Sneaking across Lake Superior undetected

"Dave Stadt" wrote in message
y.com...
Now how could I fix the engine to seem to have had engine trouble?
Loosen
a couple of magneto leads? Anyone?

Fuel or oil leak?

IMHO, carb ice would be the best option. It can create significant engine
trouble, and yet is often completely undetectable once the engine has been
shut down and the ice has melted. Claim you have carb icing, and it would
be VERY difficult for anyone to come along later and prove it wasn't.

Leaks would be one of the worst choices IMHO, since the flow pattern of a
leak would most likely be different while in flight versus while on ground.
Unless the pilot in this story actually created a leak prior to takeoff, a
good investigator could probably figure out that there was no in-flight
leak.

Loosening electrical connections might be reasonable, but the pilot would
have to be careful when loosening to not mar the surface of the connector(s)
otherwise an investigator might notice tool marks and determine that the
connector was loosened intentionally, rather than working its way out
through vibration. Of course, one would have to loosen a connector that
isn't required to be safety-wired, since otherwise the additional question
of why it wasn't safety-wired comes up.

I'd go with the carb ice. Obviously, the pilot would have to make sure he
wasn't flying a fuel-injected airplane.

Pete

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 11:35:41 -0700, Peter Duniho wrote:

I'd go with the carb ice. Obviously, the pilot would have to make sure he
wasn't flying a fuel-injected airplane.


good idea. and set the weather accordingly.

#m

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"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
good idea. and set the weather accordingly.

Fortunately, carb ice can theoretically occur in a wide range of weather
conditions. Furthermore, it's hard for someone to claim that there weren't
localized areas where carb ice could occur, in spite of generally forecast
conditions that might suggest otherwise.

IMHO, rather than making the weather just coincidentally be especially
conducive to carb icing, it makes more sense to just let the weather be
whatever it would otherwise be for the story, and have the pilot knowingly
make a false claim about having carb ice. Remember, the goal here is not
for something to actually go wrong with the airplane. Just for the pilot to
have a plausible-but-false story of engine trouble.

Pete