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#11
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Nice job & thanks for the post.
Clyde "A Lieberman" wrote in message ... Thought I would share my first emergency.... I was flying from MBO (Madison MS) to L31 (Covington LA) to meet my sister for dinner, and get some night time hours on the return trip. I have done this trip many times. Left Madison at 5:00 p.m. with an expected arrival at 6:15. I am starting my IFR training, so figured to really focus on holding altitude and heading working on "precision flying". I was doing great all along the trip, and looking ahead, saw major buildups in my path. Called 122.00 and asked for an inflight advisory. Weather was moving SSW and though close, they said I should make my destination. Little did I know the weather would be the least of my concerns. 15 miles from my destination cruising at 3500, I got a horrible vibration throughout the engine. First thing I did was put the carb heat on. Made the vibration even worse. I held the carb heat for about 10 seconds, and turned it off. Immediately saw a "target farm field" should I need it and never let it leave my sight. Next, switched tanks, no change in vibration. Next fuel pump, no change. Next, checked my mags, left, then right, no change in vibration. Next, turned to 121.5 and said, This is Sundowner 12345L declaring an emergency, anybody monitoring the frequency. As I am doing this, I am setting myself up for the "best glide" speed of 78 knots. Guard responds with Sundowner 12345L, go ahead with your emergency. I replied back, I have an extremely rough running engine, I am 12 miles from destination, I have an alternative field in site should I need it, I will be sqawking 7700. I then turn the transponder to 7700. In this short time, I lost 500 valuable feet altitude. As I reduced my power, and enriched the engine, trying different "power" settings, I noticed the vibration reduced somewhat. I watched my VSI, and noticed that I was able to "maintain" a 200 foot descent. Quick math in my head said, I had "15 minutes" flying time if I left my configuration the way it was, and now I was 10 miles from destination. 121.5 gets New Orleans approach, and New Orleans approach gets on 121.5 and tells me to squawk 4026. I acknowledge New Orleans approach, change my transponder to 4026, and said to New Orleans approach, that I have a stable 200 foot descent rate, engine is running rough, and my intentions is to proceed on to L31. Once I made my decision, I pretty much left what I had going alone. 4 miles out, I said "New Orleans approach, Sundowner 12345L request to change to 122.80. New Orleans approach said frequency change approved, please call FSS to let us know you are safe on the ground. I said Sundowner 12345. will call FSS after touchdown. I set the radio to 122.80, called in Unicom and said, St Tamminy Sundowner 12345L declaring an emergency, inbound for runway 18 straight in approach. In my nervousnous, New Orleans approach says, Sundowner 12345L, you are still transmitting on 121.5. Duh, helps to change the button from Com 1 to Com 2. So, I switch coms, and repeat my broadcast. 2 miles out, see that I am way too high for straight in, I decided instead of a straight in approach, that I would enter on the downwind leg, and proceed to use runway 36 to lose my altitude. I announce on 122.80, Saint Tamminy, Sundowner 12345L declaring emergency, changing intentions, entering downwind for 36. I left my power settings the way I had it, for the first half of downwind, and then abeam the numbers, I reduced the power ever so slowly, and also enriched the mixture ever so slowly. Engine got rougher, but kept running. Trimmed for landing, extended first set of flaps, and the second set of flaps on downwind. I did this so all I had to do was realy concentrate on flying the plane for base and final rather then "finess the plane". Kept my downwind closer to the runway then normal and turn base much sooner then normal. On final, I was 1200 feet above field elevation. On final, I heard that little voice say, better to hit the trees at the end of the runway then the beginning, so I made sure, that I had a higher then normal approach. Seeing I was way high, I put in full right rudder, full left aileron, and pretty much turn the plane perpendicular to the runway. Slip worked great, ears starting popping on descent, and when I cleared the trees, turned forward. Saw I was still too high, returned to the slip, for another 5 to 10 seconds, and then straightened out. Cross the numbers about 25 feet AGL, speed, just above glide speed, cut the throttle to a fast idle. I get major vibration in the engine Started to lower the nose, felt my speed increase, and then raised the nose. Hit ground effect, halfway down the runway, ballooned to about 5 feet above the ground, I raised the nose to bleed off the speed, landed on the last third of the runway. Runway is 2999 feet, so I knew I wasn't stopping at the end of the runway, applied firm brakes, rolled off the runway, with the yoke clear to my chest. I was able to stop