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FI Fuel Metering Line Disconnected: Engine Failure on Short Final to a Military Base

RhinoDrvr

Well Known Member
THE EVENT

U.S. Air Force Plant 42 (KPMD) in Palmdale, California. A small DoD facility in the Mojave Desert that was the home to such famed projects as the Space Shuttle Orbiter, the F-117A, and right now, my Vans RV-8. I was in no mood to appreciate the rich aviation history of the location as I pondered how I found myself on the wide expanse of Plant 42?s ramp in my little homebuilt.
The flight had originated at Inyokern Airport (IYK) in California, just North of Edwards Air Force Base, and West of Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake where I was stationed as an Operational Evaluation (OpEval) F/A-18 pilot. I grew up in General Aviation, having taken my first flying lesson at age 11, but had stepped away when I joined the military, and the RV-8 was my return to the joys of GA flying. I purchased the airplane from the builder a few years previous and had flown it to Oshkosh twice, accumulating about 300 hours in the aircraft. I was beginning to feel fairly confident in the machine, as well as the owner-assisted maintenance program that I was learning under the tutelage of a local A&P mechanic.

Leading up to the flight there had been some fairly extensive maintenance. I recently had the aircraft re-wired with a full Garmin glass cockpit setup and engine monitor, and had all the hoses firewall forward replaced with Teflon-steel braid hoses for longer service life. I?d flown the airplane for 50 hours since the work had been completed, so I changed the oil, and took advantage of the downtime to rework the engine baffle seals for better cooling. The higher fidelity of the Garmin engine monitor had revealed some inadequacies in my cooling setup in the high desert heat with CHT?s reaching 400F+ during takeoff, so I took on the project of improving the airflow under the cowl. I also rebuilt the tailwheel assembly. After a quick leak check, a successful post-maintenance check flight put the airplane back in service.
The next day I came out to fly, and found that the battery was dead. The battery was new, only 6 months old, but I checked and cleaned all the connections, ordered a new battery and installed it on the afternoon of the incident flight.

Once I had the fresh battery installed and ready to go I pulled the airplane out, and started it up. The engine start was noticeably rough. The Lycoming O-360 coughed to life one cylinder at a time more like a radial than the quick snarling starts typical of the horizontal motors. I chalked it up to over-priming and taxied to the runway. The idle was a little rough with something of a lope, as it had been recently (if not slightly worse today), but I justified this as the common issue seen with fuel injection systems of fuel boiling in the low pressure injector lines. I found it annoying, but minimized the problem to the max extent I could by leaning aggressively while taxing out.
After an uneventful runup, I lined up on Runway 33, smoothly pushed the throttle forward and felt that glorious acceleration as the Hartzell prop dragged the 1100lb airplane and me into the late afternoon sky. On climbout I noted with satisfaction that the baffle work seemed to have worked; cylinder head temperatures were now about 370 vice the 405 I had been seeing previously during climb, and I patted myself on the back as I climbed overhead the airfield. The airplane was running well, and I wanted to fly for at least an hour to get a good charge on the battery, so I turned South and started leaning the mixture for Lean of Peak (LOP) cruise.

I had installed custom tuned injector nozzles to allow all the cylinders to peak simultaneously as fuel flow settled down, and I found myself 50 degrees LOP flowing 8.5 GPH. This seemed moderately higher than the 7.5-8.0 GPH that other RV-8 owners were claiming, but they probably weren?t running the same power settings that I was. Plus, pilots are known for exaggerating their performance numbers. Other than an occasional light stumble LOP, I took comfort in the fact that I was running cooler cylinder head temps and saving a little bit of gas as I cruised around the Mojave area.

Looking for something to do instead of just burning gas, I figured some practice approaches would help me get more familiar with the new autopilot and glass displays during ILS and RNAV LPV approaches. I initially set a course for Victorville Airport (VCV) and contacted Joshua Approach for Flight Following services. Joshua advised me that Victorville was not currently accepting practice approaches, and asked what my intentions were. Still desiring to try an ILS Approach, I asked if Palmdale was accepting VFR practice approaches. After a short pause, ATC issued vectors for the ILS and I shot the first approach with the autopilot coupled to the approach all the way to minimums for a published missed approach. Being a USAF base, civilian aircraft are not permitted to touchdown, so I planned on low approaches to Runway 25. The GPS flawlessly sequenced the missed approach, and I accepted further vectors while I programmed the RNAV LPV Runway 25 approach into the panel.

