Pietenpol-List: NX41CC is down
Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 9:41 pm
Original Posted By: Galen Hutcheson
Howdy, low and slow fliers;I'm sure someone will pick up on this sooner or later, so here's the official NTSB incident report:http://www.faa.gov/avr/aai/M_1112_N.txtMy instructor, Charlie Avaritt, was at the controls (solo), approx. 500' AGL, when carb ice caused the engine to begin running rough. Conditions were ideal for formation of carb ice and there is no doubt that this was the cause of the engine roughness. Application of full carb heat did not smooth it out enough to maintain flying speed or altitude and a precautionary landing was attempted in the only available field within miles (and very little gliding range from that altitude). The landing was successful but the rollout, in an unimproved field, collapsed the landing gear at a fairly low airspeed (broke a fitting on one of the shock struts, leading to collapse of the other). The airplane dropped to its belly, the air intake and leading edge of the firewall dug in, the airplane gently nosed over and ended up on its back. Charlie unhooked the harness, got out, and walked away, there was no fire, the engine was stopped during final approach so the prop was horizontal and no damage whatsoever to the engine itself or the prop.Photos and a more complete report will follow, but here it is in a nutshell: the Pietenpol is a strong airplane! No damage whatsoever to the wings, horizontal stabilizer, elevator, or almost all of the fuselage. Lower cowling is bent, carb is ruined (but I have another), air box will need reworking, gascolator mount ditto (the carb and gascolator were what nosed into the ground and flipped the airplane). There is sandy loam (DIRT!) pretty much all inside the cowling from when the airplane dug in, mixed with dry grass. The forward cabanes are bent and will need to be replaced, from the rollover onto the wing. Leading edge of the vertical stabilizer is cracked (again, from the rollover and drop onto the tip of the VS) and will have to be replaced and the VS recovered. EAA 35 members will be called on heavily to pitch in with the repairs and I'm sure they will rise to the occasion!ELT activated upon impact but until we thought about it and shut it off two days later (Saturday), nobody called or showed up. Makes you wonder what would have happened if somebody was dying, laying in the snow on a mountainside. Also makes you wonder why the FAA makes us pay for these things when they are of no use, but maybe why they are obsoleting the VHF units in favor of UHF. Corky: the seat belt and shoulder harness worked to perfection. So did the ELT mounts and everything else.Post-script: after flipping the airplane back over and temporarily bracing the main gear legs with some electrical cable so it was steady on its legs, the trip through town on a flatbed trailer was thought to be part of a Veterans' Day parade and everybody waved as the plane rolled slowly by on its way to the airport. The airplane is extremely popular with people and nobody even noticed that the airplane was injured.Corky: please don't kill me. I promise that none of this is a reflection on your building skills, your airplane, or anything having to do with Louisiana. The airplane will live to fly again, and it will have a more robust carb heat knob and control, as well as a very positive verification of adequate temperature rise through the carb heat muff even if it means that I take off the muff and wrap door springs around the exhaust pipes or stuff the muff with coarse steel wool. There was just not enough carb heat, maybe 100 degrees on runup. All the parts for a proper system are there, but the carb heat really needs to warm that air! To those of you on the fence about carb heat: (an old Mexican proverb:) "el golpe avisa". Roughly translated, "the blow teaches a lesson".News at 11, plus pictures. Sigh. I still have not flown my airplane. However, it could have been worse: I could have had my grandson up with me...! Happy Thanksgiving, friends, and I'll keep y'all informed as we get into the repairs. I think back to the many test flights that Mr. Pietenpol had in his prototypes, the number of times that he found out "the hard way" what worked and what didn't, and it's really no big deal to fix the airplane and get back out there again like he did time and time again.Oscar ZunigaSan Antonio, TXmailto: taildrags(at)hotmail.comwebsite at http://www.flysquirrel.net_-=====================================================================_-_-= -- Please Support Your Lists This Month --_-= (And Get Some AWESOME FREE Gifts!)_-_-= November is the Annual List Fund Raiser. Click on the_-= Contribution link below to find out more about this_-= year's Terrific Free Incentive Gifts provided by the_-= The Builder's Bookstore www.buildersbooks.com!_-_-= List Contribution Web Site_-_-= http://www.matronics.com/contribution_-_-= Thank you for your generous support!_-= -Matt Dralle, List Admin._-_-=====================================================================_-= - The Pietenpol-List Email Forum -_-= This forum is sponsored entirely through the Contributions_-= of List members. You'll never see banner ads or any other_-= form of direct advertising on the Matronics Forums._-=====================================================================_-= List Related Information_-= Post Message: pietenpol-list(at)matronics.com_-= UN/SUBSCRIBE: http://www.matronics.com/subscription_-= List FAQ: http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Pietenpol-List.htm_-= Search Engine: http://www.matronics.com/search_-= 7-Day Browse: http://www.matronics.com/browse/pietenpol-list_-= Browse Digests: http://www.matronics.com/digest/pietenpol-list_-= Live List Chat: http://www.matronics.com/chat_-= Archives: http://www.matronics.com/archives_-= Photo Share: http://www.matronics.com/photoshare_-= List Specific: http://www.matronics.com/pietenpol-list_-= Other Lists: http://www.matronics.com/emaillists_-= Trouble Report http://www.matronics.com/trouble-report_-= Contributions: http://www.matronics.com/contribution_- ... ______Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 21:27:42 -0800 (PST)
