Declared Emergency today - first flight with family

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Matthew Rogers

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Matt R
Pardon the quick writing, just 3 hours after emergency with family, did well, need dinner

Cessna 150F, wife and 3 year old in my brand new installed rear child seat on first family trip. Engine immediately started surging 500-2000rpm partial power at 2500' over CT mountains. No slow decrease in performance, just a single burble, then surging. Maybe maintained altitude, but probably dropped 100ft per minute. 11 miles north west of Danbury. Partial power, saw a field (the only one around), but turned back to Danbury. Declared emergency on 121.5. Boston Center told me to go to NY APP, but they didn't hear me, so I called Danbury tower and they cleared the airport and ran the trucks. Pumped throttle, mixture from cruise lean to rich, tried both lean and rich. Carb heat resulted in immediate increase and steady power about 4 miles away. Did not result in roughness then better running at all, just an immediate fix. Landed without incident, emergency, fire trucks rolled. Came in hot and fast, straight in to the little runway, probably dropped flaps a bit above white arc in increments because I wasn't gonna chance the engine quitting on final. Engine ran fine back on the ground at idle with carb heat still on, didn't have the wherewithal to troubleshoot at the FBO. Just saved the family and got out and called an Uber home.

Just out of annual. Mags rebuilt, starter, alternator, fuel tank repaired and cleaned. Didn't change R-L because engine was still running and didn't want that to kill it (but I thought about it a few times). Fueled with 5 gals at New Haven, but I saw the 100ll truck pull up and did the oily finger test for preflight. Sumped and sticked tanks.

Weather was clear and dry, 63/40 temp and dew point 40% humidity (on the ground, but I was only 2500 agl). Carb ice chart says only icing on glide power. I was at 2400-2500, leaned for cruise so plenty of power normally. That big of a dew point spread should not be a big risk.

Flew it twice since annual and the other owner flew it as well. Ran better than ever. It last few twice yesterday with no issues. Also made the trip from POU to HVN in the morning without incident.

Mechanic should fly down tomorrow to check it out.

Tower asked me 2 questions. Did you plan on Danbury or divert. What was the cause of the emergency. Said that was all they needed. Not sure if anyone else will end up calling. Since it was partial power loss, I don't need to report it to anyone, right. I'll submit a NASA form tomorrow after some sleep.
 
Sounds like you did a fantastic job!
 
Yep, son (3 yrs) doesn't really know that it was a problem. Wife will fly again, at least she says so. Maybe not tomorrow, but sometime.

Check "Declare Emergency" and "Partial Power Loss" (and maybe "Carb Ice") off the list.
Only 125 hours in the logbook.
 
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Great job! No need to report anything, but assuming tower/ATC noted it, you may get a call this week from the FSDO just asking for details. Don’t sweat it, just explain what happened. They might ask for a follow up with the maintenance shop to find out what the cause was.

Sounds like carb ice could be a possibility. You wouldn’t be the first (or the last) to declare an emergency for carb ice. BTDT....
 
Well done, good job on a safe landing! Thanks for posting your story.
 
Fourth flight out of annual, fifth if you count the trip down the New Haven in the morning.
 
Sure seemed like that could be the case (alternate air) with the surging then immediate return of power. I didn’t even look to see if there was a robin plastered over my filter.

I checked the air filter before flight and it was in place and new from annual.

I wanted to do an inspection on the ground after, but with a wife and 3 year old to keep happy, I just Uber-Ed out of there and home.
 
Wow!! Nice work, and thanks for sharing the tale!
 
Good job.

Tell your wife she should be happy to fly with you now, statistically the chance of you having another emergency landing is close to nil :)

In about 5,000hrs I’ve had two so far.
 
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Danbury??

You’ve got serious gonads.
 
Kritchlow said:
Danbury??

You’ve got serious gonads.
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Landed on the short runway 17 straight in. Luckily saw it from far away because I just happened to be coming in right on the extended centerline. I was super fast and high because I left in the power I still had till very close and had to put the flaps out a bit over the white arc, but my trusty 150F with the 40 degree barn doors can drop like a rock and slow down in a hurry, no more than some normal to stiff braking required. Short field stuff does not bother me. I was not about to enter a pattern and have the engine quit on me half way around.
 
