Engine out in IMC?

Today I got lucky, real lucky.

3 Months ago to the day our RV-10 was signed off from a Kit to an Airplane, today it experienced its first and hopefully last engine failure. With 58 hours on the Hobbs she had until this point been the best 4 place airplane I?ve ever flown.

I had flown some friends from Pearland TX over to Victoria so they could pick up their motor home. A very non-eventful flight, a little bumpy VFR down at 2000 AGL, but an overcast layer prevented any higher. Once there I decided that I would file IFR for the flight back, get on top and enjoy some tailwinds.

I left Victoria, climbed to 7000 and enjoyed some much needed sunlight. Houston Center was their normal cheerful self; all in all, life was good. I was cleared down to 4000, as luck would have the Overcast layer had also dropped a few thousand feet so I remained on Top? wow so nice, still don?t have to be in the clunk! Center switched me to Approach, we agreed upon the GPS approach back to Pearland, and I was cleared to the IAF. Up until this point everything was absolutely great!

I started my decent out of 4, down to 3000 going direct the IAF? At 3400 ft, that?s when the adrenalin started pumping. Now I?ll be honest, I don?t? know if I heard the prop fluctuate or not, but something got my attention. I did a quick engine check and saw that EGT?s where high? very very high. I knew immediately I had a problem, but I had no idea just how bad the problem was. Training kicked in and Mixture to rich, boost pump on, tank switch. The EGT?s came down, but they didn?t stop coming down. When I saw them drop below 200 or so, and I was getting no reaction what-so-ever from the throttle? Well, Houston We Have A Problem.

I declared the Emergency? If you ever want to hear a frequency go totally quiet, just use those words. Informed Approach of a total power failure and requested vectors to the nearest airport. Houston Approach was for the most part absolutely wonderful. Without missing a beat they informed me that Brazoria was 7?Oclock and 5 miles. I IMMEDIATELY started the turn and realized that with my now wonderful tailwind turned headwind, there was no way I was going to make it.

Let me back up just a bit? All this is happing IMC. I entered the overcast layer at about 3800 FT, bases are reported anywhere between 1000-1500 depending on which ASOS you listen to.

Continuing on?. Not going to make Brazoria, I know I have to do something. Glancing at my EFIS Map I see that ? a mile away is a private strip that Center probably didn?t even know existed. I turn directly at that airport (7R9), informed Approach where I was going, then I waited, and waited, and waited?. Not much else I could think to do at the time. Still IMC. Engine Out. I didn?t really think I?d be in this situation, ever.

? mile from the airport, at 1300 ft I break out. Guys & Gals, I haven?t been so happy to see a perfectly mowed grass strip in my life! A quick turn away to burn Airspeed and Altitude, slip to final, and down we come. The landing went perfect, it was downwind. I didn?t care, the airplane didn?t care. The prop finally quit windmilling in the flair, telling me that it really was dead, as if I didn?t know.

I managed to get us (me and the plane) on the ground, unhurt, out of that situation. Is it all skill, well I?d like to think so? but I know better! I got lucky, very lucky.


What went wrong? The short version: a fuel line broke.

The long version: During final assembly it came to my attention that people with the Fuel Flow transducer in the ?Tunnel? where experiencing FF fluctuation when using the electric pump. The fix? Move the FF Transducer to between the Fuel Injection Servo and the Spider. Well, that?s what I did. When I relocated the Transducer I had to fabricate a line between the Servo and the Transducer. The line I fabricated was ? inch aluminum, that was the flaw. That line broke just outside the fitting. When I made that line I made sure it wasn?t under any stress, in a natural position, etc. Apparently that was not enough. Now, I will say this. This was the one component of the airplane I was never quite happy with. It just ?didn?t look right?. I had some other builders take a look, half heartedly hoping they would tell me that aluminum was bad and I should change it, but no one did. So it stayed, and worked fine for 58 hours.



I blame no one but myself for what happened. A part of me knew that that line wasn?t right, yet I talked myself into believing it was fine. Don?t ever short change your gut? most of the time its got good instincts!

She?s now grounded, awaiting Stainless Tubing so I can make the fuel like the way I originally envisioned. Parts should be here next week, and the adventure will continue.

