Failure #10

I was heading down island on Easter Sunday to do a little bone fishing,
cruising at 11,500' in a Navajo Chieftain with a 20 knot tailwind, just me
and some calypso music on the AM radio (ADF for you student pilots). The
autopilot was doing a fine job. Then the right engine hiccupped. It was a
small hiccup and the gauges were normal. Last time an engine did that, one
of the magnetoes had crapped out. I usually do a quick mag check while
taxiing in so any problems can be fixed that night instead of delaying the
next day's dispatch. I went back into that relaxing peaceful state of mind
that flying invokes on us.

Two minutes later, flying invoked that other feeling we love about aviation-
Adrenelin. The plane yawed a little as the manifold pressure dropped to
ambient. I looked out at the engine and oil was streaming down the cowling.
Through the cooling grill, I saw flames in the turbo-charger area. The
engine started windmilling. I reached for the fire-wall shut-off and pulled
it. I pulled the prop lever to feather the prop. I turned around and headed
home knowing that my chance for a day of fishing wasn't meant to be.

The airplane performed well on one engine, partly because it was 1400 pounds
under MGTOW of 7368. The vortex generators may have been helping. The
initial sink rate was 400 fpm until the prop was feathered. Then it was less
than 100 fpm. I trimmed it out for blue-line speed and turned the auto-pilot
back on. It leveled out around 8000' MSL. The tailwind was now a headwind.
It took 40 minutes to reach a suitable airport, but the plane made it
without further complaint. The hydraulic system hadn't been breached and the
landing gear extended normally. The landing was routine. The Navajo's nose
wheel steering is linked direct to the rudder petals which allowed me to
taxi to a tie-down.

The engines were 4 hours over TBO which I view as simple irony. The
mechanics haven't broken the engine down yet, but 3 of 6 cylinders have
10/80 compression. There is metal in the oil filter. Some of the magneto
wires are lightly burned. However, the engines were scheduled for over-haul
anyway.
Now if I could only schedule some more time for fishing.

D.

Now if I could only schedule some more time for fishing.

Glad we're hearing from you, not about you. Nice work!

Two minutes later, flying invoked that other feeling we love about
aviation-
Adrenelin.

Wow -- heckuva story.

And this has happened NINE previous times to you?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

If you were a plane, would you fly when someone is playing calypso
music?
If the only way to turn it off is to shut an engine down, wouldn't you
do exactly that?
Come on - next time play Dylan, Stones, Even Paula Abdul at a pinch -
but Calypso?
Come on - we're pilots!

All that aside - great job

Tony
C-GICE


In article
,
"Capt.Doug" wrote:

I was heading down island on Easter Sunday to do a little bone fishing,
cruising at 11,500' in a Navajo Chieftain with a 20 knot tailwind, just me
and some calypso music on the AM radio (ADF for you student pilots). The
autopilot was doing a fine job. Then the right engine hiccupped. It was a
small hiccup and the gauges were normal. Last time an engine did that, one
of the magnetoes had crapped out. I usually do a quick mag check while
taxiing in so any problems can be fixed that night instead of delaying the
next day's dispatch. I went back into that relaxing peaceful state of mind
that flying invokes on us.

Two minutes later, flying invoked that other feeling we love about aviation-
Adrenelin. The plane yawed a little as the manifold pressure dropped to
ambient. I looked out at the engine and oil was streaming down the cowling.
Through the cooling grill, I saw flames in the turbo-charger area. The
engine started windmilling. I reached for the fire-wall shut-off and pulled
it. I pulled the prop lever to feather the prop. I turned around and headed
home knowing that my chance for a day of fishing wasn't meant to be.

The airplane performed well on one engine, partly because it was 1400 pounds
under MGTOW of 7368. The vortex generators may have been helping. The
initial sink rate was 400 fpm until the prop was feathered. Then it was less
than 100 fpm. I trimmed it out for blue-line speed and turned the auto-pilot
back on. It leveled out around 8000' MSL. The tailwind was now a headwind.
It took 40 minutes to reach a suitable airport, but the plane made it
without further complaint. The hydraulic system hadn't been breached and the
landing gear extended normally. The landing was routine. The Navajo's nose
wheel steering is linked direct to the rudder petals which allowed me to
taxi to a tie-down.

The engines were 4 hours over TBO which I view as simple irony. The
mechanics haven't broken the engine down yet, but 3 of 6 cylinders have
10/80 compression. There is metal in the oil filter. Some of the magneto
wires are lightly burned. However, the engines were scheduled for over-haul
anyway.
Now if I could only schedule some more time for fishing.

D.




--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

Nice job staying on top of the food chain where you belong.

Of course, now we need a list of the other nine...
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

"Capt.Doug" wrote in message
...

{interesting story snipped...read it anyway]

The engines were 4 hours over TBO which I view as simple irony. The
mechanics haven't broken the engine down yet, but 3 of 6 cylinders have
10/80 compression. There is metal in the oil filter. Some of the magneto
wires are lightly burned. However, the engines were scheduled for
over-haul
anyway.

Oh, that old TBO myth!! :~) http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/187037-1.html

"tony roberts" wrote in message Come on - next time play Dylan, Stones,
Even Paula Abdul at a pinch - but Calypso?

Disparage our music if you must, but we will still welcome you when you want
to thaw out. :-)

D. (slept on the beach last night- jazz played from the speakers in the palm
trees)

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message And this has happened NINE previous times
to you?

Yes, but 3 times were for a recurring problem that took us and the
manufacturer 6 months to solve and led to an emergency AD. Three failures
were with freshly over-hauled engines. One failure was because of a breached
fuel bladder. All 10 failures were on multi-engine aircraft and all 10
landed at airports without further incident. Also keep in mind that some of
my flying assignments are for highly experienced persons only.

The key is training. Prior to my charter pilots taking their 135 checkrides,
they have to endure 2 hours of me throwing simulated engine failures at
them. They are sweating, their knuckles are white, and their knees are
shaking, but they can safely handle an engine failure when it's over. Common
mistakes I see during this these training sessions are failure to be
aggressive with the rudder, failure to maintain blue-line airspeed, and
attempts to perform single-engine go-arounds. Many of these pilots were
CFI-MEIs before they came to me, so I'm lead to believe that many of their
students are not thoroughly prepared for an actual engine failure.

D.