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October 6th, 2007, 10:50
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| Senior Member  |  I get the week off! This thread is meant to be a learning experience for others. If you want to critique my decision making, please do it polietly or via PM. About three weeks ago the CHT (it is a single probe indicator, it just happened to be on the bad cylinder) started slowly creeping up from an average of about 350* to 375* and then finally up to about 400* in the climb. I fly an average of 20 hours per week, so the change per flight was relatively small. I told our mechanics, but got the typical "Just keep an eye on it" responce. I left yesterday on a 400nm mile trip from one hard IFR airport to another, with quite a bit of rain inbetween. Climbing out yesterday through about 10,000' the CHT was about 400* and then BAM. The airplane yawed hard and it just started vibrating. I could not even tell which engine it was though, as no indications changed. So in my mind it could have been either engine or it may not have even been engine related. After calling Washington Center three times I got yelled at to shut up because he was busy on another frequency. I told him I was going to need his attention for a few minutes, and he was kind enough to give it to me! Luckily I was only about 20 miles north of my home base, which was reporting 2300 few and 3000 overcast. To make a long story short, I landed at my home base and taxiied up to the MX shop. When they pulled the cowling off a piece of the cylinder fell out and a bit of fuel leaked out aswell. Lessons learned: Any time your airplane does anything out of the ordinary tell some one and have them do something about it. I could also feel the plane running just slightly rough the past few weeks. When it would get to that cylinder I would just feel a little (and I mean very little) bump kind of go through the plane. I just thought it was my imagination. I was washing the plane the other day and moved the prop. When I did I heard a whooshing sound. It was air coming out of that crack in the cylinder (which at that time was only as think as a hair). Again I told the mechanics and was told "That's normal". It wasn't. The starter also seemed weak. This was due to the leak in the cylinder. There were quite a few signs telling me the cylinder was about to go, I just needed to pay more attention. In the future I will. If something goes wrong and you do not know what it is or why it went wrong, land as soon as you can. This easily could have turned into a fire with the fuel leaking out if I had decided to fly to an airport with better MX facilities. That's all, Alex.
__________________ My airliners.net pics |
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October 6th, 2007, 11:42
| #2 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Atlantic City, NJ
Posts: 3,648
| Re: I get the week off! Glad you landed safely Alex. Enjoy your time off.
__________________ - - - - I have nothing against retards.--- MQAAord |
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October 6th, 2007, 12:27
| #3 |
| Junior Member  Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 64
| Re: I get the week off! You did a good job in diverting to the nearest airport. I wasnt't there and it's easy to armchair pilot, but I may have thought about shutting that engine down, of course I don't know what other indications you were getting. It was very fortunate that you did not have an engine fire from the fuel leaking out. We all have probably had or will have issues with maintenance not trusting the pilot that there is something wrong. This seems like a big one though. It is a hard lesson to learn that if there is a problem write it up. Nothing will get done otherwise and there is no paper trail if it is a reoccuring problem. I know this can be hard to do because of not wanting to piss off maintenance or interupting flight ops or scared of management. Just remember that none of those people will be standing next to you when the FAA wants to take your tickets because something went wrong. You are the final authority on that flight. It's your hard earned certificates on the line every time you sign for that aircraft. CK you got the plane on the ground and walked away from it. That was an excellant job! Thanks for sharing, hopefully those reading this thread will come away learning something from this. Fly Safe!
__________________ Failure to plan ahead on your part usually constitutes an emergency on mine. |
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October 6th, 2007, 16:26
| #4 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Inside your OODA loop
Posts: 6,871
| Re: I get the week off! Nicely handled.
__________________ Commercial Pilot, ASEL/AMEL/IA 900+ TT/25 ME Mountain-qualified Search & Rescue/Disaster Relief Mission Pilot, Civil Air Patrol B.S., Psychology, Univ of Utah |
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October 6th, 2007, 16:42
| #5 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: KMKE
Posts: 1,948
 | Re: I get the week off! Good job getting the plane on the ground safely. I wasn't there, so I don't know what you told them, but sometimes it's not what you say, but how you say it. It seems with some mechanics, if you don't speak their dialect, they don't hear the same symptoms that you are describing. I don't know if it was this in your case, but glad you're ok, nonetheless.
__________________ British Airways flight asks for push back clearance from terminal. Control Tower replies: "And where is the world's most experienced airline going today without filing a flight plan?" |
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October 7th, 2007, 02:06
| #6 |
| Moderator  | Re: I get the week off! Sounds like you did everything right. What's to critique? You had a coulpe of problems, spoke with the mechanics (which you feel you can trust), and continued flying. Other than being a little more vocal with your concerns, it sounds like you did everything you could. Great job getting back to terra-firma....
__________________ NJC or Bust.....CountDown Timer |
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October 7th, 2007, 20:51
| #7 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: May 2006 Location: Virginia is for Lovers, yacht chasing on the weekends
Posts: 1,807
| Re: I get the week off! DAMN, I was gonna ask you for a ride back to ORF on Tuesday or Wednesday... Nevertheless, good job and nicely handled. Just another chapter in the book of experience. Thank goodness it didn't let go in a critical phase of flight. P.S. Wait til I post about and you see what went pop on our Cirrus...
__________________ Charter Member - JC Pilot Motion Picture Society (JC PiMPS) |
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October 7th, 2007, 22:48
| #8 | |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Chattanooga, TN
Posts: 1,521
| Re: I get the week off! Quote:
 Was the boss with you? Is he ready to buy that Conquest now?
__________________ Jason | |
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October 8th, 2007, 22:54
| #9 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Trollbane
Posts: 1,606
  | Re: I get the week off! Mechanics hate their jobs, trust me, I'm one of them  Or at least used to be for a while  Anyway, I've heard that they couldn't restart the engine after shutting it off in flight today on a brand new Twinstar here at KNEW. Just thought it would be relevant to the topic... S### happens! 
__________________ Private pilot, instrument Embry-Riddle Alumnus USN Active http://forums.jetcareers.com/changin...nfessions.html |
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October 14th, 2007, 02:00
| #10 | |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: In the sky
Posts: 1,106
| Re: I get the week off! Quote:
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October 17th, 2007, 17:06
| #11 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: In a place warmer than State College.. for now.
Posts: 886
| Re: I get the week off! Smack MX and tell them to shape up. Good Stuff Alex, glad you made it safe. |
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November 12th, 2007, 19:50
| #12 |
| Junior Member  Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: atlanta ga
Posts: 221
| Re: I get the week off! good job alex. sounds to me like you did everything just right.
__________________ We the willing, lead by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little. We are now qualified, to do anything, with nothing. |
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