Your most harrowing experience
12-05-2012, 04:11 AM
#31
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2008
Position: Sleeping in the black swan’s nest.
Posts: 5,725
01-08-2013, 12:24 PM
#32
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2012
Position: 767 FO
Posts: 135
The first time I had a valve stick in a 4 cylinder Cessna 177. I was a young man doing pipeline patrol. Apparently it's a common problem on Lycoming Engines. Especially when you run them hot at 500' in South Louisiana during the summer.
Lesson learned - valves stick less when you run them cool by enriching the mixture a little above where you'd normally keep it if you fly at normal altitudes. Also learned that a Cardinal does ok on 3 cylinders.
Lesson learned - valves stick less when you run them cool by enriching the mixture a little above where you'd normally keep it if you fly at normal altitudes. Also learned that a Cardinal does ok on 3 cylinders.
01-08-2013, 03:14 PM
#33
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2012
Position: Holding over Macho Grande
Posts: 602
I was on my first solo XC in a Piper Trauma-hawk, completing 1 of 3 planned T&Gs at a controlled airport with all of 19 hrs TT in my logbook, when all of a sudden there was a loud BANG and bad vibrations began shaking the whole plane. I was at approx. 400 ft. on climbout and didn't know what was wrong save that I saw I was rapidly losing oil pressure. But somehow the motor kept running and I wasn't losing any significant power, prompting me to momentarily consider trying to make it back to my home field (did I mention I was very green?).
Fortunately, the angel that rides on my shoulder gave me a strong nudge and I called the tower to tell them I had some kind of engine trouble and was returning to land. They asked me if I wanted to declare an emergency and I told them "no".
So, I turned left to return (this runway was right traffic), flew right over/above the tower, turned base/final short of the numbers, landed, and taxied to the FBO...the engine making an ungodly noise the entire time and the shaking never stopped until I pulled the mixture to idle-cutoff. When I got out, I could see a line of oil stretching all the way back to where I had turned off the runway for taxi.
Long-story made short: it turned out that the #3 cylinder barrel wall had failed due to what was determined to be a manufacturing defect. At 700 SMOH metal fatigue had caused the cylinder barrel wall to separate in half on a compression stroke, and the subsequent ignition had blown the upper half of the cylinder barrel along with the entire cylinder head up & out through the engine cowling, leaving the piston to bang freely against what was left of the cowling on that side (hence all the crazy vibrations and noise).
I was so green I didn't know enough to be scared, just perplexed.
On another occasion I barely missed a mid-air by about 20 feet in the traffic pattern at an uncontrolled airport with some jack**s who wasn't using a radio. Had to change my shorts after that one, but it taught me to look in ALL directions in the traffic pattern at an uncontrolled field and to remember that yes...there ARE stupid people who choose to fly without comms in spite of the fact that we're living in the 21st century.
Frankly, this all seems very tame to some of the other stories already posted. My apologies to those I've made yawn with this post.
Fortunately, the angel that rides on my shoulder gave me a strong nudge and I called the tower to tell them I had some kind of engine trouble and was returning to land. They asked me if I wanted to declare an emergency and I told them "no".
So, I turned left to return (this runway was right traffic), flew right over/above the tower, turned base/final short of the numbers, landed, and taxied to the FBO...the engine making an ungodly noise the entire time and the shaking never stopped until I pulled the mixture to idle-cutoff. When I got out, I could see a line of oil stretching all the way back to where I had turned off the runway for taxi.
Long-story made short: it turned out that the #3 cylinder barrel wall had failed due to what was determined to be a manufacturing defect. At 700 SMOH metal fatigue had caused the cylinder barrel wall to separate in half on a compression stroke, and the subsequent ignition had blown the upper half of the cylinder barrel along with the entire cylinder head up & out through the engine cowling, leaving the piston to bang freely against what was left of the cowling on that side (hence all the crazy vibrations and noise).
I was so green I didn't know enough to be scared, just perplexed.
On another occasion I barely missed a mid-air by about 20 feet in the traffic pattern at an uncontrolled airport with some jack**s who wasn't using a radio. Had to change my shorts after that one, but it taught me to look in ALL directions in the traffic pattern at an uncontrolled field and to remember that yes...there ARE stupid people who choose to fly without comms in spite of the fact that we're living in the 21st century.
Frankly, this all seems very tame to some of the other stories already posted. My apologies to those I've made yawn with this post.
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