Volitation
Pre-takeoff checklist
Pretty weekday morning a month or so ago, about an hour into a 3 hour-ish trip from KAFW (Ft. Worth Alliance) to T05 (Port Mansfield, TX). VFR, Flight Following, 5,500 feet, had been handed off to Waco Approach a few minutes before. Everything is good, looking forward to catching some fish.....
Uh, is that fuel I smell? Maybe the primer is loose? No, tight, can’t see anything wrong there or feel anything under or around it. Can’t see anything anywhere else inside or out. Must have imagined it.
No, dang it, I smell gas. Hmm. Fuel pressure gauge? Zero. Huh!
Aux Fuel pump On - still Zero. Ruh-roh! What’s nearby? McGregor! KPWG is right over there, turn left!
“Waco Approach, Skylane 12345, Cancel following, diverting to McGregor, have a fuel pressure problem.”
“Skylane 45, Contact McGregor traffic on 122.8”
So. I have a situation, but managing all right. Then, as I’m about to change frequencies, the motor starts cutting out. Now I got a problem.
“Waco Approach, Skylane 45, losing power, declaring an emergency.” Transponder to 7700.
“Skylane 45, Waco Approach, McGregor is 2 miles at your 11:00 o’clock, we see no traffic.”
“Waco, I have the field in sight.” (And boy, does it look good, that big runway lines right up into the south wind!”)
“Skylane 45, say how many souls on board.” (If you’ve never heard that, it’s sobering when they say it to you.)
“Waco, just me.”
“Skylane 45, one on board. Can we do anything else for you.”
“Negative Waco, I think I’m good.”
“Skylane 45, McGregor traffic is 122.8, good luck!”
“122.8, and thanks.”
All this time, been running memory items, no luck. But some good news, when I pull it back to idle, it doesn’t die, actually runs smoothly. But anything more than 10” or 10 1/2” MP and it starts cutting out. 10” it is, and I’m descending, but at just a little better than a glide.
All right then, I’m gonna make the field, but can’t tell yet how I’m going to do it.
“McGregor traffic, Skylane 12345, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, lost power, will be making an emergency landing.
“Skylane 45, McGregor Unicom, no traffic in the pattern. Does you want us to call the fire department?”
“Negative McGregor, I think this is going to work out.”
And it did. Crossed midfield, entered left down wind, still had maybe 1000’ extra altitude and a little power to spend. Close enough I didn’t have to circle, just extend downwind (but don’t come up short!), turn final, turn base, runway made but high, slip hard, flaps, power out, land, was able to idle to park.
The culprit? A completely broken fitting in the line between the main fuel pump and the carb. And evidently, when the aux pump was turned on, it just blew fuel out the other side of the carb. (Photo below.)
Lessons:
I think I made mistakes by not killing the engine and shutting off fuel in the air once I had the runway made. I knew I had some kind of fuel problem/leak, and certainly should NOT have taxied it.
Don’t ignore it when you think there might be a problem, figure it out.
Check ALL the gauges, regularly.
Keep an eye on the charts, and what your airport choices might be.
Altitude is good!
Stay calm, as long as you keep it under control, you can land it. I was very lucky to be very near an airport, but we can stop these things pretty short if we have to, even if it’s in a pasture.
Thank your instructor for all those time he pulled the power and said, “Now what are you gonna do?”
And every now and then, mix in a power off or two on your own.
Don’t hesitate to ask for help. Just talking to the controller and Unicom was calming.
And, when you land after smelling fuel, turn the damn fuel cut off OFF! (See 2nd photo below. Smh.)
Sorry about the long post, but I hope someone can gain something from it.
And finally, I want to thank the folks again at JAG Aviation at KPWG. They were as nice as they could be, had me fixed up and back on my way in a couple of hours. (Gotta get back on your horse, right? Or something like that.) Although I will admit when they offered me their pilots lounge to relax during the repair, I said, “Thanks, I appreciate it, but I think I’m just gonna walk around a while.”
Sent from my iPad
Uh, is that fuel I smell? Maybe the primer is loose? No, tight, can’t see anything wrong there or feel anything under or around it. Can’t see anything anywhere else inside or out. Must have imagined it.
No, dang it, I smell gas. Hmm. Fuel pressure gauge? Zero. Huh!
Aux Fuel pump On - still Zero. Ruh-roh! What’s nearby? McGregor! KPWG is right over there, turn left!
“Waco Approach, Skylane 12345, Cancel following, diverting to McGregor, have a fuel pressure problem.”
“Skylane 45, Contact McGregor traffic on 122.8”
So. I have a situation, but managing all right. Then, as I’m about to change frequencies, the motor starts cutting out. Now I got a problem.
“Waco Approach, Skylane 45, losing power, declaring an emergency.” Transponder to 7700.
“Skylane 45, Waco Approach, McGregor is 2 miles at your 11:00 o’clock, we see no traffic.”
“Waco, I have the field in sight.” (And boy, does it look good, that big runway lines right up into the south wind!”)
“Skylane 45, say how many souls on board.” (If you’ve never heard that, it’s sobering when they say it to you.)
“Waco, just me.”
“Skylane 45, one on board. Can we do anything else for you.”
“Negative Waco, I think I’m good.”
“Skylane 45, McGregor traffic is 122.8, good luck!”
“122.8, and thanks.”
All this time, been running memory items, no luck. But some good news, when I pull it back to idle, it doesn’t die, actually runs smoothly. But anything more than 10” or 10 1/2” MP and it starts cutting out. 10” it is, and I’m descending, but at just a little better than a glide.
All right then, I’m gonna make the field, but can’t tell yet how I’m going to do it.
“McGregor traffic, Skylane 12345, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, lost power, will be making an emergency landing.
“Skylane 45, McGregor Unicom, no traffic in the pattern. Does you want us to call the fire department?”
“Negative McGregor, I think this is going to work out.”
And it did. Crossed midfield, entered left down wind, still had maybe 1000’ extra altitude and a little power to spend. Close enough I didn’t have to circle, just extend downwind (but don’t come up short!), turn final, turn base, runway made but high, slip hard, flaps, power out, land, was able to idle to park.
The culprit? A completely broken fitting in the line between the main fuel pump and the carb. And evidently, when the aux pump was turned on, it just blew fuel out the other side of the carb. (Photo below.)
Lessons:
I think I made mistakes by not killing the engine and shutting off fuel in the air once I had the runway made. I knew I had some kind of fuel problem/leak, and certainly should NOT have taxied it.
Don’t ignore it when you think there might be a problem, figure it out.
Check ALL the gauges, regularly.
Keep an eye on the charts, and what your airport choices might be.
Altitude is good!
Stay calm, as long as you keep it under control, you can land it. I was very lucky to be very near an airport, but we can stop these things pretty short if we have to, even if it’s in a pasture.
Thank your instructor for all those time he pulled the power and said, “Now what are you gonna do?”
And every now and then, mix in a power off or two on your own.
Don’t hesitate to ask for help. Just talking to the controller and Unicom was calming.
And, when you land after smelling fuel, turn the damn fuel cut off OFF! (See 2nd photo below. Smh.)
Sorry about the long post, but I hope someone can gain something from it.
And finally, I want to thank the folks again at JAG Aviation at KPWG. They were as nice as they could be, had me fixed up and back on my way in a couple of hours. (Gotta get back on your horse, right? Or something like that.) Although I will admit when they offered me their pilots lounge to relax during the repair, I said, “Thanks, I appreciate it, but I think I’m just gonna walk around a while.”
Sent from my iPad
