Pietenpol-List: Won't make it!
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2003 12:50 pm
Original Posted By: "Christian Bobka"
Pieters,I was looking foward to meeting with all of you at Brodhead this year, but willbe unable to do so because of recent events.Late last month I flew "Mountain Piet" to Longmont CO for the Rocky Mt. Flyin andupon arrival, was sequenced too close to another plane on final. I had flownover the mountains at a little over 14,000 feet and had the manual waste gatecontroller for the turbo on the Subaru Engine almost closed. When I addedpower for a go around, I failed to open the turbo wastegate and pegged the guagewhich goes up to 50 inches. Next thing that I knew, I had coolant blowing allover and the temp gauges all pegged too. (For about 5 seconds I probably hadat least 500 hp maybe?)I pulled throttle and swung around and put Piet down on a ultralite strip. Uponexamination, it appeared that the only damage to the engine was that the crossoverpipe from the right to left cylinder bank had blown. We walked the planeover to the display area and left it. (even with coolant all over the bird,it still won an award.)On Monday I rented a car and drove into Denver to find another crossover pipe,Came back and installed it. Ran engine up and decided to fly it home. Tookoff and made it to about 400 feet and the damn thing really blew up! Smoke, oiland coolant all over the place! I put it down in a field between a fence andditch, stopped about 20 ft before the ditch. We hauled the plane back to theairport.This time there was a big hole blown in the crankcase. So I went to Denver againand purchased a remanufactured engine. (cost about $1900 including tax, justabout the price of 1 and 1/2 cylinders on a Lycoming engine!) Spent the nextweek installing it and flew home without any problem.This past Sunday evening, I slipped going down the stairs to our lower level andsprained my ankle and busted a toe. I am now convinced that the Gods are notin favor of my flying back to Brodhead. I give up!See you next year, maybe. Have a great reunion!Cordially,John Dilatush, NX114DSalida, Colorado________________________________________________________________________________
Pieters,I was looking foward to meeting with all of you at Brodhead this year, but willbe unable to do so because of recent events.Late last month I flew "Mountain Piet" to Longmont CO for the Rocky Mt. Flyin andupon arrival, was sequenced too close to another plane on final. I had flownover the mountains at a little over 14,000 feet and had the manual waste gatecontroller for the turbo on the Subaru Engine almost closed. When I addedpower for a go around, I failed to open the turbo wastegate and pegged the guagewhich goes up to 50 inches. Next thing that I knew, I had coolant blowing allover and the temp gauges all pegged too. (For about 5 seconds I probably hadat least 500 hp maybe?)I pulled throttle and swung around and put Piet down on a ultralite strip. Uponexamination, it appeared that the only damage to the engine was that the crossoverpipe from the right to left cylinder bank had blown. We walked the planeover to the display area and left it. (even with coolant all over the bird,it still won an award.)On Monday I rented a car and drove into Denver to find another crossover pipe,Came back and installed it. Ran engine up and decided to fly it home. Tookoff and made it to about 400 feet and the damn thing really blew up! Smoke, oiland coolant all over the place! I put it down in a field between a fence andditch, stopped about 20 ft before the ditch. We hauled the plane back to theairport.This time there was a big hole blown in the crankcase. So I went to Denver againand purchased a remanufactured engine. (cost about $1900 including tax, justabout the price of 1 and 1/2 cylinders on a Lycoming engine!) Spent the nextweek installing it and flew home without any problem.This past Sunday evening, I slipped going down the stairs to our lower level andsprained my ankle and busted a toe. I am now convinced that the Gods are notin favor of my flying back to Brodhead. I give up!See you next year, maybe. Have a great reunion!Cordially,John Dilatush, NX114DSalida, Colorado________________________________________________________________________________