My recent EFATO

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Member for

18 years 1 month

Posts: 2,123

So glad to hear that you are getting well enough to write this up.
Thanks for that very detailed and honest account. You did all the right things, it seems, and it paid off.
Reminds me of the day at Valley when I had an EFTO in the OUAS Chipmunk I was flying. 150 feet and sudden (almost) silence. Choice was sea, beach or the remaining runway. I chose the last and got away with it.
Turned out to be duff plugs.
Get even better soon.

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

An almost unique entry into the log book which all of us would hope not to replicate. A great resume which probably took a longer time to recall than actually happened in real time. Speedy recovery!

Member for

12 years 11 months

Posts: 6,535

Is carb iceing a realistic prospect on your a/c? Were conditions right for it?

Member for

12 years 5 months

Posts: 23

Thanks for that very lucid report Moggy - all the very best for a quick recovery & a prompt return to the sky. When I read accident reports I always try to imagine myself in the pilot's position & wonder if I would have handled the situation differently (not any better I hasten to add) in the hope that if, heaven forbid, anything similar was to happen to me I'd run on automatic - who knows & I hope I never find out.

Member for

17 years 5 months

Posts: 8,980

For what its worth Moggie, several years ago we had an instructor and student doing circuits at Hucknell, her student went wide in the circuit and the intructor asked him what he would do if he had an engine failure as below was nothing but houses, on the next circuit he kept it tight and all of a sudden the engine quit, she managed due to the tight circuit get it back onto Hucknell without any damage and a lesson well and truly learnt for the student.
Following a discussion I drove up to inspect the aircraft, It would start and run at idle, but any attempt to move the throttle the engine would quit, tried everything I knew, but couldn't find anything so it had to be carb related, as the engine had about 10 hours remaining (Lycoming 0-235 L2c) I swopped the carb and it was flown back to base to change the engine (after extensive checks / runs by me). An MOR was submitted and I annotated the paperwork accordingly that went away with the engine and carb (it went as a Core for a replacement engine from Lycoming). We never did find out why it stopped, nor what was wrong with the carb, which is a shame, as one would have liked to know.

Footnote,
Try pushing an aircraft on grass from one side of an airfield to the other end and opposite corner... I found aching muscles I never knew I had.

PS,

Nice of them to colour coordinate the blanket with your aircraft ;)

Member for

17 years 5 months

Posts: 8,980

There is another symptom i can think of that would have caused it, if it is a Lycoming.

Lycoming issued and SB a few years back that if an engine ever had a shock loading, the bolt on the aft end of the Crank needs to be replaced, they have had cases before in the States on engines that had prop strikes, although the engines were inspected they didn't have the bolt renewed, these subsequently failed, this holds the drive gear on the crank and that drives the oil pump, camshaft, fuel pump and mags, if it fails the gear isn't driven so the engine will just stop.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 4,996

I expect you'll be selling signed photographs of the incident in July Moggy ? :)

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

As a non-flyer (other than as passenger) I have found the detailed description of the incident, as well as the subsequent posts, extremely interesting and instructive. It puts me in mind of the post flight, normal or abnormal, reports test pilots were/are required to submit during the test/evaluation of prototype aircraft. Thank you for sharing the experience with us so vividly.

Member for

15 years 10 months

Posts: 686

Clearly not your best day, the only consolation being aircraft can be fixed/replaced people not so easy to fix and definitely not replaceable, not a pilot but have experienced that moment when silence replaces a healthy engine noise, in my case we were already heading into land, the pilot without comment just rolled us onto the runway as if nothing was awry, then confessed that it could have got hairy to say the least.

Good luck.

Member for

20 years

Posts: 1,628

Tough luck Moggy but you walked, which is the main thing. I've taken on board your "tighten the straps" lesson and I could hardly breathe when I took off yesterday. However I do have a question. A pal of mine was thinking of buying an RV4 and got as far as trying one out but couldn't get comfortable, he's 6ft 2ins, and with the canopy closed his head was flush with it before he put his headset on. He and the owner discussed taking the seat out and sitting on the floor on a Dynofoam cushion and here comes the question. Looking at the photograph of 'NADZ it looks as though the undercarriage splayed out. Did the floor pan under the cockpit hit the ground with any force during the landing? If it did I guess it puts paid to actually sitting on the floor. I hope this doesn't seem like a daft question.

Member for

14 years 10 months

Posts: 90

Quick question Moggy. Is your electric pump one of the square Facet types and does it have a non-return valve to by-pass it? I had a restricted fuel flow one time on a Mk26 Spitfire. (I'm an LAA Inspector)

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Oz - There are alternative and slightly higher canopies available for the RV4. And yes, my bum hit the sod of Tibenham at +8G with just a couple of thin cushions to protect it

Chewbydoo - I hate to seem so ignorant, but I honestly have no idea. I didn't build the aircraft and my knowledge only stretches as far as the lessons my engineer / inspector John Cook has taught me. Thus far we have never had a pump issue. I'll ask him the question.

Oz.. Is there a 4 for sale?

Member for

20 years

Posts: 1,628

Hi Moggy, I'll pass the gen on to my chum about the canopies. Thanks for that. Strangely enough the RV-4 he was looking at was the one that was on the aircraft sales site "AFORS" recently. Even stranger it turned up with it's new owner at our strip on Saturday. It's the one in "American" markings with invasion stripes which does make it look (a bit) like a mini-P51

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Unless I am mistaken that would be Nayland?

That RV now belongs to 'Hatz' of the other place, bought to replace NADZ after he realised what a mistake he'd made selling it to me.

Moggy

Member for

14 years

Posts: 4,996

As I mentioned to Moggy some while back, my brother in law is helping to build a Van at the moment.
I don't know what stage it's at ?, but fairly advanced I would guess, as they've been on it some while.
I will try and get a photo.

I think it will be at OB when finished.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

With luck, so will I. He doesn't want a partner in the aircraft does he?

M

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

Glad you're ok. I guess this has to be filed under the 'if it's mechanical it will go wrong sometime' title.

Member for

17 years 5 months

Posts: 8,980

Oz - And yes, my bum hit the sod of Tibenham at +8G with just a couple of thin cushions to protect it

The gear would have absorbed a lot of that, hence you do not have your bum cheeks up around your ears, I am staggered how much a gear can take, we once repaired a Cessna 152 many years ago that had had a heavy landing, so much so that the U/C leg springs had splayed out about flat, as the aerials underneath were cleaned off on the runway and then the gear recovered and it was sitting quite happily on it's gear when it came to us, minus aerials! It was inspected covering just about everything under the sun and NDT'd mounts etc, everything was fine.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Not so.

The +8g registered on the cockpit meter, so was a reflection of what got past the gear

And doesn't my back know it.

M

Member for

17 years 5 months

Posts: 8,980

Have pulled +7G in a Jag, but then that's progressive and not with a sudden stop at the end of it... ouch, take it one now is the proud owner of 3 adams apples..