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.