about 50 feet after leaving the end of the runway in hard ground with about knee high grass. Engine was really rough, I turn around and limp back to the ramp, airframe and gear fully intact. Go to shut down, and the engine did not want to shut down. It finally shut down. My brother in law was waiting for me at the airport (he is a pilot), we decide to start up the engine to see if he could figure out the problem. Engine was rough on idle, tried to increase RPMs, but the best we could get is 1800, so we shut down. We start calling A&P's around the area, and finally found one that could come out the next day. After describing the symptoms, first thing she thought was a fuel related problem, and asked me the usual questions, did I sump, did I see water, and so on. Nothing in the fuel, I told her runup was absolutely normal. She pokes around the engine, pulling all fuel related hoses, saw lines and screens were clear, so next, she pulled the prop through and found that a cylinder lost all compressions. So, now the obviouse occurred, now to find why.... She pulled the cylinder out, and after opening the cylinder, we saw an unbelievable sight. Piston head had shards of metal pounded in it from the exhuast valve, even more amazing was the cylinder walls were smooth, and rings remained intact! She suspected that most of the exhaust valve was ejected out the exhaust pipe as she found fragments of metal through the exhaust manifold but very little in the intake portion of the engine. Problem "solved" so we thought, replace the cylinder, and off I go. She comes back the next day, installed the cylinder, changed the oil, leak tested the engine and closed the cowling, she wanted to go up with me, as she had never been in a Sundowner. It is dark by this time, and while she was getting her tools together, I preflight. I taxi to the runway, call unicom to advise that I was backtaxing to 36. The runway has a runup area at the very end of the runway, I do the runup, all looks good. I get to the end of 36, and the A&P says, before departing, I need you to do a full throttle test. I hold the brakes, put the throttle full forward, and only get 2200 RPM. POH requires 2700. She says, lean it a tad, see what happens. No change to RPM. Lean it more, EGT and CHT goes up, engine starts running "normal rough". Needless to say, not good. She says taxi back to the ramp. No flying tonight. We taxi back, we pull the cowl. She says, the engine is acting like it is getting too much hot air for the RPMs not to go full throttle, reverifies the duct work, and all looks good. Last thing to look at is the carberator as the engine was purring like a kitten, just could not get 2700 RPM. We called it the night (11:00 p.m.) She said, I had a better chance at winning the lotto then what happened to me. The carberator was the top of the line carberator, and she said in the 19 years she has been an A&P, she has never pulled one from an engine. So, today, she pulls the carberator, and she tears it down. She noticed that the lever to the throttle would not push full forward. It would go it's full range. She felt that due to the severe vibration, something in the carberator shook loose, and is preventing the full extension of the throttle cable. So, now I need a new carberator put in. Seeing the forest through the trees, I figure the outcome was as good as it got, considering the catastropic engine problem I experienced. One thing I cannot thank my instructor enough was to instill the "what if scenarios", as when it really happened, I heard him in my mind say, make a decision, stick to it, but most importantly FLY THE PLANE. The only thing I could not do during this entire episode is to pull the POH for emergency procedures. I found as the real thing happens, you don't have time to pull a book, find the chapter, and go to the list. My first instinct was to do what I could remember (I studied my POH big time when I bought the plane, and refer to it frequently, to be sure I know what to do) and FLY THE PLANE. I have an emergency checklist seperate, but in reality, the time it takes to pull the list, get yourself oriented, you lose very valuable time when you are in the plane by yourself. It may have been different if I had a passenger, but when I was alone, I relied on my memory. (which as it turned out was not so bad *smile*. I could have possibley diverted to another airport in Slidell LA in "gliding range" with a longer runway, but the thunderstorms that I saw were over that airport, so I ruled out trying to make it to that airport. In "hangar" talk, I asked some pilots, should I file an ASR report. It was split down the middle, some said yes, some said no. I am leaning on filing a report. I have not gotten the final cost in yet, since the carberator needs to be ordered and installed, but I think I am looking at close to $3000.00 after all is said and done for parts and labor. I may get a small rebate should the company be able to re-use the cylinder (not likely from the damage I saw). Allen |
#12
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A Lieberman wrote in message ...
