Blue and white Comanche/Arrow departing Sunriver Sunday?

Hey, if you're the guy who took off on runway 18 in the light blue and
white Piper retractable at Sunriver, OR (S21) Sunday around noon, what
the hell was wrong with your engine? With the sputtering I half expected
not to see the plane pop up above the trees... And I was really surprised
you didn't come back around to land immediately!

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

Hey, if you're the guy who took off on runway 18 in the light blue and
white Piper retractable at Sunriver, OR (S21) Sunday around noon, what
the hell was wrong with your engine? With the sputtering I half expected
not to see the plane pop up above the trees... And I was really surprised
you didn't come back around to land immediately!

We had a similar experience at Sun N Fun while watching as a beautiful old
DC-3 / C-47, fresh out of the paint shop, departed on RWY 9R -- trailing
black smoke from her starboard engine.

They didn't seem to be climbing very well, and we expected to see them come
back to land immediately. They did not, and over the course of the day I
forgot about her .

We found the big Gooney bird back in its parking spot by supper time,
apparently none the worse for wear -- but I (and others around me) were very
concerned at the time. It seemed pretty obvious that they were having a
problem of some sort -- but they successfully ignored it.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

(Ben Jackson) wrote in message news:DYklc.13864$Ia6.1920928@attbi_s03...
Hey, if you're the guy who took off on runway 18 in the light blue and
white Piper retractable at Sunriver, OR (S21) Sunday around noon, what
the hell was wrong with your engine? With the sputtering I half expected
not to see the plane pop up above the trees... And I was really surprised
you didn't come back around to land immediately!

I'm amazed at what some people will do. A few weeks ago a Mooney
cranked up it's engine while I was doing some maint. work at my
tiedown. It sounded horrible. Missing and popping like a badly tuned
Model T. The guy taxied to the runup area and proceeded to run it up.
It sounded even worse, with some very loud backfiring. To my
amazement, the guy then takes the runway and starts his takeoff roll,
coughing and backfiring all the way down the runway. He cleared the
fence at the end of the 4,500 ft. runway by about 50 ft. and
disappeared off to the southwest.

About 5 min. later I hear a horrible noise in the pattern and see
the Mooney on a low downwind. He landed, taxied to transient parking
and stopped. His passenger got out, pulled a briefcase from the
baggage area and was literally running from the airplane toward the
parking lot. I figured the Mooney pilot would be staying for awhile.
Nope. While I was up in the pattern, I see him taxi to the runway
and take off. Last time I saw him he was headed north over a densely
populated metropolitan area at low altitude.

I didn't hear of any accident reports that Sunday, so I assume the
gods were smiling on this particular pilot that day.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

Jay Honeck wrote:

We had a similar experience at Sun N Fun while watching as a beautiful old
DC-3 / C-47, fresh out of the paint shop, departed on RWY 9R -- trailing
black smoke from her starboard engine.

I saw something similar at Osh a few years back. This one was an immaculate Howard.
They started the engines and did a mag test. The right engine was obviously running
on one mag - the pilot ran the test several times, and the engine would die, only to
come back to life with a loud bang when he cut the working mag back on. Took him a
while to make his decision, but, after a few minutes, he waddled over to the runway
and took off to the west.

George Patterson
If you don't tell lies, you never have to remember what you said.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:TStlc.21896

... It seemed pretty obvious that they were having a
problem of some sort -- but they successfully ignored it.

Or fixed it in-flight. There're lots of things that can make a big ol'
radial smoke. :-)

John Gaquin wrote:

Or fixed it in-flight. There're lots of things that can make a big ol'
radial smoke. :-)

Yeah. Like having oil in it. I would worry more about the *other* engine. It's
obviously out of oil!

George Patterson
If you don't tell lies, you never have to remember what you said.

In article , G.R. Patterson III
wrote:

John Gaquin wrote:

Or fixed it in-flight. There're lots of things that can make a big ol'
radial smoke. :-)

Yeah. Like having oil in it. I would worry more about the *other* engine. It's
obviously out of oil!

Do you me oil in the bottom cylinders from sitting for awhile?

"EDR" wrote in message
...
Yeah. Like having oil in it. I would worry more about the *other*
engine. It's
obviously out of oil!

Do you me oil in the bottom cylinders from sitting for awhile?

Do you mean "do you mean"?

I don't think so. I'm guessing he's referring to the notorious oil
consumption of radial engines, with the implication that if you're burning
oil, at least that means there's oil to be burned. An engine of that design
not burning oil very well might be considered suspect.

Pete

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...

Yeah. Like having oil in it. I would worry more about the *other* engine.
It's
obviously out of oil!

Too true! Important preflight point on the DC3 was judging the amount of
oil dripping down the bottom of the nacelle. Too much? Or, not enough?

Peter Duniho wrote:

I don't think so. I'm guessing he's referring to the notorious oil
consumption of radial engines, with the implication that if you're burning
oil, at least that means there's oil to be burned.

Yep. "Top off the oil and check the gas." :-)

George Patterson
If you don't tell lies, you never have to remember what you said.