Flight to LNS, Drive to BWI

[spiderweb]

Had a nice flight to LNS yesterday. Takeoff, departure and enroute were nearly flawless. LOC 8 was pretty good considering I was vectored through the FAC and kept too high for too long. Circle to land was great. Actual landing was very nice (and even got a compliment from CFII). I let him taxi back. Before we were about to turn in to the ramp, my CFII gently stopped on the taxiway to yield to a King Air. Then, from nowhere, we felt the left wing drop suddenly. When my CFII tried to apply power, we didn't move. That's right--we got a flat tire, sitting right there on the taxiway. To make a long story short, we can't figure out why this happened. No one solos this particular bird, and CFII says there haven't been any bad landings, and he didn't see or feel anything on the runway or taxiway.

They didn't have a replacement tire, so we got our one-way rental car, and drove back to BWI. Flying to LNS is a lot more fun than driving to BWI! The other thing I learned is that sometimes the flight actually IS over before you're tied down! Sigh. . . .

 

[wsuffa]

Did you check the inflation before you left?

I'd be interested to hear the final cause... whether its FOD or something else.

 

[NC Pilot]

So who's gonna go get the plane when it's fixed. Are you going to have to drive back to retrieve it? Strange to have a tire go flat all of a sudden like that. Like Bill I'd be interested in hearing the root cause.

 

[spiderweb]

Did you check the inflation before you left?

I'd be interested to hear the final cause... whether its FOD or something else.

Yes. We did a thorough preflight. The only think I can say is that because this bird has wheel pants, you can't see the whole tire at once. But my CFII checks it every time, so you'd think he'd have covered the whole tire after two or three preflights. There was a real hole in the tire, so I thought something punctured it on the taxiway, but we couldn't find anything. I even looked at the wheel and wheel pant once taken off to see if anything was protruding.

What is "FOD?"

 

[spiderweb]

So who's gonna go get the plane when it's fixed. Are you going to have to drive back to retrieve it? Strange to have a tire go flat all of a sudden like that. Like Bill I'd be interested in hearing the root cause.

Hi, Mark! Nice to see you posting over here, too.

Well, my CFII asked me if I could fly up with him and fly the bird back. I am apparently the only one qualified to solo it. (Insurance requires PPL and IR; most of his other advanced students have their own birds.) I just can't do it next week because of meetings. He'll probably fly up with someone else. It really sux to drive up there when you know how much more fun it can be to fly!

 

[Anthony]

They didn't have a replacement tire, so we got our one-way rental car, and drove back to BWI.

Wait a second. Airways didn't have a replacement tire??? Even so, a 10 minute drive over to Smoketown or one of the other myriad close GA airports would yield a tire. I'm surprised Airways didn't suggets that.

 

[spiderweb]

Wait a second. Airways didn't have a replacement tire??? Even so, a 10 minute drive over to Smoketown or one of the other myriad close GA airports would yield a tire. I'm surprised Airways didn't suggets that.

Very rare aircraft. They didn't have a tire, and we called around for an hour, and couldn't find anything in the entire USA!

 

[wsuffa]

What is "FOD?"

Foreign Object Damage.

Where was the hole? Sidewall or tread?

Did you ever read the story of how I ended up with flat tire after the rim fractured due to age stress?

 

[Shipoke]

Ben what time was it when you got to LNS, i was there and heard someone had to circle and land as i was taxiing around 11-12ish. Maybe the Toy Store God poked his finger throw the tire since you weren,t going to stop there (LOL). Glad to here it went flat while taxiing rather then on landing could be messy. Dave G

 

[John J]

Ben;

Sorry to hear about your adventures with the tire. You mentioned that it had a hole. I wonder if there was a tack or a small nail in it that finally worked it's way out when you landed at LNS. That might be a possibility. The wheel pants make it very hard, to impossible to view the entire tire and wheel on preflights for you have to move the plane forward or back on the tie down to look at the tire and wheel. Even then you may not see a nail or tack. I run my hand lightly over the entire surface to check for small nails and tacks. I include the side walls as well. The last plane I owned fortunately did not have wheel pants.

The drive home is always a bummer when you have to leave the plane behind

Hope the next flight is better for you


John

 

[AdamZ]

Did you fly the Ziln, Ben? Also please tell us how you got the plane to the tie down with a flat. Did they jack up the wheel onto a Dolly and tow it?

