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RV-10 off airport emergency landing in CA

In the last couple of weeks we have had three RV-10 emergencies. Very unusual, but there are many more flying now and many are flying less with the economy and fuel prices. Thank goodness they all made it down safely.
 
Here is some more info...

Robert Harris
9:35 am on Sunday, January 6, 2013
I listened to the entire conversation between pilot and tower, Ramona. According to the radio communications on tower frequency, the pilot began slow decent beginning at approximately 10,000 ft above sea level. The aircraft experienced loss of oil pressure, and subsquent engine failure. After maneuveringi for apporximately ten minutes, seeking a decent touch down spot, the pilot realized that there was no flat area on which to land, but miraculously landed on a dirt road, exhibiting top level piloting skills. Another pilot in the Ramona area, coordinated with the tower to intercept the estimated touch down location, immediately locating the pilot who maintaned communications between the downed pilot and tower. The RV series aircraft (Vans Aircraft) are popular among home builders, over 7,000 kits manufactured, and among the most reliable aircraft in existence, so the story goes.
 
The first was a fuel leak at the mechanical fuel pump inlet fitting on first flight. It was hand tightened with torque stripe applied. Landed on the runway and engine quit. This was over on Matronics site.

Sure... I'll share. In preparation for landing, I turned the electric fuel pump on and smelled fuel in the cockpit. Immediately turned off the fuel pump and landed. Then engine stopped on the runway and I coasted off.

Removed cowl and tunnel covers back at the hangar. The tunnel was dry. However, running the electric fuel pump resulted in fuel leakage at the low pressure input fitting to the mechanical engine driven pump. It was loose. This after numerous engine starts, taxi tests and run ups without leakage.

What's interesting is that nothing was obviously amiss until running the electric pump. Maybe someone else has ideas about why that might be...

Just goes to show the value of putting a wrench on as much as possible before flight and, of course, mentally preparing for engine out events.

Regards,
Jay
 
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Man, looking at the pictures and video, it looks like there were not a bunch of happy places to put it down. That road looks pretty narrow. I will be interested in finding out more about this. It looks like the pilot did a nice job of slowing and putting it in the best place he could.
 
Best Outcome

I agree, Good job getting this one down,given the number completed, the number of accidents seem higher for the 10. My first question is where did the oil go? What let loose? I have not heard of a 10 nose wheel dig in and cart wheel like a 6,7,9 is want to do.Sorry to see a new project down,Glad everyone walked away.
 
I'm curious about this one. It appears to be a new aircraft since the first flight was around 12/27. I assume it was still in the first phase of flight testing and it flew out of Ramona. I would wonder where the flight test area was since it was reportaedly at 10,000 feet and ended up 10 miles away from the airport. I'll admit I don't know the process yet in depth, but this just struck me as being odd.
 
I'm curious about this one. It appears to be a new aircraft since the first flight was around 12/27. I assume it was still in the first phase of flight testing and it flew out of Ramona. I would wonder where the flight test area was since it was reportaedly at 10,000 feet and ended up 10 miles away from the airport. I'll admit I don't know the process yet in depth, but this just struck me as being odd.
If you are referring to the altitude and distance from the airport as the "odd" thing, well neither is odd for Phase I flying. The Phase I flight restrictions are solely based upon the discretion of the DAR/FISDO examiner and the pilot to determine based upon the environment, pilot, airplane, etc.
 
Man, looking at the pictures and video, it looks like there were not a bunch of happy places to put it down. That road looks pretty narrow. I will be interested in finding out more about this. It looks like the pilot did a nice job of slowing and putting it in the best place he could.

I know this place very well. I have spent the last 15 years hiking and climbing the surrounding mountains, and have mountain bike the entire road in the background. The terrain in the area is very rocky, and surrounded by very large mountains and hills. How he was able to not kill himself in this extremely unforgiving terrain is a miracle. Great job landing in this area and being able to walk away uninjured.
 
I'm curious about this one. It appears to be a new aircraft since the first flight was around 12/27. I assume it was still in the first phase of flight testing and it flew out of Ramona. I would wonder where the flight test area was since it was reportaedly at 10,000 feet and ended up 10 miles away from the airport. I'll admit I don't know the process yet in depth, but this just struck me as being odd.

I had 75 nm radius, stay out of populated areas and towered fields. That is maximum. I set my own personal maximum of staying within glide range of my home airport for the first 10 hours. After that I ventured out, but always kept nearest private strip or better in my "direct to". This provided distance, heading, time, glide range marker on my GRT. Also kept 11-12 qts in the sump which may buy you some time or make the fire bigger. I always hoped for more time. Everyone's risk assesment is going to be different.
 
I agree, Good job getting this one down,given the number completed, the number of accidents seem higher for the 10. My first question is where did the oil go? What let loose? I have not heard of a 10 nose wheel dig in and cart wheel like a 6,7,9 is want to do.Sorry to see a new project down,Glad everyone walked away.

We have had two nose gears broke off in the past two weeks, one on pavement and one in dirt. I would think that the heavier airframe, longer fuselage, larger HS/Elevator makes a big difference. It does make me feel a little better about an emergency landing now.
 