Joshua Approach handed me off to Tower and the RNAV went smoothly until 100? above Decision Height. As I watched the minimums bug march down the EFIS tape, I reduced power to idle and a flashing yellow box in the bottom right corner of the display caught my eye. The EGT?s on all cylinders were climbing above 1500 degrees. Now, I know that the exact numbers are less important than the Delta when it comes to EGT, but this engine has never had an absolute EGT above 1500?even when descending well LOP. I reached over, and pushed the mixture up. The lever didn?t move; it was already fully forward. I snapped on the electric boost pump, and the EGT?s continued to rise to 1575. During my early Private Pilot training, I had an instructor tell me; if the airplane does something you don?t like; undo what you last did. In this case, pulling the throttle to idle. I advanced the throttle and was met with sounds of backfiring and no reassuring press of the seat against my backside. The radio exchange with Palmdale Tower at 200? AGL took maybe 10 seconds.

?Tower, RV has an engine issue and needs to full stop.?

?RV, are you declaring an emergency??

?Affirmative.?

?Cleared to land, Runway 25.?

The landing and touchdown were uneventful, but the engine condition deteriorated noticeably as the RV decelerated on the runway. The prop began to stop, and I advanced the throttle in an attempt to keep it running to clear the duty runway. The engine wouldn?t run with the throttle anywhere below 1400 RPM, and it ran awful at that power setting. I managed to snap, crackle and pop my way onto a taxiway where I notified tower I was going to shut down and egress. Fire crews were on station immediately, and security personnel shortly thereafter. Now that I was safely on deck, the administrative nightmare of landing a civilian airplane on a military installation began.

Upon landing at a military facility expect to be asked for a Photo ID, Pilot Certificate, Medical, and Proof of Insurance. A Department of Defense ID would help the process along if you happen to have one. Second, security personnel are going to want to inspect the aircraft to ensure there are no explosives or other contraband onboard. These tasks complete, the first challenge was a total lack of chocks or tiedowns available. All the ground support equipment at military installations is centered around large fighter or transport category aircraft. Chocks and tiedowns for General Aviation aircraft typically aren?t available unless the field you find yourself at has a Flying Club. At Palmdale, our solution was to use bungee cords provided by Airfield Management to tie the airplane down to grounding points in the concrete, and I had chocks that I carry with me in the airplane. Don?t bank on hangar space; the potential liability is too great. I called the Airfield Manager, and exchanged information, as well as inquiring as to any shelter from the wind. Unfortunately, none was available, but as it turned out, the wind forecast proved inaccurate and the air was calm for the duration of the stay at the base.

All said and done, the paperwork took about 3 hours. This included a Hold Harmless Agreement for the departure the next day, a Proof of Insurance document, and an official statement of the events that had transpired. All in all, relatively simple. In addition, the base required a mechanic to authorize the departure, and that mechanic had to be someone other than the Pilot in Command. The only other administrative requirement was a phone call the next day from the local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) confirming the events that had occurred, and they called the case closed. Very painless by all accounts.

So, what actually happened to cause my predicament? The cause became immediately clear as soon as the mechanic and I uncowled the engine. The first thing that caught my eye was a large blue stain on the #1 cylinder intake tube that hadn?t been there previously. There was also blue staining on the alternator, as well as the #1 cylinder itself (both top and bottom) and the inside of the cowling. There was obviously a world-class fuel leak under the cowl. I powered up the battery and engaged the boost pump. At once the culprit exposed itself. The B-nut on the main fuel line that runs between Cylinder #1 and #3 from the servo to the fuel spider was not torqued. In fact, it wasn?t even finger tight. The sudden leak had caused all 4 cylinders to immediately run lean, which I noted in the cockpit as very high EGT?s. The line and B-nut were inspected, deemed airworthy, tightened, and the airplane flew home without issue.
 
