a flooded engine on final.


-m
--
## Mark T. Dame
## VP, Product Development
## MFM Software, Inc. (http://www.mfm.com/)
"And so it was only with the advent of pocket computers that the
startling truth became finally apparent, and it was this:

Numbers written on restaurant checks within the confines of
restaurants do not follow the same mathematical laws as numbers
written on any other pieces of paper in any other parts of the
Universe."
-- Life, the Universe, and Everything, Douglas Adams

Here it is: a graph I was hoping to find on the 'net that shows the
temperature ranges and dewpoint/humidites at which icing can occur.
Note that the range extends from well below freezing to over 100
degrees F. This graph will apply to avgas; mogas has a higher
volatility (evaporation rate) and can cause icing outside these
parameters.

http://www.wsaa.net/icing.htm

Icing can also occur in very cold temps if carb heat IS used: ice
crystals in the air can melt as the incoming air is heated, collect on
the throttle plate and other parts, and freeze due to the pressure drop
and evaporative cooling.

Dan

An A&P and/or IA made a mistake working on a engine? To hear them tell, they
are the "experts" and you should never work on your own plane nor should you
be anywhere within 100 miles of the shop when they work on them.

Tom

"Mark T. Dame" wrote in message
...
Peter R. wrote:

My fuel-injected, turbo-normalized Bonanza had a newly rebuilt engine
installed last February. Upon completion of the work, I took the
aircraft
up for the proper first flight break-in. When I landed, the engine quit
just as I touched down (low idle) on the runway. I was able to restart
and taxied back to talk to the mechanic. He adjusted
the low-idle mixture so I took the aircraft up for the second flight
break-in. Again, upon landing the engine quit.

Suspecting something else now, the mechanic ran the aircraft on the
ground
and was able to duplicate the problem. He then suspected the fuel pump
so
he took it off and sent it back to the company who supplied it to the
engine rebuilder for inspection. The fuel pump inspectors discovered
metal
shavings inside the fuel pump that were cutting off fuel flow at low
idle.
That opened up an entire finger pointing session. Nice...

The source of the shavings was never identified but it was concluded that
somehow they were introduced when the engine was on the test cell.

I had a similar situation with a carburetor on the club's Archer. It had
been at the maintenance shop for some carb work. After ground testing and
a short flight around the patch, everything seemed be working fine. So I
took off and flew home. On final my descent rate was a little fast, so I
went to tweak the throttle and nothing happened. Since I was less than a
half a mile from the threshold with plenty of altitude, it was no big deal
to dead stick it in. I actually had enough speed left on landing that had
I been going the other way I probably could have made it off the runway.
(The runway at our airport has a slight grade and I was landing uphill.)
Instead I rolled to a stop almost exactly mid-way down the runway and had
to call for a tow because the engine wouldn't restart.

It was discovered afterward that the shop that had worked on the carb had
gotten a washer stuck between the top half and bottom half of the carb
that prevented the float from properly shutting off the fuel flow. The
result was a flooded engine on final.


-m
--
## Mark T. Dame
## VP, Product Development
## MFM Software, Inc. (http://www.mfm.com/)
"And so it was only with the advent of pocket computers that the
startling truth became finally apparent, and it was this:

Numbers written on restaurant checks within the confines of
restaurants do not follow the same mathematical laws as numbers
written on any other pieces of paper in any other parts of the
Universe."
-- Life, the Universe, and Everything, Douglas Adams

"Tom" wrote in message
...
An A&P and/or IA made a mistake working on a engine? To hear them tell,
they are the "experts" and you should never work on your own plane nor
should you be anywhere within 100 miles of the shop when they work on
them.


AMEs think anything accessible to a pilot is controlled by an idiot.
Pilots think that AMEs are trying to kill them.
A schizophrenic is a pilot who is also an AME

Happy landings,

Sigh.

Jim
Comm'l. Inst. CFI Airplane & Glider
A&P IA

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I'm schizophrenic
And so am I.



"Private" wrote in message
news:40R8f.336700$oW2.18373@pd7tw1no...

AMEs think anything accessible to a pilot is controlled by an idiot.
Pilots think that AMEs are trying to kill them.
A schizophrenic is a pilot who is also an AME

cheers, ROTFL

"RST Engineering" wrote in message
...
Sigh.

Jim
Comm'l. Inst. CFI Airplane & Glider
A&P IA

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I'm schizophrenic
And so am I.



"Private" wrote in message
news:40R8f.336700$oW2.18373@pd7tw1no...

AMEs think anything accessible to a pilot is controlled by an idiot.
Pilots think that AMEs are trying to kill them.
A schizophrenic is a pilot who is also an AME