greghughes
Pre-takeoff checklist
On start of descent from 3500 AGL into Creswell, Oregon on Saturday morning for a fly-in, my Warrior's engine cowling/cover door suddenly popped up and bent itself in place. At first I wondered if the door had just departed the airplane completely, but then I looked over the dash and I could see it was clearly bent and deformed there, not in the right place. The "pop" noise and the sudden appearance of the cowling in my field of view surprised me, to say the least. The plane was still flying fine and nothing else was wrong that I could see, but I was worried about the *why* and was not sure if I had been hit by a bird (there were a couple of hawks flying very close by) or if something had broken on the cowling. Also, I could not tell from inside the plane for sure if anything else was wrong.
I called on the radio to the other pilots that were setting up to land at the airport and advised them I was not declaring an emergency per se, but that I had either been hit or had some sort of broken cowling issue, and that I was planning to land as usual. As I flew the plane and thought about it some more, the airport manager came on the radio and told me I was welcome to have the airport to myself and declare an emergency if I had any concern at all. Realizing that was the best decision, I decided to make a precautionary landing via the shortest distance possible, which would take me straight in to land on the runway in the direction opposite of that which other airplanes were using. I declared the emergency on the radio as a precautionary measure ("I'm declaring a precautionary emergency" is what I said, although I suppose an emergency is basically an emergency - I guess I could have called "Pan Pan Pan" instead, but this was an uncontrolled airport and I was already talking to the others there), and landed without any problems. All the pilots in the area immediately cleared the pattern and were very helpful.
Once on the ground and parked, I discovered a latch on the engine cowling cover had apparently failed and a small part of it had departed the airplane - It was simply gone. I had carefully closed and checked all of the latches during my pre-flight (and this is the side where the oil is checked). Needless to say the remaining three latches got a very close looking-over before I was willing to fly again. Nothing else was wrong with the plane, but the cowling had bent and jammed itself in the edge of the engine compartment and stuck there. I think I'm quite lucky the damage was so limited. The aircraft mechanic who was at the field repaired the latch and quickly reshaped cowling cover for me, for the very fair price of $20. The situation certainly could have been a lot worse.
Everyone at Creswell was concerned and helpful, and in the end it was a good experience. But, for a handful of seconds there when the cowling first broke loose and before I realized everything was essentially stable, I was trying to figure out where I was going to find a clean set of shorts.
I hope I don't have to do that again any time soon. Anyhow, plane was repaired and declared good to go, and the rest of the day was typical flying and uneventful. A good day really - A whole new experience (which I hope not to repeat any time soon) and a nice day in the air.
This image is exactly how the door lodged itself in the engine cowling. The thumbnail below also shows the latch with the missing fastener, which had departed the plane.
I called on the radio to the other pilots that were setting up to land at the airport and advised them I was not declaring an emergency per se, but that I had either been hit or had some sort of broken cowling issue, and that I was planning to land as usual. As I flew the plane and thought about it some more, the airport manager came on the radio and told me I was welcome to have the airport to myself and declare an emergency if I had any concern at all. Realizing that was the best decision, I decided to make a precautionary landing via the shortest distance possible, which would take me straight in to land on the runway in the direction opposite of that which other airplanes were using. I declared the emergency on the radio as a precautionary measure ("I'm declaring a precautionary emergency" is what I said, although I suppose an emergency is basically an emergency - I guess I could have called "Pan Pan Pan" instead, but this was an uncontrolled airport and I was already talking to the others there), and landed without any problems. All the pilots in the area immediately cleared the pattern and were very helpful.
Once on the ground and parked, I discovered a latch on the engine cowling cover had apparently failed and a small part of it had departed the airplane - It was simply gone. I had carefully closed and checked all of the latches during my pre-flight (and this is the side where the oil is checked). Needless to say the remaining three latches got a very close looking-over before I was willing to fly again. Nothing else was wrong with the plane, but the cowling had bent and jammed itself in the edge of the engine compartment and stuck there. I think I'm quite lucky the damage was so limited. The aircraft mechanic who was at the field repaired the latch and quickly reshaped cowling cover for me, for the very fair price of $20. The situation certainly could have been a lot worse.
Everyone at Creswell was concerned and helpful, and in the end it was a good experience. But, for a handful of seconds there when the cowling first broke loose and before I realized everything was essentially stable, I was trying to figure out where I was going to find a clean set of shorts.
I hope I don't have to do that again any time soon. Anyhow, plane was repaired and declared good to go, and the rest of the day was typical flying and uneventful. A good day really - A whole new experience (which I hope not to repeat any time soon) and a nice day in the air.
This image is exactly how the door lodged itself in the engine cowling. The thumbnail below also shows the latch with the missing fastener, which had departed the plane.
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