Now comes the part where I?d like to thank the people that helped me stay alive today!

First my Father, Kirk. You see, I started flying Ultralights at 14, and it was he who preached at me to practice engine outs. They where 2 strokes, and it wasn?t ?if? they would quit, it was ?when?. I never lost an engine flying Ultralights, but I sure practiced.

My Flight Instructors. All you guys (and there has been a few..) who would randomly pull power, then say ?Now what??

Rob Hickman and the entire crew at Advanced Flight Systems. Without those awesome EFIS?s (and I really do mean awesome) I probably would have never known that the airport I landed at was there. It didn?t show up on the 430, Approach didn?t know, and I was stuck IMC. And the data logging.. wow. I poured over every second of that flight to find out when exactly I converted from ASEL to Glider? Having that data is invaluable.

John Cram (build partner) and Rick Carr for selfless gathering their own tools and driving to my rescue. With their help we where able to fabricate a new fuel line ferry the airplane the 22 miles home.

The entire group of local airport bums that showed up to offer a helping hand. I only wish I could remember each and everyone?s name, but that is not my strong suit. I owe all of you at least a beer!

Last but not least? Brazoria County Constables and Sheriff?s (no less than 5) who showed up, lights and sirens agoin, to come to my rescue. Thankfully I didn?t need it, but it sure is nice to know that help is on the way.

In case anyone wants to know how fast this happens. Total time from Me turning on the Fuel Pump to wheels on the ground: 2 Minutes 46 seconds.

WELL DONE!!

First of all; BIG congratulations with a job well done!
Sounds like you did all the right things at the right moment!
And very well done to keep a cool head in a VERY bad situation! Engine failure in IMC sure is a BIG challenge to anyone!

Very nice write up too! And alot to learn from for everyone.

Did you notice any results of the fuelspray from the leaking fuelline under the cowling? Was the fuelspray close to the exhaustpipes for example?

Once again: WELL DONE!!

Nick,
Anyones worst nightmare!! Quite a story. We all hope that when or if that day comes for us that we will be able to handle the situation as well. Great job of keeping a cool head..
Ryan

Great job in an emergency situation; your training, and a cool head saved the day. Now, on to the repair; I do not like the stainless steel alternative. It is still a rigid line in a vibration environment. I would much rather see you use flexible hose to make those connections or to move the sensor back to the cockpit. Are some minor fuel flow disruptions during the infrequent use of the electric boost pump really worth the worry?
Again, you handled yourself very well in what has to be a worst case scenario, please take my suggestions as constructive criticism.

Always Learning

Nick:
One of the things I enjoy about aviation is that I always seem to be learning; whether flying alone, with students, or just reading about it. I'm leaving for the airport this morning to re-set my GPS to show ALL AIRPORTS when I hit the nearest function. Great story. Great job.
Terry, CFI
RV-9A N323TP

Wow Nick!!

...I'd like to think 'providence' but that's just me.

I'm mostly impressed with the AFS information and not on the 430! A huge bullet dodged .....thanks to 'experimental' EFIS's and your clear headedness during a very tough situation.

Thanks for telling,

Well done Nick. Well done!

Nick,

Outstanding job and nice writeup, While reading I felt like I was in the aircraft with you but hopefully you won't mind me saying I am glad I was not.

I would also like to put in my 2 cents on the hard fuel line and the transducer location. Sometime back I saw a picture on this forum that had the trasducer mounted just up stream from the throttle body clamped horizontally with a hard line. I wished I had sent that builder a note but did not. My advice is the same as the earlier post, flexible lines with fire sleeve in front of the firewall and the transducer back in the tunnel.

Only recomendations.

Pat

Good job

Well done on thinking clearly and using your available resources. Glad all turned out well and that you took the time to share the story. All us builders need to constantly stop and review what we are doing, have done and ensure everything is done properly-no short cuts, no "good enoughs" when it comes to safety. While other builders visits sometimes slow me down with all the chat...I always figured the more eyes on the build the better. So much to learn and lots of better ways to do things.

Enjoy the new and improved 10. Fly safe.

Amazing story. Yes, there was skill involved.