THE TAKEAWAYS

Having been fortunate enough to spend my entire adult life in professional aviation, I think the most important thing following any incident such as this is to breakdown the goods, and others of the situation and what one should strive to do differently were the situation repeated. I?ve attempted to do this below as open and honestly as possible;

The Goods:

? The Garmin G3X system was set up with notifications to immediately draw my attention to a parameter that was, while not technically outside of limits, definitely outside the norm. While Lycoming doesn?t put a limit on absolute EGT in non-turbocharged engines, 1500 is definitely higher than I ever see in normal operation, so this threshold accurately drew my attention to a change in the normal operating parameters of the engine.

? Initial reaction to the symptoms was good. Verify mixture to full rich, boost pump on, and attempt to smoothly add power. Due to the failure, there was no positive result, but I was happy with the immediate action steps that were taken.

? The decision to land at Palmdale (PMD) despite it being a military airfield. In the hours following my landing, while doing paperwork and unsuccessfully attempting to find shelter / tie downs for the airplane I debated whether it would have been a better decision to try and limp the airplane the 9 miles to Lancaster, CA where there was a civilian field with maintenance support. Some fellow pilots expressed the same opinion. In the heat of the moment I debated both options, and almost instantly my Navy training kicked in. Don?t worry about anything but getting the airplane on deck. Do what needs to be done to get the airplane down safe, and deal with any inconveniences after the wheels are on the ground. I didn?t know it at the time, but I suspect now if I had been able to get enough power out of the engine to attempt a divert to Lancaster a severe in-flight fire would have resulted.

? Palmdale Tower was extremely professional with their timely issuance of landing clearance and getting the Fire Truck rolled in extremely short notice. (The emergency was declared at 200? AGL on final)

? Some pilots, especially Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Mechanic rated pilots, have expressed to me the opinion that I should have done more troubleshooting of the problem. An in-flight mag check perhaps to verify that the symptoms would clear. I disagree. With a suitable airfield made, the correct steps (in my mind) are to prioritize landing the aircraft, evaluate its mechanical status once on the ground, and then begin troubleshooting. But without any knowledge of what?s gone wrong, troubleshooting airborne could lead to undue delay and possible compounding of the emergency.

The Others:

? Normalization of deviance. The airplane had been giving me signs for the past couple months that I had an issue with the motor, I just didn?t realize them compounding. I suspect the B-nut had been working loose for months before finally presenting itself as a major fuel leak. The hollow bullets below were the issues that could have led to finding the issue before it became catastrophic.

o Engine starts had become significantly more difficult recently requiring multiple attempts, and rough running for thirty seconds or a minute until it seemed like the engine settled out at idle. My PMAGS had typically resulted in starts on the second blade previously.

o Idle was noticeably rougher than when I had first bought the airplane. I explained this as the hotter climate in Inyokern causing fuel boiling issues that I hadn?t noticed in my previous, cooler, duty station.

o CHT?s were high on takeoff because the cylinders were running leaner than they should have been.

o EGT?s were higher on takeoff (1400+) as well, but I incorrectly justified this as a byproduct of installing tuned injectors to get a 0.1 GAMI spread. The truth of the matter, as explained to me by Don Rivera of Airflow Performance, is that ?tuning the nozzles does not increase EGT on takeoff. Unless the restrictor size was reduced to the point that the total pressure drops in the metering system (fuel control, flow divider and injector nozzles) exceed the fuel pressure available, fuel flow and EGT would remain the same.?

o Fuel flow would hunt around in cruise more than I had noticed before.

o The engine had an unexplained stumble (a single occasional missed ignition event) every 5 or 10 minutes or so at Lean-of-Peak (LOP) cruise at altitude that it hadn?t had when I?d bought it.

o In running LOP cruise, my fuel flow was 8.5 gph. This seemed too high for an O-360-A1A (180HP Parallel Valve) at 65% power LOP, but again, I ignored this.

