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A little engine trouble
I hesitated to even bother writing about this, since so far it seems like
pretty much a non-event. But then I figured, what the heck...hardly anyone ever actually writes about actual flying, however mundane, in this newsgroup, so here you go... The plan was for me to follow a friend down to his mechanic's shop at Tacoma Narrows (TIW) airport in Washington State. We're both based at Paine Field (PAE) in Everett, WA, and in fact he ties his airplane down just outside my hangar. We often trade rides, since neither of us have our airplanes maintained at Paine Field. The flight down was uneventful. He flew down in his airplane, while his wife and I flew down in mine. We got to TIW, picked him up, and headed back out. Cleared for a northbound, left downwind departure from runway 17, we took off. Well, we'd only climbed a few hundred feet when something in the airplane started making a very strange noise. My friend's wife heard it too. It was sort of a rapid "growling" sound, lasting a second or two at a time, with maybe five or ten seconds between. It seemed most likely to be coming from the engine, but it was subtle enough I couldn't rule out some sort of airframe flutter. It might have been my imagination, but it seemed like whenever I heard the sound, there was a little deceleration from the airplane. I've owned the airplane ten years now, and have never heard anything like that out of it. That was enough for me, having read plenty of the "I Learned About Flying From That" stories in which a pilot ignored a seemingly minor symptom that quickly turned into something major. So I got a landing clearance back at TIW, continuing to climb until I was in a position to make a normal power-off landing, and then of course landed. Once the power was pulled back, I did not notice the sound again. The whole situation is very inconvenient. My airplane is now sitting at my friend's mechanic's shop, where his airplane *should* be sitting (waiting for its annual inspection). I spent half the day driving back and forth, so that we could leave his plane there as well (he flew us back to Paine, where I picked up my car and drove back down to get him). And his airplane is tied down in transient parking at TIW, because there wasn't a spare spot for my airplane so I took his (we actually had expected a spot to clear before he got back, but it didn't). But somehow, it still seems like the right thing to have done. I haven't had a chance to get any mechanic (mine or my friend's) to take a look at the airplane yet. Even though this year's annual was surprisingly expensive (and that's among some years of some pretty surprisingly expensive annuals), I secretly hope that something serious is found wrong with the airplane so as to justify my aborting the flight. But even if the source of the noise turns out to be something entirely benign, I'm still comfortable in my decision, and would do it exactly the same again. Bottom line: another word for "inconvenience" is "adventure". And that's a much more desirable kind of adventure than the other synonym for the word, "engine failure". More importantly, I always wondered if I would have the courage to ignore my desire to get back home and abort a flight when things didn't seem right. Now I know that I would, and did. Funny thing though: I've now been stranded three times with this plane over the years (the other two times were both engine starting problems: once a dead battery, another time a problem with the "shower-of-sparks" ignition system). Two of those three times happened at TIW, and it's not like I actually fly there all *that* often. Spooky... Pete p.s. I couldn't help think about how this situation would have affected a renter. From past threads here, it's clear that depending on the FBO, I could either have gotten the four-star treatment, with an FBO pilot coming to get me, or I could have gotten the shaft, being required not only to find my own transportation back home, but being required to recover the airplane once it had finally been repaired. I find it odd that the latter sort of FBO manages to stay in business. |
#2
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"Peter Duniho" wrote: Well, we'd only climbed a few hundred feet when something in the airplane started making a very strange noise. Sorry, Pete; you fly a ...? It might have been my imagination, but it seemed like whenever I heard the sound, there was a little deceleration from the airplane. Did you happen to look at the tach or MAP during any of these events? But somehow, it still seems like the right thing to have done. No question. But even if the source of the noise turns out to be something entirely benign, Here's hoping it's not one of those intermittent, "mystery" problems and your mechanic spots it right away. Keep us posted. -- Dan C172RG at BFM |
#3
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I was out flying the CAP's 172 yesterday when I noticed the same thing. A
growling sound. I determined that it was the soda can air vents getting hit by the prop wash, or rather, the openings being hit and the cans amplifying the sound. What were you flying and could it have been the same thing? mike regish "Peter Duniho" wrote in message ... I hesitated to even bother writing about this, since so far it seems like pretty much a non-event. But then I figured, what the heck...hardly anyone ever actually writes about actual flying, however mundane, in this newsgroup, so here you go... |
#4
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"Dan Luke" wrote in message
... Sorry, Pete; you fly a ...? Lake Renegade (turbocharged model). Did you happen to look at the tach or MAP during any of these events? No. Of course, in hindsight that might have provided useful information. But even when the takeoff is going smoothly, I'm a "eyes outside" kind of person (once the proper reading of the gauges has been confirmed during the takeoff roll, of course). In this particular situation, my mind was focused on where on the water would be acceptable for a landing (though, frankly, the Tacoma Narrows are not generally amenable to seaplane landings in any case, due to strong currents through there), and on a possible landing back at TIW. Maybe I could have had my front-seat passenger watch the gauges, to try to correlate them with the noise. But I personally didn't have the attention to spare. I would have either have had to keep my eyes on the engine gauges until the noise occurred, or I would have had to hope to be able to shift my attention quickly enough to evaluate the gauges in the short period during which the sound occurred. Neither would have been practical to do, IMHO. It's a pretty good argument for a data-recording engine monitor. I'll have to think about getting one of those. Pete |