My initial thought upon seeing the failure was "flexible line."

Unbelievable story!

Great job flying the airplane, getting it into that little grass strip and reporting it in such a lucid way. The reader is right there with you all the way.

Good job, this is an experience you will never forget.

Amazing how quickly things can change from "Life's Good to aws%$$%%"

More skill than luck in my opinion.

JPI Instructions

Just a note from JPI about install of transducers.

There must be flexible hose in and out of the Transducer. The hoses must meet TSO-C53a Type C or D FAA
specification. The new hoses must be the same diameter as the current hose in the aircraft.
4. Mount the Fuel Flow Transducer in the fuel supply line and in the return line. The Flow Transducer
must be wrapped with Fire Sleeving. Place a small hole in the fire sleeve and pass the transducer wires through it. Seal with
High temperature Silicone RTV sealant.

Fuel lines

First off, great job of piloting and calm thinking.

Now for everyone else that is reading this; NEVER NEVER did you get it, NEVER use aluminum tubing in the engine compartment, not even on the firewall, and especially on the engine. We don't run turbines here. Personally I don't like stainless steel tubing on the engine either. The correct material of choice on all fuel lines on the engine side of the firewall and on the engine is fire sleeved Teflon hose. Yea, yea I know it's expensive. In the end, what's it all worth???

Don

+1

Pat Stewart said:

Nick,

Outstanding job and nice writeup, While reading I felt like I was in the aircraft with you but hopefully you won't mind me saying I am glad I was not.

I would also like to put in my 2 cents on the hard fuel line and the transducer location. Sometime back I saw a picture on this forum that had the trasducer mounted just up stream from the throttle body clamped horizontally with a hard line. I wished I had sent that builder a note but did not. My advice is the same as the earlier post, flexible lines with fire sleeve in front of the firewall and the transducer back in the tunnel.

Only recomendations.

Pat

Click to expand...

Do not re-install the same mistake please. As you now know, a hose would not have allowed this particular failure. A SS line will last a bit longer, but will most likely fail in the same manner.

In any case, congrats on your discipline once the event started.

Carry on!
Mark

I'm glad everything turned out so well for you Nick.
And your great experience with the vital information from your Advanced Flight Systems EFIS is very impressive to me and may have just solved my EFIS decision. But my big complaint is with JEPPESON....that private airport information should have been in your Garmin 430 database which is provided to you by Jeppeson! I made this very complaint to the the Jeppeson rep at Sun-N-Fun last week. The rep tried to be helpful, he didn't know why that information was not in the Jepp database which we have to purchase for our GPSs, so he called his home office. What we were told is that anyone owning a private airport MUST PAY JEPPESON to have their information be a part of the database.

I find this very maddening.

I went to two private airports about two weeks ago in North Atlanta area, one to visit a friend and another to look at an RV-6 for possible purchase.
I found suprisingly that neither private airport was in my Garmin GNC 250XL database but was on the sectional AND in the free aviation information site, AIRNAV. (Bravo AirNav)

JEPPESON has always promoted itself as THE EXPERTS in aviation information yet these expensive purchases of supposedly the most complete databases available have proved to be very lacking AND dangerous in an emergency situation.

Thank goodness Rob Hickson and AFS had the vital information you needed when your life depended on it.

WHY DIDN'T JEPPESON!

There should some other source to nav database information for our Garmins!
One that is complete and reliable....our lives depend on it!

Perhaps Jeppeson and Garmin are making themselves very vulnerable to an expensive lawsuit by someone in the future because their bad business policies.




Glenn Wilkinson
RV-4
N654RV @ MLJ

glenn654 said:

Perhaps Jeppeson and Garmin are making themselves very vulnerable to an expensive lawsuit by someone in the future because their bad business policies.

Glenn Wilkinson
RV-4
N654RV @ MLJ

Click to expand...

Or maybe by not including private (unmonitored) strips they want to avoid a lawsuit from the estate of someone who hit the tractors and loads of haybales parked on a private strip................

But I agree, having the private strip info is a great aid. Every time I fly over one in our area I punch in a user waypoint on my GPS.

And Nick, you did everything right in getting your -10 safely on the ground!