? All of the signs above were prompting me to take a serious look at the condition of the engine and associated induction, fuel and ignition systems, but the onset had been slow enough that I had justified them all in my head. I found myself flying with the engine monitor as the primary display for all flights. I had slowly lost confidence in the engine, but hadn?t taken the time to step back, acknowledge the fact, and find the reason why. Once the problem presented itself, and was fixed, the performance on the ferry flight home was immediately back to the way the airplane had been when I?d bought it. The difference was stark when it all happened at once.

? I did not exercise the due diligence required on what was effectively a post-maintenance check flight. With numerous significant maintenance events occurring in the very recent past (Oil Change, New Baffling, Tailwheel Rebuild, Battery Replacement) I should have stayed local within gliding distance of my home airfield, with known maintenance support and familiar airspace.

? Systems knowledge. In today?s day and age, we do not emphasize systems knowledge as we used to. The era of the Flight Engineer is gone, but I think with a better understanding of the fuel system in my airplane, how it was plumbed and how different anomalies would present in the engine indications, I would have been able to more easily diagnose and search for the problem in a proactive manner.

? As an owner / maintainer, the responsibility lies upon ME to actively ensure the safe condition of the airplane for further operation. I?d had the airplane uncowled for weeks prior to this incident and hadn?t done any detailed inspection for fuel staining or loose fittings. I?d never put a wrench on the fuel line in question in the time I?d owned the airplane. Most people ask ?Were there any fuel stains visible around that fitting before the incident flight?? The honest answer is; I don?t know. It is imperative to take the opportunity during routine maintenance evolutions to verify the condition of all systems in the airplane that are open to inspection, not just the subsystem that is being worked on.

CONCLUSION

I feel that it is very important to learn from this event, and pass those lessons along to the community so that we can all be better for it. It?s often said ?I?d rather be lucky than good?, and I agree with that. However, the quote below from one of my favorite authors I feel is a strong one;

This thing we call luck is merely professionalism and attention to detail, it?s your awareness of everything that is going on around you, it?s how well you know and understand your airplane and your own limitations. We make our own luck. Each of us. None of us is Superman. Luck is the sum total of your abilities as an aviator. If you think your luck is running low, you?d better get busy and make some more. Work harder. Pay more attention. Study your [POH] more. Do better preflights.
- Stephen Coonts "The Intruders"

I think I?d better get to making some more luck.
 
Good read

Evan, first off, good that you and the plane are OK.

Second, thanks for sharing and for the honest report.
 
Nice!

Great, bald-faced honest write-up! I?m an A&P and I think you did the right thing minimizing troubleshooting to use the runway right in front of you when things went to worms. I?m smarter now, thanks for sharing. Safe flying!
 
Very good after-action report. Pretty work in all respects. I think everyone who reads it will learn something....especially normalization of deviance....I’ll take a bruised ego every time over a bruised airframe or worse.
Fly Navy.
Jt
 
Thanks for the brutally honest report and analysis .. I learned much and agree with your decision/training to get the bird on the ground safely, and then deal with the aftermath without a bent airframe or damaged pilot. Thanks much for the detailed writeup.

Fly Navy!
 
Rhino: To quote from a rather well known movie, "You had a **** of a ?..PMCF".

About as professional and thorough a debrief as I've read on these pages. I'm confident your baring your soul here will be appreciated by many. I bet the Maintenance Control chiefs would have loved reading through the MAFs on this one.

Thanks for the nitty gritty on landing a light civil on a DOD aerodrome (did it once myself but was pre approved for an open house event - a little different situation). With ATC approval, I frequently find myself overflying a particular NAS up here in the northwest and occasionally wonder; what if???

Also, appreciate the words of wisdom from Naval Aviator/attorney/author Steven Coonts. A fellow squadron mate, though from a different era. He speaks the truth here.

Bravo Zulu on the save; fly safe, stay healthy!

Doug
Seattle area (pretty close to NUW)
 
Thanks - great writeup

Thanks for sharing this - really is food for thought for all of us. "Normalization of deviance" is really insidious, and humans are wired for this - we also call it "adaptation" when it's constructive. Two sides of the same coin.
 
