alfadog
Final Approach
Had an interesting flight yesterday. Flew my Arrow II up from KTMB to KVRB for my 1st fly-away with a local pilots' club. I have not been flying the Arrow in the last two months as I have been working on my stick and rudder skills in a friend's 1946 Luscombe Silvaire 8A.
The Arrow has a dated panel and, on return, I departed Vero along a VOR radial that would keep me clear of the Miami Class B airspace and take me to my visual checkpoint for the arrival at Tamiami.
There were a few low scattered and broken layers with rain and I did not want to be bumped around so I started a climb. Pretty soon, maybe 7000', I had no consistent ground reference and I take a look at the artificial horizon. It shows I am in about an 80d bank. Gulp. I knew I wasn't but there is that first instant. Figured I lost my vacuum pump. That fellow at the lunch jinxed me, I thought, with his story of recently losing his.
Cool, thinks I (I only thought about the cost of repair for a moment), partial panel! Great practice for my IR checkride. I look over at the turn coordinator and the little wings are level. Great. Wait, they seem awful still. Try a few turns and discover that the gyro in in the TC seems to have died also. When did that happen? Check breakers. No joy. Even better, I think, partial partial panel. Check compass. That is still working and course is fine.
The Arrow has a secondary vacuum arrangement. I think it bleeds vacuum from the intake manifold. Operated by cable. The cable always looked hinkey and I never pulled it out. Understand we bought this airplane in August, it has been to the shop twice since, and we have an annual coming up. We have not flown it much and are still sorting it out.
I pull it out. Nothing. Of course, I do not have much manifold vacuum. Heck with it, I don't need it, I try to push it back in. The cable refuses to move. I ended up at 10,500 with no ground reference and just using the magnetic compass and VOR to keep me staight. It was a non-issue and as I approached the Bravo, I let down through the breaks to get under the 3000' Bravo shelf and pick up my checkpoint.
Now figure this one out. As I let down, the vacuum instruments came back on line. I can think of a few possibilities. I will probably call the mechanic and get started on the annual a month early as I have a few squawks I want to address before my partner starts his complex in the Arrow next month.
Obviously, this was VFR and no big deal. But it was a fun simulation of real instrument failure. I credit my IR training and the fact that my last almost 40 hours have been in the Luscombe so I am used to looking at the mag compass for the fact that it was fun and a non-event given that I consider myself a low-time pilot.
The Arrow has a dated panel and, on return, I departed Vero along a VOR radial that would keep me clear of the Miami Class B airspace and take me to my visual checkpoint for the arrival at Tamiami.
There were a few low scattered and broken layers with rain and I did not want to be bumped around so I started a climb. Pretty soon, maybe 7000', I had no consistent ground reference and I take a look at the artificial horizon. It shows I am in about an 80d bank. Gulp. I knew I wasn't but there is that first instant. Figured I lost my vacuum pump. That fellow at the lunch jinxed me, I thought, with his story of recently losing his.
Cool, thinks I (I only thought about the cost of repair for a moment), partial panel! Great practice for my IR checkride. I look over at the turn coordinator and the little wings are level. Great. Wait, they seem awful still. Try a few turns and discover that the gyro in in the TC seems to have died also. When did that happen? Check breakers. No joy. Even better, I think, partial partial panel. Check compass. That is still working and course is fine.
The Arrow has a secondary vacuum arrangement. I think it bleeds vacuum from the intake manifold. Operated by cable. The cable always looked hinkey and I never pulled it out. Understand we bought this airplane in August, it has been to the shop twice since, and we have an annual coming up. We have not flown it much and are still sorting it out.
I pull it out. Nothing. Of course, I do not have much manifold vacuum. Heck with it, I don't need it, I try to push it back in. The cable refuses to move. I ended up at 10,500 with no ground reference and just using the magnetic compass and VOR to keep me staight. It was a non-issue and as I approached the Bravo, I let down through the breaks to get under the 3000' Bravo shelf and pick up my checkpoint.
Now figure this one out. As I let down, the vacuum instruments came back on line. I can think of a few possibilities. I will probably call the mechanic and get started on the annual a month early as I have a few squawks I want to address before my partner starts his complex in the Arrow next month.
Obviously, this was VFR and no big deal. But it was a fun simulation of real instrument failure. I credit my IR training and the fact that my last almost 40 hours have been in the Luscombe so I am used to looking at the mag compass for the fact that it was fun and a non-event given that I consider myself a low-time pilot.
Last edited:
smiley.
IMHO