Jep/Garmin

Here I am with the "finest system on the market" Garmin 900X and I cannot find a private airport. I too tried to get Garmin or Jep to add private airports but got the same run around.

Worse yet if you add the airport as a Waypoint. The Garmin will yell at you Terrain Terrain every time you take off or land.

Common Garmin/Jep lets makes these units safer!!!

Gary Specketer

Outstanding job Nick!

Being intimately familiar with the area as I am, I STILL had to go look up 7R9 just now, to see where the heck it was. That's pretty obscure, and I bet that eight out of ten Angleton pilots couldn't tell you it's there. But as you say, it's in the AFS database. It's in the GRT database, as well as the Garmin 696 database. (Heck, did you know about the "heliport" in someone's backyard over between the tall tower and the HEB? It's in the 696 database....)

Let's face it - the 430 (and other certified navigators) is designed to rigid rules promulgated by the FAA for IFR use that only recognizes "real" airports (by their definition) - pavement, lights, approaches, etc. We have them in the airplanes because we HAVE to - the more modern stuff simply blows it away. When manufacturers of experimental or "non-certified" equipment can use their own creativity and common sense, we get far, far more useful equipment.

Engine out in IMC - I guess that at least you knew you were over flat terrain, and if nothing better appeared, you could start a flair when the altimeter hit 100 feet and see what you got. But it had to be pretty spooky - congratulations for the great save!

Paul

GPS

I just changed my GPS properties to show all fields!!! Thnks for posting! this does help us all!

As I was reading the first post, I also started muttering "Flex Hose/Firesleeve".

Glad others here have the same opinion.

Also, gotta add my Congrats on a masterful handling of a messy situation.

You done good

Fantastic work Nick

That's just about all the seat cushion any pilot should have to suck in a good long while - nice work.

You had a 1500' or so ceiling, which went a long way to making the approach and landing on a prepared surface a possibility.

Now that you've done the 2:46 powerless high-dive, how do you feel about single engine IFR with low ceilings, like less than 1000'? Does this event give you a reason to change your outlook on IFR in a single engine airplane?

Thanks for a GREAT writeup...

A wise old sage once told me...

Bill Wightman said:

Does this event give you a reason to change your outlook on IFR in a single engine airplane?

Thanks for a GREAT writeup...

Click to expand...

...that the three dangers in flying consist of:
1) Bad weather
2) Low fuel
3) Nighttime....and that you could handle any of them alone but not any two at the same time.

He had no power but did have daytime (Imagine the same difficulty at night)....that system still works and is part of my criteria when I file, Bill,

Best,

Wow, scary stuff!

"I had some other builders take a look, half heartedly hoping they would tell me that aluminum was bad and I should change it, but no one did. So it stayed, and worked fine for 58 hours"


Great Great Job Nick, had me glued to the screen reading your story.

But...Somebody should have caught this and said something, aluminum tube in the FWF area is just a disaster waiting to happen.

I love the RV community, a great bunch of folks... only problem is many of the folks building these great machines have zero aircraft experience and don't know whats good and whats not, in this business the "I didn't know" may get you killed.

Anyway rather than just preach good build practices and continuous maintenance as the keys to eliminating mechanical failures, I'd like to offer my services to the folks in the TX area... I'll be happy to come look at your plane, tell you what I see wrong and give you a list of what I think needs to be fixed (if it hurts your feelings thats to bad ).

If I can help prevent just one person from having a bad day like this (and don't kid yourself, Nick was VERY lucky) then I feel like I will have done something real to help both the RV community and experimental aviation as a whole.

Walt said:

snip....Anyway rather than just preach good build practices and continuous maintenance as the keys to eliminating mechanical failures, I'd like to offer my services to the folks in the TX area... I'll be happy to come look at your plane, tell you what I see wrong and give you a list of what I think needs to be fixed (if it hurts your feelings thats to bad ).

If I can help prevent just one person from having a bad day like this (and don't kid yourself, Nick was VERY lucky) then I feel like I will have done something real to help both the RV community and experimental aviation as a whole.

Click to expand...

Walt, you make the community a better place!

Nick, your story prompted me to turn on private airports in my Garmin G3X EFIS. Here's hoping I never use the feature <g>.