Thought I would share my first emergency.... I was flying from MBO (Madison MS) to L31 (Covington LA) to meet my sister for dinner, and get some night time hours on the return trip. I have done this trip many times. Left Madison at 5:00 p.m. with an expected arrival at 6:15. I am starting my IFR training, so figured to really focus on holding altitude and heading working on "precision flying". I was doing great all along the trip, and looking ahead, saw major buildups in my path. Called 122.00 and asked for an inflight advisory. Weather was moving SSW and though close, they said I should make my destination. Little did I know the weather would be the least of my concerns. 15 miles from my destination cruising at 3500, I got a horrible vibration throughout the engine. First thing I did was put the carb heat on. Made the vibration even worse. I held the carb heat for about 10 seconds, and turned it off. Immediately saw a "target farm field" should I need it and never let it leave my sight. Next, switched tanks, no change in vibration. Next fuel pump, no change. Next, checked my mags, left, then right, no change in vibration. Next, turned to 121.5 and said, This is Sundowner 12345L declaring an emergency, anybody monitoring the frequency. As I am doing this, I am setting myself up for the "best glide" speed of 78 knots. Guard responds with Sundowner 12345L, go ahead with your emergency. I replied back, I have an extremely rough running engine, I am 12 miles from destination, I have an alternative field in site should I need it, I will be sqawking 7700. I then turn the transponder to 7700. In this short time, I lost 500 valuable feet altitude. As I reduced my power, and enriched the engine, trying different "power" settings, I noticed the vibration reduced somewhat. I watched my VSI, and noticed that I was able to "maintain" a 200 foot descent. Quick math in my head said, I had "15 minutes" flying time if I left my configuration the way it was, and now I was 10 miles from destination. 121.5 gets New Orleans approach, and New Orleans approach gets on 121.5 and tells me to squawk 4026. I acknowledge New Orleans approach, change my transponder to 4026, and said to New Orleans approach, that I have a stable 200 foot descent rate, engine is running rough, and my intentions is to proceed on to L31. Once I made my decision, I pretty much left what I had going alone. 4 miles out, I said "New Orleans approach, Sundowner 12345L request to change to 122.80. New Orleans approach said frequency change approved, please call FSS to let us know you are safe on the ground. I said Sundowner 12345. will call FSS after touchdown. I set the radio to 122.80, called in Unicom and said, St Tamminy Sundowner 12345L declaring an emergency, inbound for runway 18 straight in approach. In my nervousnous, New Orleans approach says, Sundowner 12345L, you are still transmitting on 121.5. Duh, helps to change the button from Com 1 to Com 2. So, I switch coms, and repeat my broadcast. 2 miles out, see that I am way too high for straight in, I decided instead of a straight in approach, that I would enter on the downwind leg, and proceed to use runway 36 to lose my altitude. I announce on 122.80, Saint Tamminy, Sundowner 12345L declaring emergency, changing intentions, entering downwind for 36. I left my power settings the way I had it, for the first half of downwind, and then abeam the numbers, I reduced the power ever so slowly, and also enriched the mixture ever so slowly. Engine got rougher, but kept running. Trimmed for landing, extended first set of flaps, and the second set of flaps on downwind. I did this so all I had to do was realy concentrate on flying the plane for base and final rather then "finess the plane". Kept my downwind closer to the runway then normal and turn base much sooner then normal. On final, I was 1200 feet above field elevation. On final, I heard that little voice say, better to hit the trees at the end of the runway then the beginning, so I made sure, that I had a higher then normal approach. Seeing I was way high, I put in full right rudder, full left aileron, and pretty much turn the plane perpendicular to the runway. Slip worked great, ears starting popping on descent, and when I cleared the trees, turned forward. Saw I was still too high, returned to the slip, for another 5 to 10 seconds, and then straightened out. Cross the numbers about 25 feet AGL, speed, just above glide speed, cut the throttle to a fast idle. I get major vibration in the engine Started to lower the nose, felt my speed increase, and then raised the nose. Hit