Howdy, low and slow fliers;I'm sure someone will pick up on this sooner or later, so here's the official NTSB incident report:http://www.faa.gov/avr/aai/M_1112_N.txtMy instructor, Charlie Avaritt, was at the controls (solo), approx. 500' AGL, when carb ice caused the engine to begin running rough. Conditions were ideal for formation of carb ice and there is no doubt that this was the cause of the engine roughness. Application of full carb heat did not smooth it out enough to maintain flying speed or altitude and a precautionary landing was attempted in the only available field within miles (and very little gliding range from that altitude). The landing was successful but the rollout, in an unimproved field, collapsed the landing gear at a fairly low airspeed (broke a fitting on one of the shock struts, leading to collapse of the other). The airplane dropped to its belly, the air intake and leading edge of the firewall dug in, the airplane gently nosed over and ended up on its back. Charlie unhooked the harness, got out, and walked away, there was no fire, the engine was stopped during final approach so the prop was horizontal and no damage whatsoever to the engine itself or the prop.Photos and a more complete report will follow, but here it is in a nutshell: the Pietenpol is a strong airplane! No damage whatsoever to the wings, horizontal stabilizer, elevator, or almost all of the fuselage. Lower cowling is bent, carb is ruined (but I have another), air box will need reworking, gascolator mount ditto (the carb and gascolator were what nosed into the ground and flipped the airplane). There is sandy loam (DIRT!) pretty much all inside the cowling from when the airplane dug in, mixed with dry grass. The forward cabanes are bent and will need to be replaced, from the rollover onto the wing. Leading edge of the vertical stabilizer is cracked (again, from the rollover and drop onto the tip of the VS) and will have to be replaced and the VS recovered. EAA 35 members will be called on heavily to pitch in with the repairs and I'm sure they will rise to the occasion!ELT activated upon impact but until we thought about it and shut it off two days later (Saturday), nobody called or showed up. Makes you wonder what would have happened if somebody was dying, laying in the snow on a mountainside. Also makes you wonder why the FAA makes us pay for these things when they are of no use, but maybe why they are obsoleting the VHF units in favor of UHF. Corky: the seat belt and shoulder harness worked to perfection. So did the ELT mounts and everything else.Post-script: after flipping the airplane back over and temporarily bracing the main gear legs with some electrical cable so it was steady on its legs, the trip through town on a flatbed trailer was thought to be part of a Veterans' Day parade and everybody waved as the plane rolled slowly by on its way to the airport. The airplane is extremely popular with people and nobody even noticed that the airplane was injured.Corky: please don't kill me. I promise that none of this is a reflection on your building skills, your airplane, or anything having to do with Louisiana. The airplane will live to fly again, and it will have a more robust carb heat knob and control, as well as a very positive verification of adequate temperature rise through the carb heat muff even if it means that I take off the muff and wrap door springs around the exhaust pipes or stuff the muff with coarse steel wool. There was just not enough carb heat, maybe 100 degrees on runup. All the parts for a proper system are there, but the carb heat really needs to warm that air! To those of you on the fence about carb heat: (an old Mexican proverb:) "el golpe avisa". Roughly translated, "the blow teaches a lesson".News at 11, plus pictures. Sigh. I still have not flown my airplane. However, it could have been worse: I could have had my grandson up with me...! Happy Thanksgiving, friends, and I'll keep y'all informed as we get into the repairs. I think back to the many test flights that Mr. Pietenpol had in his prototypes, the number of times that he found out "the hard way" what worked and what didn't, and it's really no big deal to fix the airplane and get back out there again like he did time and time again.Oscar ZunigaSan Antonio, TXmailto: taildrags(at)hotmail.comwebsite at http://www.flysquirrel.net_-=====================================================================_-_-= -- Please Support Your Lists This Month --_-= (And Get Some AWESOME FREE Gifts!)_-_-= November is the Annual List Fund Raiser. Click on the_-= Contribution link below to find out more about this_-= year's Terrific Free Incentive Gifts provided by the_-= The Builder's Bookstore www.buildersbooks.com!_-_-= List Contribution Web Site_-_-= http://www.matronics.com/contribution_-_-= Thank you for your generous support!_-= -Matt Dralle, List Admin._-_-=====================================================================_-= - The Pietenpol-List Email Forum -_-= This forum is sponsored entirely through the Contributions_-= of List members. You'll never see banner ads or any other_-= form of direct advertising on the Matronics Forums._-=====================================================================_-= List Related Information_-= Post Message: pietenpol-list(at)matronics.com_-= UN/SUBSCRIBE: http://www.matronics.com/subscription_-= List FAQ: http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Pietenpol-List.htm_-= Search Engine: http://www.matronics.com/search_-= 7-Day Browse: http://www.matronics.com/browse/pietenpol-list_-= Browse Digests: http://www.matronics.com/digest/pietenpol-list_-= Live List Chat: http://www.matronics.com/chat_-= Archives: http://www.matronics.com/archives_-= Photo Share: http://www.matronics.com/photoshare_-= List Specific: http://www.matronics.com/pietenpol-list_-= Other Lists: http://www.matronics.com/emaillists_-= Trouble Report http://www.matronics.com/trouble-report_-= Contributions: http://www.matronics.com/contribution_- ... ______Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 21:27:42 -0800 (PST)