Great PMCF debrief

Thanks for all the detail, it really helps.

If I could summarize your two posts in one sentence:

Our airplanes talk to us............. and as you have pointed out: We must listen!

BZ

"Hunter"
 
Excellent. Nice work. A great after action report for all of us to learn from and a very honest self-evaluation.

As for the suggestion from friends regarding airborne troubleshooting...we have a saying in the skydiving world which is related and goes like this: "In-air rigging is ALWAYS a bad idea". What it means, is if you have a problem with your main parachute _don't_ try to fix it. Cut away and open your reserve instead. It comes form decades and hundreds of fatalities from jumpers loosing precious altitude trying to deal with a problem and running out of options. It seems to me you were potentially seconds away from a fuel fed engine fire with raw fuel spraying on the alternator like that. Which would have changed the nature of the emergency dramatically.

Again, Kudos. You made the right decision - in the end when it really mattered.

Robert Marshall
PPSEL
A&P / IA
Parachute Rigger
Skydiving Instructor
"What Matters is the Outcome"
 
Very good write up, and most definitely you made the right call to put the plane on the ground instead of trying to get to another airport. In law enforcement, where we had to make split second life and death decisions, I followed the rule that it is better to be judged by 12, than to be carried by six.
 
Kudos on a successful outcome and your decision to hang it on this forum. I've learned not to do that from past experience - let's hope that it maintains a constructive tack.

Also, as someone who has landed all of my current and a few past airplanes on PMD (I work there), that's a great chunk of real estate to have under you when things go sideways!
 
Very concise write up and hopefully the lessons learned will sink into others faced with similar scenarios. Appreciate your candor in sharing this story.
 
Superb Airmanship

Sure--check your watch and everything else at altitude, but when over a runway, put it on the ground and sort it out later. Extremely well done!

Vic
 
BZ, Grandpa Pettibone would be proud.

About four flights following an engine teardown, rebuild, and reinstall my engine would not crank. The cause was failure to properly tighten the nut securing the elect system ground. No harm, no foul but not pleased with AP.
 
Evan

Glad it all worked out well, and thanks great after action write-up (I would expect no less from a Nav Tacair, Op Eval guy, experienced report writer and likely fellow comm air pilot!)

The quote from Coonts and that same concept have been my byword from my first day flying, and have served me well.

You didn't listen (every machine that has ever broken on me has whispered something or stood the hairs up on my neck before the event!) but you did right. Well done.

For those of you who haven't been there or work there now, these are the kinds of guys (and gals) who defend our country and fly your families around the skies!

Be well
 
Evan,

Awesome write up, and great job. Not a second of second-guessing here amigo...landing was the right choice IMHO. Trying to go around and troubleshoot, with spiking EGTs and little engine response might be a recipe for disaster, eh. Take the OK 3, and sort it out in Mx Control. No need to question your choice at all.

My one (knock on wood) engine failure in a single was right over a private glider field. Like you, I looked over at the nearby public field, but stuck with getting on deck on the runway below me. Also like you, that club C-150 had been talking to us too...slight, unconfirmed, "maybe in our heads", noise, that turned into a failed piston pin (and a lot of noise). Your assessment in this post, of the process leading up to this is excellent...we're all gonna learn from it, so thanks!

A lesson I learned, over the years, from my RV/A&P mentors: put a wrench on every fitting in the fuel system and oil system, back to front, during Condition Inspections and other significant maintenance events. It's saved my bacon more than once.

BZ Evan, well done!

Cheers,
Bob
 
Grampaw Pettibone and his "What were those young aviators thinking?!$@" was a staple of ready room reading when I was in.

The push started in the 50's as the accident rate in Nav Air around boat was sky rocketing, and there was a need for a conduit of "lessons learned".

Each article described an incident or close call that Grampaw could comment on, in his southern appilachian style, usually with a comic, and was entertaining enough to keep aviators interested. "I don't want to be that guy" way before that phrase was made popular, and some potential for public humiliation if you were "that guy", was the process of motivating compliance. The articles were included at the end of each monthly publication of Approach magazine, the Navy's safety pub.

