Kev wrote:

Even though you couldn't see behind you (?), you almost immediately
figured it was the propeller. I'm not sure many people would think of
that right away. Had you previously thought of that situation, or was
just the smoothness... and could you hear the engine still? (I'm not
sure I'd trust the gauges if they said my engine was running but I had
no thrust ;-)

I could hear the engine, and could hear the difference as I changed
throttle settings and watched the RPM change on the tachometer. The
only thing that I could imagine that would make the engine SMOOTHER
while still running was if the prop disappeared. I don't believe that
I had ever contemplated this particular situation - the whole prop
departing. I've heard stories of prop BLADES departing (wood props,
mostly), and know that the vibration is horrendous and that shutting
down the engine as quickly as possible before it tears itself off the
firewall is paramount. So I have always thought that if vibration was
severe, shutting off the engine was task #1. But this vibration was
nowhere near this level - this was more along the lines of one spark
plug not firing, or a bit worse than that, but the whole plane was NOT
shaking.

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2006