Kritchlow said:
Danbury??

You’ve got serious gonads.
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This airport?

Shortest runway im seeing is like 3100 of good asphalt?

04-EC640-F-8-B78-460-D-9-C3-A-59-B59-E3-D2329.jpg
 
It was my first trip to Danbury, but there is something about it being in a depression surrounded by hills. I was told not to fly there at night without prior knowledge, too many dark things to hit on the way in.

I noticed that I was too fast for the flaps, but this being an emergency with the whole family I didn't much care, so I put in 10, then 20, then 30, then 40 in increments to slow down and go down. Anyone know if it is certain damage for 10 or 20 degrees of flaps at 115mph in clam air for a 1966 C150F? I have heard both that the upper limit is for full flaps and others say it is for any flaps. I hope that the stable approach and calm air means that nothing happened.
 
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1. Airplane can be re-used
2. PAX intact
3. Buy yourself something nice.
 
James331 said:
This airport?

Shortest runway im seeing is like 3100 of good asphalt?

04-EC640-F-8-B78-460-D-9-C3-A-59-B59-E3-D2329.jpg
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It’s a NASTY airport. Hills right next to runways. Final between mountains.

I grew up near there. Very familiar with this airport. It’s not for the faint of heart.
 
Nasty was a wonderful choice compared to most of the terrain immediately north that I had to go over to get to it. All hilly trees and no fields. There was probably 3 minutes where if the engine totally failed I would not have been able to pick a good place to land, just slow to stall speed and close my eyes.
 
Matthew Rogers said:
Nasty was a wonderful choice compared to most of the terrain immediately north that I had to go over to get to it. All hilly trees and no fields. There was probably 3 minutes where if the engine totally failed I would not have been able to pick a good place to land, just slow to stall speed and close my eyes.
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Don’t get me wrong, I’m not second guessing you. Obviously I was not in your shoes. Everything worked out fine so one should not find fault with anything you did.
There are other airports reasonably close, but only you knew just how important it was to land ASAP.
 
Great job PIC. You got everyone home alive. Sure you may learn a bunch from it but for now, superb job.
 
Did you remember thank the fire fighters for coming out.??

And good outcome. Don't beat yourself up too much. I review every flight with myself and always try to think of how I could have done better. All that really matters is everyone is Ok.
 
The way you describe it, my money is on an air filter full of feathers. It will be interesting to hear what you find. Good job getting her down safely.
 
James331 said:
This airport?

Shortest runway im seeing is like 3100 of good asphalt?

04-EC640-F-8-B78-460-D-9-C3-A-59-B59-E3-D2329.jpg
Click to expand...

Yes. It's kind of in a bowl, terrain all around and close in. Displaced thresholds on all runways because of it. Surrounding area dominated by tree-covered hills.

Having been there before, I'd have seriously considered putting it down in the field instead of limping to Danbury. Not many options in the surrounding area.
 
Excellent response. Flew the airplane to a safe outcome.

Circumstances hint at possible carb ice, but you may never know.
 
Glad you made it down safely!

For future reference Cessna 150’s have a nasty habit of carb icing at this time of year. I frequently get carb ice in the 150 within minutes after starting and always do a final carb heat application just before lining up for takeoff. First step when you notice something going on is carb heat on full and leave it on.
 
A good landing is one you walk away from. A GREAT landing is one after which the plane is still airworthy. Great landing!

Did I understand that this was the first flight after annual or no? After my planes come out of annual I want at least an hour or so of test flying before including a passenger or three and the first part of that will be in glide distance of the airport. And even then there will be more watching for possible landing patches along the way than usual.

Sounds like the annual had nothing to do with it in this case, but just sayin’.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Why did the fuel tank need cleaning?
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Tank had a leak, was welded, then cleaned. I personally verified the internal strainer was clean. Used to have some funk in the strainer drains, but none since annual. Gascolator was cleaned at annual. AP notes that he would change the main fuel line next year at annual. Perhaps the fuel line failed in a way to partially clog itself? Inner lining broke off and partially plugged the line?