Lots of good lessons there, worth another read for anyone who flies. Almost as good as sitting around the hangar telling "No sh.., there I was" stories!
 
Thanks.

Excellent Aviation Decision Making and superb write up.

A bureaucracy on the ground is always preferable to a fire in the air.

Thanks for sharing, I?m smarter (and safer) now.

Peter
 
Similar, but Opposite Situation.

Well done.

I had a similar incident in my Air Force days, but I wasn't the pilot, I was the mechanic on the ground.

I worked Transient Alert at Bitburg AB, Germany in the late 80's/ early 90's. One of our responsibilities was to assist emergency response of non-base assigned aircraft, since we had more knowledge of them than the regular folks.

One day we got a call from the tower that there was in in-flight emergency (IFE) inbound, nature of the emergency unknown, aircraft type F-35. None of us had any idea what an F-35 was (previous century remember). We were pulling out Jane's big book, nothing. Finally we looked up and saw a bright yellow Bonanza pulling off the runway. I said "oh, F-35 Bonanza, OK".

Since I was the only one with any GA experience, and most of the guys were afraid of propellers, I was handed the job. I went out and parked him in front of the office. Our office was at the base of the tower, right next to the fire department, so it seemed like a good place.

About the time I got him parked the Security Police (SP) showed up wanting to ask him a few questions. He was still in the airplane fiddling with the controls. I got his attention and had him shut it down. As I secured the airplane (no wheel pants, so our usual chocks worked fine and I improvised with the ground wire) I asked what the problem was.

He said he could get full manifold pressure, but only about 1,800 RPM. I immediately figured it was the propeller governor. We went around to the front of the plane and sure enough, the governor case was cracked and leaking oil.

About this time the SPs were wanting to have a chat with the pilot. They asked a few questions and escorted him to base operations, which is directly above our office. About the only requirement put on him was that he had to be escorted at all times.

He was a ferry pilot ferrying a brand new Bonanza from the factory to the Lufthansa pilot school. He called Lufthansa and in about 2 hours there was another Bonanza on the ramp with a mechanic and a new propeller governor. They swapped it out, did a test run that went just fine and then both Bonanzas took off together. Total time on the ground about 3 hours.

I asked the pilot how he ended up at Bitburg and not somewhere else and he said that when he started to lose RPM and it was clear that he could not maintain altitude he looked down and saw a runway. He figured out that it was a military base, but he declared an emergency and was cleared to land.

All in all, it provided a break in the tedium of daily activities without causing any real problems for any one. The one big lesson that I took away from that incident is that that if you have a problem, declare an emergency and don't worry about who owns that runway until you are safely down and stopped.
 
When I got back into GA, flying traffic in 172's, the thing I missed most was being able to flip through mishap reports on the message board in the Ready Room (physical paper messages, kids! Yes, I am INDEED that old), so that I could learn from other's experiences. It took me a while, but I eventually learned there were 'virtual' reports out there on this here interwebs.

You, my friend (he really is, folks!), have done the RV community a great service with your write up. You are a credit to the . . . crud, this is not a FITREP, I'll stop typing now. :D
 
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Been there done that....

I finished building my RV-4 in 1997 and been flying her ever since. It's been a 23 year love affair. The first engine she sported was a first run new engine out of an old Mooney.

After about five years of flying, I noticed a small puddle of oil on the ground that had rolled down the cowling. I carefully inspected the engine and found no oil leaks but was worried something was wrong. My mistake was that I did not physically tighten all the nuts and bolts on the engine. So, I just kept a good watch on the leak that kept leaking but never got worse so I ASSumed that my engine with about 1200 hours since factory new was not new anymore.

My son was in the military and he wanted me to fly his girl friend to San Diego from Fresno for a weekend visit. The weather over the whole LA and San Diego area was solid overcast so I filed an IFR flight plan and set out to San Diego.