Fuel Systems

In my mind, the main lesson of this thread is about innovation in the
fuel system. A poor decision long ago during the building process
is what lead directly to a bit too much excitement and the need for
"luck and skill" when the fan stopped.

As Mike S, Don R. and others have already implied, don't get creative
on fuel system design. Follow the instructions that come with the
components and use only "standard" methods. This means
flexible hoses and firesleeve forward of the firewall.

In ten years of tech counseling, the fuel system is one of
the areas that I always focus on closely. I hope there isn't a
T.C. out there who would not complain about aluminum fuel lines
in the engine compartment. Stainless lines might be better, but
you won't know how much better until they fail (or not). Why take
that chance when there is a proven solution available?

- Dan Benua
T.C., Repeat Offender

Stainless Steel?

With all the comments about using flex fuel line FWF, why was my engine built with stainless steel between the fuel distributor and the cylinders? I think this is common practice is it not?
Should this be change?

Kent

4 cents

I provided my 2 cents in an earlier post so I guess I am up to 4 cents with this one. I again suggest the transducer in the tunnel not forward wrapped with fire sleeve, way to much vibration and two more joints to fail in a high risk area.

My 4 cents.

Pat Stewart

Kent,
Those lines are mounted to the engine and the engine only. It's where you go from the engine to something else that the problem occurs. We were lucky in that somebody caught our mistake long before we even started our engine for the first time.

Kent, yes the injector lines between the flow divider and injectors are stainless. They are too small really for a flex line, and yes, they have killed many people. After a guy in Carolina pancaked his bonanza and burned his family, Continental finally got real picky about these lines. My 2 cents: Do not allow anything to contact these lines, do not tie ignition leads to them. I have found many chafed, leaking and cracked. We used to do our own field repairs with silver solder and ferrules, but no more. Also, everyone knows about the Lycoming stainless governor line AD. This is a fat stainless line that runs from front to back of engine. Doesn't touch anything stationary (like the mount) but will still break if not supported just right. The AD is very picky about clamping/support , but interestingly states you may replace the hard line with a flex line and basically route it any way you feel good about.

496?

DeltaRomeo said:

Walt, you make the community a better place!

Nick, your story prompted me to turn on private airports in my Garmin G3X EFIS. Here's hoping I never use the feature <g>.

Click to expand...

Is there a simular setting in the 496?

First off, I'm very happy to hear of the good turnout from this last flight.

Now to the hard/flex debate. I have just replaced a number of lines on the -8 and I can tell you that some were very poorly constructed by a prior person (I don't know if it was the builder or a subsequent mechanic). My question to the OP (and any one else for that matter) is: Did you properly dress and polish the flare/neck area prior to install? Most flare tools leave tooling marks that must be removed before the line is safe - The lines on this -8 not only still have these marks, but they look like a dog was chewing on them. Lines like this are a timebomb (literally!)

Personally, I avoid flex lines wherever possible. They are heavy, expensive, and bulky. They are a poor substitute for CORECTLY constructed and installed hard lines. The fact that they are easy is their only attribute, but that fact alone rarely "buys" entry onto an aircraft.

Pmerems said:

Is there a simular setting in the 496?

Click to expand...

The Garmin 495/496, 695/696, GDU 370/375 (G3X), and Aera family all have private airports in their navigation database for the United States and most of western Europe. Due to various reasons that are outside my realm of knowledge, the certified products (and those derived from certified products) do not.

mcb

Great job Nick, good example of clear thinking when the chips were down and executing your plan. You're so lucky there was no fire involved!

LIke previous posters, I too saw "red flags" when you described the aluminum line. I would sure join the chorus and replace that line and any other hard fuel lines with firesleeve wrapped braided teflon.

"Proven functional and safe" wins over "heavy, bulky and expensive" every time when you're talking about your fuel and oil system. I'm sure you'd agree that you would rather have had a line that was a smidgen heavier if it would not have failed.

Even with flex lines, I make it a point to inspect every oil and fuel line every time the cowl is off. When my fuel and oil lines were torqued on, I marked every one so I could see movement of the fitting (if it occurred) but I also look for cracks, stains and any other sign of failure.