Update from Dave Saylor on Matronics site

I spoke to Jerry Jackson on the phone today. *He's a friend of my airplane partner and was gracious enough to describe his recent forced landing in a lot of detail for me, and said I could make a post about it to the Matronics list. *AirCrafters wasn't involved in his build in any way, except that Jerry got a ride from my partner a few years ago and decided to build based partially on that experience. *From my notes:


Jerry had been flying his plane for one week. *It was his fourth flight with six hours on the Hobbs. *He had flown for two hours the day before. *His habit had been to decowl after every flight to look for trouble. *He landed at two airports in his test area and practiced some steep turns. *He departed Aqua Caliente (L54) and climbed to 8500 feet. *Note that the terrain in the area (33 *00.143, *-116 *42.912) includes very little flat land, peaks above 6000 feet, and deep canyons. *He was headed back to his test base, Ramona airport (RNM), when he noticed oil pressure dropping. *The plane is equipped with a 3-screen Garmin G3X panel, which includes a complete engine monitor.


He said at first he thought the reading was erroneous, but it kept dropping evenly. *20 miles from RNM he called the tower and declared an emergency. *There was no smell of oil and no visible oil leak. *As the pressure went to 0 his RPM rose, since the governor had no oil to work with, and at that point he knew he had a true emergency.


17 miles from Ramona, the engine seized and stopped.
He slowed to a good glide speed and being already on frequency, he requested vectors to anything flat. *He was given a heading to Flying T Ranch but realized immediately he couldn't glide that far. *Just ahead he could see a deep North-South canyon (San Diego River). *He estimated he could glide into it but not over it. *Opting not to glide to the bottom of a rocky canyon, he turned south to parallel the canyon rim. *He saw a road (Eagle Peak Rd.) and followed it south. *On seeing a few parked cars, he picked the most gentle hillside and glided into some low brush, uphill, with flaps down at 50-55 knots.


The nose gear tore off almost immediately. *He later found it sticking out of the ground ?like a plumber's water pipe?. *He noted that his 406 MHz ELT had activated. *He was concerned that the authorities would call his home looking for him, only to reach his wife who didn't know what was going on. *He got out and attempted a call to Ramona on a handheld. *This part is cool?an RV-4 in the area had heard his distress call and headed his way. *The -4 found him and was able to relay some info from Jerry to Ramona, and pass on the exact location to ATC. *It took a hiker with a smartphone to get a text message to his wife, however, right after the Air Force called her. *The fire department arrived 45 minutes after landing and gave him a ride back to town.


In Jerry's estimation, the airframe is most likely destroyed. *He said there were buckles in the sheet metal in many places, including the tunnel and the panel (wow!). *But he said over and over that he thought Van's designed a great plane that protected him when he needed it, bent where it should have and stayed together where it had to.


This was his third engine from Aerosport Power. *He's a repeat offender having built a Murphy Moose and a -6A. *He put 1600 hours on his last RV. *All the oil was concentrated on the right side but he hasn't been able to determine yet what happened. *If I hear I'll try to post any news.


Personally, I think he did a great job flying, navigating, and communicating, in that order. *He took appropriate action, slowed to glide speed, didn't stall too high, he found a place to land, and he managed to be found by ground, air, and space. *And he walked away. *Good job!

Dave Saylor
831-750-0284 CL
 
Thanks Dave.... shows what clear, level-headed thinking and an RV can do for us! Thanks to his Guardian angel.

Best,
 
Well done.

Looks like a excellent job, making the most of a bad situation and keeping a cool head. Aeroplanes can be replaced people can't!

Peter
 
Yep, has to be said, outstanding piece of flying & airmanship. And an outstanding aircraft that he's shown it in!
 
Any news on what caused the failure?

I got a chance to see the airplane today. It is getting looked over at a repair shop in Ramona. The wing tips are trashed. Lower cowl crushed. Exhaust flattened. Leading edge on one wing is badly crumpled. Tank on the other wing has a big ding in it. Some fairly bad damage to the right side flooring behind the firewall. The rear spar attach brackets for the left wing were badly bent back - which probably happened when they removed the wings. The most significant damage was to the engine mount, front gear and firewall. The center interior tunnel had some wrinkles. One blade of the prop is bent. Tires were flattened. A very sobering sight.

IMG_0102-M.jpg


The cause of the loss of oil appears to be the oil pressure hose wasn't tightened down on the restrictor fitting coming out of the engine. The hose disconnected and the oil started coming out. The firewall was completely coated with oil. Very lucky not to have had a fire.
 
Thank you for the update.
Once again, this pilot exhibited superior airmanship and skill during an engine emergency. I sincerely hope the pilot will recover from the loss of the RV-10
and jump back on the horse as soon as possible.
Based on the description of the accident airplane, it is pretty clear that the RV10
suffered substantial impact damage but very little damage to the cabin, at least
not the kind that would have injured the pilot or passengers.
 
I'm very, very happy with the outcome of this event. However, there is an important lesson here. This is what makes VAF such a great site....an oil pressure hose came off...the builder's fault. I'm not taking anyone down but it is what it is.