I still was worried about the leak so kept monitoring the oil pressure. My course took me over Bakersfield at about 10K feet when the oil pressure started to fluctuate. I immediately knew the problem was loss of oil. I pulled the engine to idle, cancelled my flight plan and spiraled down to Bakersfield Muni. About half way down, my prop went into high RPM as a result of the low oil pressure. I landed and taxied to the ramp with the engine sounding normal. I got out of the airplane with the girl looking like this was a normal event. She told me later that this happens with the farm tractors all the time. You have got to love those farm girls. Oil was all over the left side of the fuselage. I removed the cowl to find the B nut on the #2 cylinder gone and the oil drain line disconnected. I do not ever remember removing the oil line when installing the engine.

We tightened the nut, put in new oil, and cleaned the plane. I checked all the other nuts and bolts which all were tight and after an extensive run up and full power climb to altitude, we continued our trip to San Diego. Lucky for us, the entire coastal area was solid overcast all the way to San Diego. It would have been an interesting IFR approach with a frozen up engine had the incident happened while in the LA basin.

I flew the plane another 500 hours and traded it for new XP-360 engine.

Another incident happened just last year in my C-170B. I had just completed a Fresno County Sheriff Air Squadron practice SAR over the high Sierras at altitudes as high as 11k and of course, very rough terrain. We flew back to Chandler, debriefed, refueled headed back to the Sierra Sky Park (E79) where I live. We got about 700 feet when a valve boss broke on the right rear cylinder.

The engine vibrated valiantly and I made a 180 turn back to the airport for an emergency landing. I reduced power to about 2K RPM to perhaps ease the vibration. The engine kept running rough but smoothed out enough where I was tempted enough to make another 180 turn back to E79 so I could get my plane safely in my hanger which was only 5 minutes away over some densely populated areas. I then thought to myself, "This is really stupid Dale, you are right at an airport" so I made again another 180 and landed at Chandler. Turns out that I could have easily make it to E79 but it would have been the wrong decision.

I was going to put a sign on my plane that read “God is my copilot” but after seeing a sign in a store window that said “Protected by angels” decided it would prevent people from asking my wife if she really was GOD.
 
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Glad that you and the plane came out ok.

Just one question. You mentioned that you turned on the electric pump when you were finishing your approach.

.... The Lycoming O-360 coughed to life one cylinder at a time ....

... I reached over, and pushed the mixture up. The lever didn’t move; it was already fully forward. I snapped on the electric boost pump,


I have it on my Before Landing Checklist in case of a go around, is your engine set up different or am I adding something is it not needed in the RV-8 / 0-360 combination? Thanks.
 
P135PD,

Good catch. I definitely use the pump on takeoff to backup the engine driven pump.

On landing I typically turn it on entering the pattern VFR (be that at the initial, or turning into the downwind.

I wasn't using it for the practice approaches although, I probably should have been. Having not doing much IFR work in the -8, my habit patterns aren't fully developed yet. I'll probably start working it into my habits to turn the pump on at the FAF.

Here's my understanding; it's never required in normal operation. It's always a backup in case of engine driven pump failure...the idea is that if the engine driven pump fails, the electric pump will takeover seamlessly and you won't know until you turn off the electric pump and the engine quits. So I always get to a position to make the field prior to turning off the electric pump after takeoff. That was also my logic for not using it during practice approaches, since at 120kts (which is what I've been using as an IFR approach speed before decelerating once I break out. I would have time to turn the pump on while I climbed bleeding off energy to best glide.

Good point though. I think for IFR approaches the pump should come on at the FAF, VFR ops, initial or entering the downwind.
 
Wrench on it

Nice write-up/de-brief. This is the second similar issue I?ve heard of in as many months. Other was a loose fluid fitting on a Grumman oil cooler which backed off during a test flight after engine replacement. A quarter turn later and most of the oil found itself on the belly of the a/c. I echo the comments of another gentleman here who suggested not to be shy about putting a wrench on every bolt and fitting firewall forward. Thanks for sharing.
 