 

[spiderweb]

Ben what time was it when you got to LNS, i was there and heard someone had to circle and land as i was taxiing around 11-12ish. Maybe the Toy Store God poked his finger throw the tire since you weren,t going to stop there (LOL). Glad to here it went flat while taxiing rather then on landing could be messy. Dave G

Thanks, Dave. I landed around 3:00 PM.

 

[spiderweb]

Foreign Object Damage.

Where was the hole? Sidewall or tread?

Did you ever read the story of how I ended up with flat tire after the rim fractured due to age stress?

It looked to be on the tread. I haven't heard your story. What happened?

 

[spiderweb]

Ben;

Sorry to hear about your adventures with the tire. You mentioned that it had a hole. I wonder if there was a tack or a small nail in it that finally worked it's way out when you landed at LNS. That might be a possibility. The wheel pants make it very hard, to impossible to view the entire tire and wheel on preflights for you have to move the plane forward or back on the tie down to look at the tire and wheel. Even then you may not see a nail or tack. I run my hand lightly over the entire surface to check for small nails and tacks. I include the side walls as well. The last plane I owned fortunately did not have wheel pants.

The drive home is always a bummer when you have to leave the plane behind

Hope the next flight is better for you


John

Thanks, John. Yeah, it was weird. My landing was pretty gentle, and we rolled out to a stop with minimal braking. From there, I gave the plane to CFII, letting him taxi to the ramp. Everything was fine until we stopped just before turning in to the ramp. Then, the air just let out all of a sudden. Weird, but I'm glad it happened there and not on takeoff or landing!

My CFII's next plane will be a late model C182 or C206. He's probably going to leave the wheel pants off. . . .

 

[spiderweb]

Did you fly the Ziln, Ben? Also please tell us how you got the plane to the tie down with a flat. Did they jack up the wheel onto a Dolly and tow it?

Yep. At first, they wanted us to just hand tow it, but we were afraid that we might get further damage. So, like you say, we did jack it up onto a dolly and then hand towed it into Air Ways.

 

[Anthony]

Very rare aircraft. They didn't have a tire, and we called around for an hour, and couldn't find anything in the entire USA!

Oh, must have been the Zlin 242L. I thought most of the parts on the Zlin, except airframe were off the shelf U.S. stuff. At least that's what the told me in 1995 when I was considering buying one. Scurrilous dogs!

 

[spiderweb]

Oh, must have been the Zlin 242L. I thought most of the parts on the Zlin, except airframe were off the shelf U.S. stuff. At least that's what the told me in 1995 when I was considering buying one. Scurrilous dogs!

I don't know enough about it, really, but I do think that lots of parts are available. The problem is when you need a part that isn't. I bet that this is what owners of Classics sometimes have to go through.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

To make a long story short, we can't figure out why this happened.

I got a flat once that the A&P's said was due to a defective inner tube. It's possible there was some sort of flaw in the tire that finally caused it to go.

 

[spiderweb]

I got a flat once that the A&P's said was due to a defective inner tube. It's possible there was some sort of flaw in the tire that finally caused it to go.

Interesting. I'll mention that.

 

[wsuffa]

It looked to be on the tread. I haven't heard your story. What happened?

This actually happened twice in a year and a half. First on the pilot side, then the passenger side.

The inner rim of the wheel (the part that holds the tire bead in place) fractured... and broke off... in one spot. This allowed the inner side of the tire to rub against the brake assembly, causing the tire to wear through and go flat.

First time it happened, I felt binding on rollout after touchdown and got it back to the hangar before the flat occurred. The tire, inner wheel and tube were ruined. The second time it happend was on rollout from a soft field landing practice for my commercial. As we got to the turnoff from the runway, the passenger side tire went flat...

Both cases the fracture area was not "clean"... i.e. it was granualar in appearance with some indication that a crack may have formed at some point in the past. It did not appear to be the results of a hard landing.

See pictures.

 

[spiderweb]

Wow. This is very different from our flat which looks like a hole.

 

[John J]

Ben;

Bills pictures above look like what I had in a C-182 in the early 1980s I had it happen on the right side. It was caused by a fractured wheel. I and the plane were based near the ocean in New England and the salt in the air was the cause of corosion. Evern year since then I would have the wheels pulled, split and all components looked at for corosion.

I hope you get to fly the plane back home

John

 

[spiderweb]

Thanks, John!