#5
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"mike regish" wrote in message
news:QRXyc.95474$Ly.16002@attbi_s01... I was out flying the CAP's 172 yesterday when I noticed the same thing. A growling sound. I determined that it was the soda can air vents getting hit by the prop wash, or rather, the openings being hit and the cans amplifying the sound. What were you flying and could it have been the same thing? Nope...the Renegade doesn't have those kinds of vents, and of course the prop wash is entirely aft of cabin venting anyway. I'm not ready to rule out some sort of aerodynamic effect -- for one, during the annual inspection the fiberglass tips of the horizontal stabilizer were replaced -- but it sure didn't seem like one to me at the time. My instinct was that it was an engine issue. Also, with ten years of experience flying the airplane, if it IS an aerodynamic effect, it's almost certainly something new since the annual inspection. Obviously I can't say that I've seen every single thing the airplane could do, but I'll bet I've come pretty close over the years, especially in what are otherwise normal situations such as this one. Now that I think of it, another thing that's new is that I had them add a second comm antenna. The sound happened in a climbing left turn, so I suppose another possibility is some sort of vibration from the antenna. I'll have to check into that. I will, of course, post follow-ups to report what, if anything, I eventually learn. Pete |
#6
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"Peter Duniho" wrote in message ... Well, we'd only climbed a few hundred feet when something in the airplane started making a very strange noise. My friend's wife heard it too. It was sort of a rapid "growling" sound, lasting a second or two at a time, with maybe five or ten seconds between. It seemed most likely to be coming from the engine, but it was subtle enough I couldn't rule out some sort of airframe flutter. Might be the electric hydraulic pump. It will growl if it's flooded with hydraulic fluid. Have it checked anyway! Dudley Henriques International Fighter Pilots Fellowship Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired For personal email, please replace the z's with e's. dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt |
#7
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"Peter Duniho" wrote in message ... "Dan Luke" wrote in message ... Sorry, Pete; you fly a ...? Lake Renegade (turbocharged model). Now I'm envious Pete.... :-) Rest assured, it was a good call. As a student I aborted a takeoff due to a couple of bangs on rotation and nearly went into the grass. Turned out to be the pax seat belt hanging out the door. The only things damaged were my ego and my rearend from the chewing I got from my CFI. Hope you find the culprit and the fix isn't a bank breaker. Marty |
#8
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In article QRXyc.95474$Ly.16002@attbi_s01, mike regish wrote:
I was out flying the CAP's 172 yesterday when I noticed the same thing. A growling sound. I determined that it was the soda can air vents getting hit by the prop wash, or rather, the openings being hit and the cans amplifying the sound. Sometimes odd sounds turn out to be nothing to worry about. A week ago, I was flying my Ka-8 glider over Andreas village, which is not far from the airfield. I had just got off a winch launch, and was in about the first or second thermal, trying to get enough altitude to try and get out of the area. I then heard amongst the sound of the wind going past the canopy this "Bbbbrbrbrrrrrr brrrrrrrrrrr brrbrbrbrbrbrb" sound, which immediately made me think that it was airframe fabric vibrating in the wind. It went quiet for a bit. Then I heard it again. Getting a bit concerned that the glider might have hit something on the launch that had damaged the fabric, I was thinking of levelling out for a short while to make a decision. Then I realised what it was. It was the sound of motorcycles accelerating up the Sulby straight about three or four miles away...it's amazing how well sound travels when you're above what's making the sound. (The nice thing about the Ka-8 is that I can hear powered aircraft in the vicinity). -- Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net "Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee" |
#9
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As a student I aborted a takeoff due to a couple of bangs on rotation and
nearly went into the grass. Turned out to be the pax seat belt hanging out the door. The only things damaged were my ego and my rearend from the chewing I got from my CFI. Had something like that happen... my instructor forgot to tell me that 150's sometimes get a violent nosewheel shimmy during the takeoff roll... well, I found that out for myself on my first solo... pushed the power up, and a few seconds later the whole plane started shaking... aborted the takeoff thinking it was going to come apart on me. Course, he just tells me to keep the weight off the nose, so my three flights were done soft-field style with the nose up as soon as it would go. |
#10
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On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 00:04:25 -0700, "Peter Duniho"
wrote in Message-Id: : Well, we'd only climbed a few hundred feet when something in the airplane started making a very strange noise. My friend's wife heard it too. It was sort of a rapid "growling" sound, lasting a second or two at a time, with maybe five or ten seconds between. It seemed most likely to be coming from the engine, but it was subtle enough I couldn't rule out some sort of airframe flutter. From the description of the noise, it would be consistent with some sort of vibratory resonance. Having actually experienced it, can you rule that out? It might have been my imagination, but it seemed like whenever I heard the sound, there was a little deceleration from the airplane. As another has suggested, the tach/MP gage should help in diagnosing any loss of power associated with the noise. -- Irrational beliefs ultimately lead to irrational acts. -- Larry Dighera, |
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