My buddy Jeremiah Jackson crashed his new RV-10 on the 4th flight due to an oil line that wasn't torqued properly and subsequently dumped all the oil overboard. Occurred ~ 8 miles east of Ramona inbound after a 2 hour Phase I flight. He wrote a good book about the experience called "4 Minutes". Also gives a really good talk about it in the San Diego area if you ever get a chance to catch it. He's a good speaker.
 
Sum of luck vs. Superman

Great write up and statement below is so true!


THE TAKEAWAYS


This thing we call luck is merely professionalism and attention to detail, it’s your awareness of everything that is going on around you, it’s how well you know and understand your airplane and your own limitations. We make our own luck. Each of us. None of us is Superman. Luck is the sum total of your abilities as an aviator. If you think your luck is running low, you’d better get busy and make some more. Work harder. Pay more attention. Study your [POH] more. Do better preflights.
- Stephen Coonts "The Intruders"
 
I always think of the Alaska Airlines crew that stripped the threads on the hstab jack screw. The stab jammed so they did some trouble shooting in the air and in the process stripped the threads completely and the tail came off and the airplane went straight in. Had they just declared an emergency and landed with higher but manageable workload they would have been fine. Any troubleshooting other than the most basic stuff us best done on the ground. There is almost nothing so bad that you can?t make it worse. Thank you for sharing.
 
Well done!

I don't care what anyone else says. When you have a possible problem with an airplane, no 1: If on the ground, don't take off. no 2: If airborne get it on the ground as safely as possible. no 3: Don't make things worse. We have to remember we not only risk our own lives (our choice) but the lives of folks on the ground (not their choice). As a former F-16 driver, great airman ship. Well done sir!
 
well done. Reminds me of a simple learning experience in 1971 getting an in country check ride in a CH-47 (big helicopter, two engines). Note I was fresh out of flight school. Just after liftoff on a 5000 foot runway, my IP pulled an engine off line. My mind went to "fly the airplane" and I did. Took 4000 feet to get to single engine speed and started to climb out feeling good about that job when ti IP put the engine back on line and looked over and said "why didn't you just land?" I was at a ten foot hover with one good engine, and I didn't just land!! Lesson learned, never turn down a really good landing spot when something weird goes on. On reflection, I wondered why that was not on the training syllabus in Chinook transitions?

Again, well done
 
Never pass up a safe outcome

Good job, good debrief, good headwork.

I had a rapid and complete Hyd 2 failure climbing through 16,000' in a Hornet coming out of Midland TX heading for P-Cola. I decided a dry pump fire was the closest gator to the boat so I set down immediately in San Angelo as the closest full stop I could make with E-Brakes. Normal landing, inspection showed catastrophic pump failure with shaft intact and heat discolored parts.

Got grief from some for not carrying on to Dyess to take a trap. I simply don't understand how some of our fellow aviators try to critique a decision using added risk as a justification.

BZ
Duck
 
Good job, good debrief, good headwork.

I had a rapid and complete Hyd 2 failure climbing through 16,000' in a Hornet coming out of Midland TX heading for P-Cola. I decided a dry pump fire was the closest gator to the boat so I set down immediately in San Angelo as the closest full stop I could make with E-Brakes. Normal landing, inspection showed catastrophic pump failure with shaft intact and heat discolored parts.

Got grief from some for not carrying on to Dyess to take a trap. I simply don't understand how some of our fellow aviators try to critique a decision using added risk as a justification.

BZ
Duck

Good post. And good decision making yourself.

Reminds me of the awful F18 tragedy in San Diego some 10 or 12 years ago where the pilot ejected safely but the airplane crashed into a home just a few miles shy of Miramar killing all of the occupants inside. Had the guy instead, landed at North Island he would have endured some of the grief you are referring to.
 
? Some pilots, especially Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Mechanic rated pilots, have expressed to me the opinion that I should have done more troubleshooting of the problem. An in-flight mag check perhaps to verify that the symptoms would clear.

Like you and many others, I too disagree with those ideas.
We had an old Chief Pilot who had a fairly indelicate but humorous turn of phrase that I won't leave here but in a nutshell it meant if things are going your way, don't mess with it.
Put the airplane on the ground and figure the rest out later.
 
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