Glad to have you with us!!

Bob Brown said:

"Proven functional and safe" wins over "heavy, bulky and expensive" every time when you're talking about your fuel and oil system. I'm sure you'd agree that you would rather have had a line that was a smidgen heavier if it would not have failed...

Click to expand...

Yes, I will give you that, if the builder is unwilling or unable to properly fabricate and install hard lines. Hard lines are, well, "hard" compared to flex hose, so definately go with hose if you are in doubt about your fabrication skills.

With that said though, we are building airplanes here, and hose is a LOT heavier than hard line. Extra weight is always bad if it serves no legitimate purpose.

Outstanding Nick! Definately some luck but lots of skill here. Engine out in the soup, break out at 1300' and nail the landing on a 2060' grass strip? Wow man!

Very easy to end up too short or way high. Great reminder to practice engine failures regularly and not just during your BFR.

First off, Thanks for the report. It is quite valuable to the rest of us.

On the topic of hard line, flex hose, and flow transducers. I've wondered, even with flex lines, about the possible failure of the aluminum straight fittings on each end of the transducer (replace those with steel), and the very soft aluminum transducer housing itself on the FF transducer provided by GRT. Comments?

kentb said:

With all the comments about using flex fuel line FWF, why was my engine built with stainless steel between the fuel distributor and the cylinders? I think this is common practice is it not?
Should this be change?

Kent

Click to expand...

This has been a standard practice for a long time. It is proven to have (mostly) good service but there has been A.D.'s issued on certain engine models over the years requiring recurrent inspections and/or the addition of more clamps to prevent vibration of the lines.

I am with everyone previously that said..."do not use a hard line for this installation". The problem probably occured because of a very slight vibration induced between the mass of the flow sensor and the fuel servo. No matter how solidly the flow sensor seemed to have been mounted, there may have still been a freq. that it (or the line) would vibrate at. A hose is the only correct thing to use in this application (IMO).

Aluminum vs Stainless vs Flex Line.

The sad part is, I originally fabricated and installed a Firesleeved, Stainless braided, and Teflon lined Flex line. The problem was I was not happy with the bend radius that the line had to take. That?s where the aluminum line came into play.

My original thought after all this happened was to make up a Stainless line with 630deg coil to act as a strain relief, preventing any future failures.

After seeing the majority pointing me back to my original Flex Line, I think that?s the route I?ll go. What needs to be done now is figure out the correct sequence of fittings that I can get a flex line on, without over bending it.


For those that asked about Traces of Fuel and Fire hazard. I didn?t address it last night simply because? well, that still has me a bit shaken. The Engine mount, nose gear, fairing, and part of the lower firewall are all ?Blue Stained? So yes, there was fuel, a lot of fuel. There was heat. Why was there no fire? I don?t have a clue. I?m a little mad at myself in that after I determined the engine was gone, I never turned the fuel selector off. Boost pump on, Fuel On, Broken fuel line (didn?t know it at the time) but I was pumping quite a bit of raw gas into the cowling.

Great job, Nick... Thanks for sharing.

scard said:

I've wondered, even with flex lines, about the possible failure of the aluminum straight fittings on each end of the transducer (replace those with steel), and the very soft aluminum transducer housing itself on the FF transducer provided by GRT.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I'm doing, Scott... I started swapping out the aluminum fittings for steel yesterday - starting at the firewall penetration.

They're much much heavier, but I like the piece of mind knowing that vibration shouldn't break the fitting and fire shouldn't melt it.

BTW - I've got braided Teflon lines for 100% the brakes and I'm planning the same thing for all the fuel/oil hoses too (even in the tunnel). Leaks scare the #@$#@ out of me and hard lines make me uncomfortable.

Phil

Probably the high quantity of fuel cooled everything down!

rvbuilder2002 said:

I am with everyone previously that said..."do not use a hard line for this installation". The problem probably occured because of a very slight vibration induced between the mass of the flow sensor and the fuel servo. No matter how solidly the flow sensor seemed to have been mounted, there may have still been a freq. that it (or the line) would vibrate at. A hose is the only correct thing to use in this application (IMO).