The builder is the final authority and I'm sure that this builder was as consciencious as any of us but missed a critical connection. Perhaps another set of trained/experienced eyes might have caught this....I don't know. Why did the DAR miss it? Do most DAR's even check all oil and fuel hose connections physically with a wrench? Dunno.

I'm impressed with the pilot's clear-headed thinking and min-speed approach ending with what I consider, a wonderful end result.

Food for thought,

Best,
 
I have seen a number of installations where the restrictor was not fitted - just a normal AN fitting. This will surely let the oil spill out much quicker compared to when the proper restrictor (VA128) has been fitted.

This is just a comment - not speculating that the accident AC did not have the correct restrictor fitted.

This brings me to the next question. Assuming that your oil level was OK before the flight, how long will it take to spill out as it happened here, before the pilot will notice a drop in pressure and the RPM starting to fluctuate.
 
The .040" orifice will flow approximately 1 Qt/minute. Once the fitting starts loosening there should be a drop in oil pressure indication. From there about 8 minutes of oil flow considering most maintain an 8 qt oil level.

I am glad he made it down safely and we have learned the cause. What I will take away from this: Torque then apply torque stripe to all critical connections. Get extra sets of eyes to look over critical items. Maintain 10-11 Qts of oil during phase 1. Remain within glide distance of home airport for 10 hrs. Set minimum oil pressure alarm 5 psi under normal hot wx cruise pressure for earlier warning. A bottom camera and in-cockpit monitor would be nice during phase 1. Fly the plane to a survivable landing site just like he did.
 
oil line

To expand a bit on what Pierre posted, this type of event seems to be happening much too often.
First the builder should go over each critical area several times.
Second, if available, progressive inspections by and EAA technical counselor.
Third the DAR. If you have a choice, select a DAR who will "nit pick" things. You DO NOT want a DAR who simply fills out the paperwork.

The EAA tech counseler program is in somewhat of a state of disorganization. Hopefully focus will be placed on improving this program.
If you don't like the EAA program, hire an experienced A&P, or even an experienced EAB builder. Whatever you choose, brief the person that you want them to look at every connection/fastening on the airplane.
 
If it is not too much trouble, could you post a picture of the loose fitting.
I don't have a picture of that. Let me describe it. The restrictor fitting was solidly in the engine. The oil pressure line was simply disconnected from the restrictor fitting and hanging from the firewall where the line heads up to the sender.
 
N262NJ is back in the air

Well, I'm happy to report that my RV-10, N262NJ, "the Urban Coyote" flew again last week for the first time since its January 5 crash near Julian. Cruiseair (in Ramona) did an amazing job repairing the plane. I was able to monitor their repairs fairly regularly, and they are true craftsmen.

I got to fly the plane this morning, and as was the case back in January, she's superb in every way.

For those that may be interested, I'm finishing a short book about the crash, called "Four Minutes." There were a lot of things I learned during that experience, and I attribute living through it to (not in any order): Van's "survivable" design (which no one talks about); the Crow seat belt/harness (which I complained about during installation, but now love and whole-heartedly recommend); and -- surprisingly -- having made almost 2000 skydives with six "malfunctions", which gave me insight into that world of terror and panic, when you MUST perform during an emergency, and into "off-field" landings without power.

I want to thank everyone on this forum for their well wishes and kind words, and will let you know how it goes, now that the Urban Coyote is howling again.

Jerry Jackson
 
Congratulations Jerry!

Looking forward to seeing it in person and a ride once Phase 1 is complete.

E
 
Excellent news, Jerry. Please post here about your book once it's available. I'm quite interested in hearing your perspectives about this.

--
Stephen
 
Jerry,
Way to go on all counts. Superior airmanship and back on the horse that bucked you off as soon as possible. I am looking forward to reading your book!
 
Wow Jerry a message of inspiration to many I'm certain. I'd like to know when you get your book out. Let us know please, would love to get a copy.
 
Coyote!

Looking forward to the aviation records the Coyote is going to achieve. Should I dare say, "Urban Phoenix"? hehe

Godspeed Jerry!
 
Good to hear you are back in the air. Something I didn't see in the previous thread - would you mind talking about the engine damage and repair. I've seen a lot of stuff about prop strikes (including my own) but not much about seized engines. Best wishes for your continued flying.
 
I'm not anywhere close to even having an engine but I have read about a few incidents where failure of a self built oil line or a oil line disconnect have resulted in an aircraft on the ground. I'm not sure that the importance of these engine connections is being emphasized enough. I'm paranoid about such things so I'll probably buy pressure tested hoses, torque them down, mark them with torque seal and if safety wire is a possibility I'll do that too. I'll want to make sure that I minimize that risk as much as possible.
 
Excellent news

and congratulations on getting your RV-10 back into flying condition and
yourself back in the pilot's saddle.
Building and finishing an airplane is an enormous task and having to go through what you did is an act of great perseverance and unwavering pursuit to completing your RV-10.
I wish you many happy flying hours in your new 10 and I hope we'll meet up some day.
 
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