My first in-flight mechanical failure

Ron Rosenfeld wrote:

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 19:06:47 -0400, Peter R.
wrote:

ATC answered, "Thank you and if there is anything you need, please
ask." Knowing what she was implying, I kept the "Declare Emergency"
call on my mind and ready to use had the engine began to run rough.

Peter,

You handled the problem well and I enjoyed reading about your thought
process. They were clear and logical, and the TAT teachings obviously
helped.

However, I think all too often we GA pilots are reluctant to declare an
emergency. And I know I would have in the situation you were in.

Although you were not in a DISTRESS situation, as defined by the AIM, you
were clearly in an URGENCY situation. And BOTH are reasons for declaring
an emergency.

Was this a candidate for a "pan pan" call rather than "mayday"?
--
Alex
Make the obvious change in the return address to reply by email.

An open mag capacitor would make the spark very weak, and starting
would probably be impossible on such a mag. However, at higher RPMs
there might be enough spark to make the engine run. It'd raise hell
with the points in short order though.

I'm always surprised that there isn't more emphasis on what to expect
when doing a mag check at different speeds - like at idle which will
show bad points or that bad condenser. At cruise you could find a bad
coil or a harness problem - but you better do that near an airport
just in case. I wouldn't ever do a mag check at full power except on
the ground.

There are some recent ADs involving mag capacitors.

George,
Came standard on the M-7-235 with the IO-540.
Michelle

G.R. Patterson III wrote:

Michelle P wrote:


If you have a Constant Speed prop you will not see the RPM drop as long
as you are within the authority of the governor.



Well, when I bought my Maule, I couldn't scrape up the extra $15k for the version
with the CS prop. :-)

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.



--

Michelle P ATP-ASEL, CP-AMEL, and AMT-A&P

"Elisabeth" a Maule M-7-235B (no two are alike)

Volunteer Pilot, Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic

Volunteer Builder, Habitat for Humanity

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:08:38 GMT, alexy wrote:

Was this a candidate for a "pan pan" call rather than "mayday"?

Well, yes. But I would just say I'm having a problem and declaring an
emergency. Nothing wrong with the Pan call.


Ron (EPM) (N5843Q, Mooney M20E) (CP, ASEL, ASES, IA)

Was this a candidate for a "pan pan" call rather than "mayday"?

I've always thought "pan pan pan" to be silly. If you are in a full fledged
emergency, you (may) need immediate help on the radio, and "mayday" tells
everyone to shut up for a moment. If it doesn't warrant "mayday", then it
probably can be handled (on the radio) without a prefix - that is, a statement
(when the freq is clear) that one needs priority handling should be enough.

If the freq is busy, even a mayday may not get through.

Has anybody found "pan pan pan" useful as a prefix to radio communication?

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

"Teacherjh" wrote in message
...
Was this a candidate for a "pan pan" call rather than "mayday"?

I've always thought "pan pan pan" to be silly. If you are in a full
fledged
emergency, you (may) need immediate help on the radio, and "mayday" tells
everyone to shut up for a moment. If it doesn't warrant "mayday", then it
probably can be handled (on the radio) without a prefix - that is, a
statement
(when the freq is clear) that one needs priority handling should be
enough.
:
Has anybody found "pan pan pan" useful as a prefix to radio communication?

Well, I'd say that a "pan" call tells them you need priority handling
without
everyone else having to shut up.

:-)

Paul

Well, I'd say that a "pan" call tells them you need priority handling
without everyone else having to shut up.


Well, so does a simple request in English to that effect.

Jose



--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message In addition to the "burp", you should
also note increased fuel flow or
higher EGT/TIT temperatures (depending on whether you readjust the mixture
to compensate for the less-complete combustion). Nothing wrong with
checking the mags after landing, of course, but I've never heard of a mag
failing in flight where there was NO actual indication that it had failed.

There were no other indications. Many magneto installations can be tuned so
that there is no perceptible rpm drop during a mag check. At 8500 feet with
normally aspirated engines and with the original EGT probes and gauges in a
heavily used charter airplane, it is possible that there won't be
perceptible differences after a mag failure.

Just wondering, what do you think will be the oil temperature indications of
an engine losing oil? What about cylinder head temps? I know the book
answers and I know the real world answers.

D.

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 02:43:30 GMT, "Capt.Doug"
wrote:

Just wondering, what do you think will be the oil temperature indications of
an engine losing oil? What about cylinder head temps? I know the book
answers and I know the real world answers.


Care to expand on this? My answers would be oil temp going up for a
couple miutes and then going down when there isn't enough oil to be
sensed left in the engine. Cylinder head temps would go up.

I've never read about this in a book and woiuld like to understand
what to expect should it happen.

Thanks in advance if you chose to reply
z

"zatatime" wrote in message My answers would be oil temp going up for a
couple miutes and then going down when there isn't enough oil to be
sensed left in the engine. Cylinder head temps would go up.

You're on the right track. In 4 oil loss situations that I've experienced,
the oil dumped out over a period of time, not instantaneously. The CHTs may
have risen slightly, and a good gauge should have shown the slight rise, but
the ancient OEM gauges in front of me didn't show it. The oil pressure
dropped off slowly. Most oil lines to the pressure gauge have a small
orifice that restricts oil flow in case the line breaks. I theorize that the
orifice damps out the fluctuations of the pressure changes as air bubbles
make their way through the oil passages. The oil temperature never did rise.
It dropped slowly. I theorize the temperature sensor releases some of the
heat it receives from the oil into the air bubbles passing over it thus
showing a cooler temperature. On the Continental TSIO-520 series, the first
indication of low oil shows up as fluctuating manifold pressure. Air bubbles
passing through the waste-gate controller cause this. On some engines, the
propeller RPMs will indicate low oil before the gauges do as air bubbles
passing through the prop governor cause the RPMs to fluctuate. I just
remembered a fifth time. The engine was a Garrett turboprop. The first
indication was oil pressure. The temp was normal. I was on short final and
simply feathered the engine.

D.