ground effect, halfway down the runway, ballooned to about 5 feet above the ground, I raised the nose to bleed off the speed, landed on the last third of the runway. Runway is 2999 feet, so I knew I wasn't stopping at the end of the runway, applied firm brakes, rolled off the runway, with the yoke clear to my chest. I was able to stop about 50 feet after leaving the end of the runway in hard ground with about knee high grass. Engine was really rough, I turn around and limp back to the ramp, airframe and gear fully intact. Go to shut down, and the engine did not want to shut down. It finally shut down. My brother in law was waiting for me at the airport (he is a pilot), we decide to start up the engine to see if he could figure out the problem. Engine was rough on idle, tried to increase RPMs, but the best we could get is 1800, so we shut down. We start calling A&P's around the area, and finally found one that could come out the next day. After describing the symptoms, first thing she thought was a fuel related problem, and asked me the usual questions, did I sump, did I see water, and so on. Nothing in the fuel, I told her runup was absolutely normal. She pokes around the engine, pulling all fuel related hoses, saw lines and screens were clear, so next, she pulled the prop through and found that a cylinder lost all compressions. So, now the obviouse occurred, now to find why.... She pulled the cylinder out, and after opening the cylinder, we saw an unbelievable sight. Piston head had shards of metal pounded in it from the exhuast valve, even more amazing was the cylinder walls were smooth, and rings remained intact! She suspected that most of the exhaust valve was ejected out the exhaust pipe as she found fragments of metal through the exhaust manifold but very little in the intake portion of the engine. Problem "solved" so we thought, replace the cylinder, and off I go. She comes back the next day, installed the cylinder, changed the oil, leak tested the engine and closed the cowling, she wanted to go up with me, as she had never been in a Sundowner. It is dark by this time, and while she was getting her tools together, I preflight. I taxi to the runway, call unicom to advise that I was backtaxing to 36. The runway has a runup area at the very end of the runway, I do the runup, all looks good. I get to the end of 36, and the A&P says, before departing, I need you to do a full throttle test. I hold the brakes, put the throttle full forward, and only get 2200 RPM. POH requires 2700. She says, lean it a tad, see what happens. No change to RPM. Lean it more, EGT and CHT goes up, engine starts running "normal rough". Needless to say, not good. She says taxi back to the ramp. No flying tonight. We taxi back, we pull the cowl. She says, the engine is acting like it is getting too much hot air for the RPMs not to go full throttle, reverifies the duct work, and all looks good. Last thing to look at is the carberator as the engine was purring like a kitten, just could not get 2700 RPM. We called it the night (11:00 p.m.) She said, I had a better chance at winning the lotto then what happened to me. The carberator was the top of the line carberator, and she said in the 19 years she has been an A&P, she has never pulled one from an engine. So, today, she pulls the carberator, and she tears it down. She noticed that the lever to the throttle would not push full forward. It would go it's full range. She felt that due to the severe vibration, something in the carberator shook loose, and is preventing the full extension of the throttle cable. So, now I need a new carberator put in. Seeing the forest through the trees, I figure the outcome was as good as it got, considering the catastropic engine problem I experienced. One thing I cannot thank my instructor enough was to instill the "what if scenarios", as when it really happened, I heard him in my mind say, make a decision, stick to it, but most importantly FLY THE PLANE. The only thing I could not do during this entire episode is to pull the POH for emergency procedures. I found as the real thing happens, you don't have time to pull a book, find the chapter, and go to the list. My first instinct was to do what I could remember (I studied my POH big time when I bought the plane, and refer to it frequently, to be sure I know what to do) and FLY THE PLANE. I have an emergency checklist seperate, but in reality, the time it takes to pull the list, get yourself oriented, you lose very valuable time when you are in the plane by yourself. It may have been different if I had a passenger, but