Going full rich and then finally carb heat eventually enrichened the mixture until it would run steady? I was playing with the throttle, and it didn’t magically run when I pulled the throttle back, but I wasn’t in the mood to leave the throttle back for long. I was pumping it from time to time to use the accelerator pump to force more fuel through. I didn’t get around to pumping the primer, but that could Have been a good job for my right seat wife since the primer is on her side and it is an easy job to do.

It taxied around fine with no hesitation, still on carb heat (reduced fuel flow requirements). Does an engine surge rhythmically at 3-5 second intervals (a guess based on adrenaline) due to the carb bowl emptying and filling?
 
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MBDiagMan said:
A good landing is one you walk away from. A GREAT landing is one after which the plane is still airworthy. Great landing!

Did I understand that this was the first flight after annual or no? After my planes come out of annual I want at least an hour or so of test flying before including a passenger or three and the first part of that will be in glide distance of the airport. And even then there will be more watching for possible landing patches along the way than usual.

Sounds like the annual had nothing to do with it in this case, but just sayin’.
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This was the 5th flight since annual. Nope, sixth because it was ferried back from then APs airport back home after annual. And it had flown three flights in the past 24 hours with no problems including the outbound leg in the morning.

If nothing is discovered by MX (worst case), we will most likely install a carb temp probe. Anyone know if they work and can actually diagnose or help prevent icing in the O-200. By prevent, I mean allow me to look at it and proactively decide to add carb heat.
 
Maybe vapor lock or a fuel line issue? That power went up and not down isn't something that stands out as a carb ice issue. Thinking the power increase with carb heat on landing was just a red herring. But if fuel flow went down with carb heat and power up, maybe lends more weight to a fuel flow issue.

Anyways, great job getting the family down!
 
It just seemed like an immediate start to the surging and then an immediate fix with the carb heat. Not classic carb ice symptoms and what they tell you will happen. It is always said that bad carb ice will cause rough running on application of carb heat then get better, this was nothing like that.

But it certainly still could be carb ice. Has anyone experienced non-standard carb ice effects? Or does it seem to follow the book?

On a side note, I did get a response immediately transmitting my emergency on Guard. Boston center told me to contact NY APP, but for some reason I could not get through to NY. So I switched over to Danbury tower and just declared to them. I assume that Danbury and NY Approach talked at some point and got it all figured out.
 
Matthew Rogers said:
It just seemed like an immediate start to the surging and then an immediate fix with the carb heat. Not classic carb ice symptoms and what they tell you will happen. It is always said that bad carb ice will cause rough running on application of carb heat then get better, this was nothing like that.

But it certainly still could be carb ice. Has anyone experienced non-standard carb ice effects? Or does it seem to follow the book?

On a side note, I did get a response immediately transmitting my emergency on Guard. Boston center told me to contact NY APP, but for some reason I could not get through to NY. So I switched over to Danbury tower and just declared to them. I assume that Danbury and NY Approach talked at some point and got it all figured out.
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Could have been a clog or something in the fuel system that was causing fuel to be delivered in surges, or if you were delivering TOO much fuel it may have been choking on it. Carb heat raises the temperature of the air/fuel mixture. Higher temperature may have helped vaporize some of the fuel and/or make the fuel flow more distributed. Weird that it happened IMMEDIATELY when you pulled it, but maybe the inflow of the hot air was enough. Doesn't sound like carb ice, particularly if you had surges. Icing is a decrease in power, not an increase.

Communication wise it sounds like you did the right thing. Declared on the channel you were on, then made a decision where to put down and talked to tower and did what you needed to do. I wouldn't worry about formalities when you have an emergency, just get it on the ground safely, which is what you did. I'm sure tower got it all sorted out.
 
Matthew Rogers said:
It just seemed like an immediate start to the surging and then an immediate fix with the carb heat. Not classic carb ice symptoms...
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Have a look at the carb heat box. Possibly a busted flapper door that was interfering with induction airflow until you pulled it tight against it's stop.
 
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