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Maya and a Hot Cylinder

bsacks05

Well Known Member
I made arrangements to fly Maya, a two or three year old black lab from Perry, GA to Ocala, Fl. today. A flight I have done many times. Maya was within 30 minutes of the hangman's noose when a rescue was arranged and a permanent home was found for her in Miami. Maya is a beautiful dog, full of life, friendly, playful, and has good teeth. I'm not quite sure of her history but she ended up abandoned and at a shelter.

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Jennifer and her son drove her down to Perry from Atlanta and we loaded Maya in my RV9. At around 1000 we departed PXE. At about 20 miles out and climbing, I noticed that my #1 cylinder was abnormally high and getting hotter. I leveled off at 5500ft and reduced power to see if things stabilized. The other cylinders were indicating normally but #1 was indicating over 500 deg. and red lined. That was NOT normal and the only thing to do, in my mind, was to turn around and head home. I informed Jax control that I was heading back. I reduced power and entered a shallow descent towards PXE. The temp for #1 lowered to around 475 and still lower as I entered the pattern and reduced power further. We were #2 in the pattern behind a Piaggio...now that is a unique aircraft. :)

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Obviously, the RV was grounded until the issue can be fixed. Fortunately, Jennifer was still at the airport when I announced 10 miles out that I was returning on the CTAF. She, her son, Jacob, and Pat, who works at the airport met me as I parked in front of my hangar. It was decided that Pat would fly all of us down to Ocala in his Cessna 210 Centurion to meet Maya's connecting flight to Miami! Thanks Pat! :)

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I had never flown in a plane such as a C210. Wow, no rubbing shoulders! Retracts! Big Engine! We cruised at RV speeds and burned twice the fuel but, man, is that plane roomy! Four of us with a big dog were very comfortable. I sat in the right seat and maintained heading and altitude while Pat worked the radios. A rock solid plane and a very enjoyable flight.

We landed in Ocala around 1415 and handed off Maya to Tim and his girlfriend who were to fly her to Miami in a Bonanza. Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch in the Tailwinds Cafe with my sister who lives in Ocala. "One bacon cheeseburger with onion rings, please!" :D

We loaded up in the 210 and made it back to Perry around 1700. A great day and a win, win, win for everyone. Maya got a new life, Jennifer and Jacob had their first small airplane ride and loved it, and I got to experience a flying moment which tested my decision making. I'm sure it won't take long to find and fix the problem.

See y'all at Sun N Fun!
 
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Good decision

Hey Bruce,
Glad to see you made the right decision. I don't know how to troubleshoot it but you know if you need an extra hand you know I'll be glad to help you out.

By the way, feel free to come finish my tanks for me :)
 
Great story - good rescue

Bruce,

Thanks for helping a pup in need.

We had to scrub a Boxer rescue for a bad alternator one time and another RVer picked up the slack immediately.

Gotta love airplane people!
 
I will certainly post my findings here regarding the high temps on #1. I am anxious to get at it but will probably have to wait a couple more days. I have, however, started a list of things to check starting with the CHT probe and including, compression check, cooling fin blockage, induction air leak, plugs, timing, etc.. Any other ideas are welcome.
 
I will certainly post my findings here regarding the high temps on #1. I am anxious to get at it but will probably have to wait a couple more days. I have, however, started a list of things to check starting with the CHT probe and including, compression check, cooling fin blockage, induction air leak, plugs, timing, etc.. Any other ideas are welcome.

Injectors if you got 'em...Pierre just went through something similar.
 
No injectors, but thanks. Keep the ideas coming. I need to get this fixed. Can't stand the thought of my RV being grounded for any length of time. :mad:
 
I would not rule out a probe problem. What was EGT? I would expect some rise in EGT.

This is demonstrative of why 4-cylinder monitoring rocks. If this is indeed a mechanical issue and if you had been in an old store-bought plane with a single CHT probe on Cylinder #3 you never would have known there was an issue until the fan stopped.

The only thing I would have done differently was told the Piaggio driver to burn a little more JET-A and get the heck out of the way. :D
 
Hot Cylinder Issued Resolved

I finally got a chance this morning to look at the #1 cylinder temp issue. I started with the most obvious thing first and looked at the temp probe. Sure enough, the outer insulation on the wire about 1 inch from the probe was nicked. With the engine cold, the monitor indicated ambient temp, about 50deg, for the other three cylinders and over 300deg for #1. :eek: I must have nicked the wire or pinched it when I was reinstalling my mag after its 500 hr inspection. One of the thermocouple wires was severed. I was able to splice it back together and it now indicates correctly.
No flying today due to winds but I may be able to do a flight/ops check tomorrow.
I love simple fixes. Yay!
 
That's fantastic, Bruce. Those are the type of maintenance issues I like to see. :)
 
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