Click to expand...

I think Scott nailed it. When I decowled the broke line in question wasn't moved. I could find no outside stress's that would have caused the break. That tells me that there is indeed a harmonic that got started, and eventually led to the breakage.

Nick,

Were the flares/necks dressed? In other words, any tool marks?

Toobuilder said:

Nick,

Were the flares/necks dressed? In other words, any tool marks?

Click to expand...

Flares where dressed and debured. I can still see a slight tool mark from the flair tool, but I can't feel it. The line had a 20* bend starting almost immediately, I'm suspecting that that bend put pressure on the Fitting Collar causing a stress point. Hard to explain, I'll see if I can get some better pictures.

Bill Wightman said:

That's just about all the seat cushion any pilot should have to suck in a good long while - nice work.

You had a 1500' or so ceiling, which went a long way to making the approach and landing on a prepared surface a possibility.

Now that you've done the 2:46 powerless high-dive, how do you feel about single engine IFR with low ceilings, like less than 1000'? Does this event give you a reason to change your outlook on IFR in a single engine airplane?

Thanks for a GREAT writeup...

Click to expand...

IFR is a weird deal. The same with Night flying. Both are calculated risks. Really everything in aviation is a calculated risk. If the engine in my Truck dies, I pull over? we don?t have that option with the airplane. I haven?t done an Approach in a single engine airplane to below 1000-900 ft in probably 3 years. Its not because I won?t, it?s because I haven?t had the need. There just has not been a reason compelling enough to justify a trip where I know I?m going to end up doing an ILS. If the weather gets that bad, or I really really have to be there? I take the airline. So to answer your question? I don?t know. I don?t know if there is really anything to change, of course my attitude in general is hesitant? but I?ve never felt that I took un-necessary risks with the IFR environment.

Great job beating the odds!!!!

I originally had a hard aluminum "U" installed between my gascolator and the red cube mounted right above it.... The more I looked at it the more I did not like it so I replaced it with a SS "U"..... The more I looked at that the more I did not like it so I moved the FF sensor and now have flex lines fwd of the gascolator....

I am glad I trusted my gut on that one. I know several have that setup but I just could not stand it.

Nice work, and a great read.

{Deleted: question/more detail about fuel line for another thread}

Congratulation and so glad to hear a true nightmare has turned to a happy ending for you. A job well done.

Engine out scare me, even when I am practicing and on a clear VFR day.

However, in regards to the flexline vs. hard line, I just replaced my Flowscan with Red cube a couple of weeks ago and as a result I was talking to the tech support on EI about the installation. He was absolutely clear and adamant of no hard line to and from the transducer. I have installed mine in the tunnel between the electric pump and the mechanical and as such I am using the aluminum tube, but even that he was against it. I personally do not see any issues in the tunnel using the hard line specially that my transducer is physically mounted to the bottom skin, but I am considering of moving it FF but with flexible hoses. My fuel rate is very accurate where it is and have never experience any issues but it has only been 180+ hours so far.

Why Experiment?

DCat22 said:

Nice work, and a great read.

Not having built yet...but reading about some of the fuel line thought in this thread. Is something like this appropriate to use:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#braided-ptfe-hose/=6se5o6 (The "High-Pressure Static-Dissipative Braided Chemical Hose" for use with fuel/gas.)

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I'm sorry, but one of the things I am absolutely adamant and paranoid about is fuel systems. There are literally over 100 years of experience with aviation fuel systems that have developed specific materials and techniques - and the lessons that illustrate those methods and techniques are written in blood. If you're going to use flex lines, use aviation-grade fuel-rated hose. There are lots of things I will buy for the airplane from Mcmaster, Home Depot, or Ace....but fuel components aren't one of them.

Nick's experience is a good lesson for those of us who are Tech Counselors. Who can honestly say that his simple change would have caught their eye? I did an early TC visit on Nick's -10, back when it was basically a tail kit, and never got a chance to look at it again - but would I have caught this detail? Who knows.....which is why it is vitally important to have MANY sets of (hopefully educated) eyes and hands go over your project before you fly. I had a lot of mechanics and builders find little things before final inspection - and each missed things that others found.

Paul