when I was alone, I relied on my memory. (which as it turned out was not so bad *smile*. I could have possibley diverted to another airport in Slidell LA in "gliding range" with a longer runway, but the thunderstorms that I saw were over that airport, so I ruled out trying to make it to that airport. In "hangar" talk, I asked some pilots, should I file an ASR report. It was split down the middle, some said yes, some said no. I am leaning on filing a report. I have not gotten the final cost in yet, since the carberator needs to be ordered and installed, but I think I am looking at close to $3000.00 after all is said and done for parts and labor. I may get a small rebate should the company be able to re-use the cylinder (not likely from the damage I saw). Allen Sounds like you did a fine job thinking it through as you handled the situation. I got my commercial training around there many years ago. Drop me an email if you have time. I wonder if some of the people I knew are still there Mark |
#13
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How exactly does one determine during flight that his rough-running engine
is caused by a dropped exhaust valve as opposed to something more serious that would not last very long if left at full power? No hard/fast rules. The general rule of thumb would be to check for confirming signs of imminent failure (oil pressure, cyl head temp, etc.) and if you have confirmation that the engine is about to suffer a general failure, then you probably want to consider a forced landing. But otherwise, and assuming the vibration isn't so bad as to threaten engine mounts and the like, continue to push the engine for what you need to get to the nearest airport while maintaining altitude. In this case, a GEM would have been a nice thing to have. It would have shown that one cylinder had failed and the others were still making power. It would have confirmed the the rough engine was basically because one cylinder was off-line. With this confirmation, you'd be confident to push the remaining three cylinders as hard as necessary to get to an airport. I'd bet that this engine probably would have run for several hours with enough power to maintain altitude. I'm not aware of a dropped exhaust valve failure that has caused complete and immediate engine failure. These engines are old technology, but they're incredibly tough with great reserves of basic strength. Almost all cases of complete engine failure are fuel and eletrical, not mechanical. But we're all second-guessing. Allen did great. My only comment was a general one: Be aware that many accidents are when pilots become so pre-occupied with a minor emergency (which I'd rate this as) that they turn it into a major one. Allen was so pre-occupied with conserving energy to make the field that he almost had an accident due to an excess of energy. This is just something we all need to watch for. - Mark |
#14
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Montblack wrote:
Did a piece of metal, formerly known as exhaust valve, make it upstream (like a salmon) all the way into the carb - jamming the linkage? :-) For 3 grand, I have one word for you - Gumout. ($1.75 this week at NAPA) Seriously, what is the final word on "specifically" what in (on) the carb failed - thus totaling the entire unit? Monthblack, The throttle cable was fine, and from the outside, the lever that held the throttle cable looked fine. It was when you pushed the lever forward (full throttle) that the movement was restricted. The part was not accessable, to see what may have bent, inside the carberator. The carb float was fine, not compromised, the butterfly valve (I guess it is called that), that controls the flow to the carberator was clean, and not gunked up. Bottom line is that the carberator damage was secondary to the cylinder damage from what I could see. I seriously doubt I had an salmon in the engine :-) though considering the odds of what went last week, one just may wonder..... Keep in mind, I am not a mechanic though. Allen |
#15
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John Galban wrote:
I got the impression that the $3K covered the piston, cylinder, carb and the labor. That's probably a bit on the expensive side, but not outrageous. John, You are correct that the price will cover cylinder, piston and carberator, and I thought the price was much more then reasonable, considering the A&P had to travel one hour drive each way). Job this major is for sure not exactly convienent "in the field". Allen |
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