When this happened...
I was over the marsh Friday evening when the starter ring gear separated from the flywheel. The prop caught the bell housing parts as they flew off.
I immediately shut down the engine and glided to the field just north of the runway. Ended up about a quarter mile away in the corn stubble. Normal engine out landing. No problem. Took the truck and pulled it home with Dianna and the neighbor's help.
Took it apart Saturday. Only other damage not evident in the photo's is it chipped the rear main seal housing. I have another one.
This happened because I was using the wrong flywheel. It couldn't absorb the harmonic resonance of the engine. I will try and find a replacement in a junk yard and have it balanced. The prop will be expensive. Don't know how much for the bell housing. I'm waiting for a response from the supplier.
Obviously will not be flying to Columbia.Don't know about Gardner.Should be fixed by Oshkosh.
C!
Wife's Point of View : Oh Honey ! Are you alright?!? So, you were able to walk away from the plane...
As a wife with a guy who will do what he wants to do. There could be some bumps, bruises, and broken bones along the way, as I've learned from a past experience.
Hubby is working on getting the bugs out of the system. We are glad he was in the neighborhood when the parts decided to fly. Instead of on his way to one of the upcoming events...
The kicker, he had only 48 more minutes until he would have been able to leave the 25 mile radius restriction. With changes to the plane he may have to start over at another 40 hours - to be determined after contacting the local FAA office to get their opinion. Sitting on pins and needles working on trying to get things all in order to be off into the wild blue yonder in the shortest amount of time possible once again...
I was over the marsh Friday evening when the starter ring gear separated from the flywheel. The prop caught the bell housing parts as they flew off.
I immediately shut down the engine and glided to the field just north of the runway. Ended up about a quarter mile away in the corn stubble. Normal engine out landing. No problem. Took the truck and pulled it home with Dianna and the neighbor's help.
Took it apart Saturday. Only other damage not evident in the photo's is it chipped the rear main seal housing. I have another one.
This happened because I was using the wrong flywheel. It couldn't absorb the harmonic resonance of the engine. I will try and find a replacement in a junk yard and have it balanced. The prop will be expensive. Don't know how much for the bell housing. I'm waiting for a response from the supplier.
Obviously will not be flying to Columbia.Don't know about Gardner.Should be fixed by Oshkosh.
C!
Wife's Point of View : Oh Honey ! Are you alright?!? So, you were able to walk away from the plane...
As a wife with a guy who will do what he wants to do. There could be some bumps, bruises, and broken bones along the way, as I've learned from a past experience.
Hubby is working on getting the bugs out of the system. We are glad he was in the neighborhood when the parts decided to fly. Instead of on his way to one of the upcoming events...
The kicker, he had only 48 more minutes until he would have been able to leave the 25 mile radius restriction. With changes to the plane he may have to start over at another 40 hours - to be determined after contacting the local FAA office to get their opinion. Sitting on pins and needles working on trying to get things all in order to be off into the wild blue yonder in the shortest amount of time possible once again...
Wow. I'm glad everything turned out alright and here's hoping everything is fixed by OskKosh.
ReplyDeleteThat's scary. I'm glad your husband is all right and the plane isn't broken too badly.
ReplyDeletesimplyoutdoors - Yes, we are glad he had some training in engine off maneuvers prior to his problem. With this type of situation he had a controlled solution.
ReplyDeleteIf things can get fixed sooner he is still going to try for the other fly-ins. Depends on making connections to get the parts and how long it might be to get shipments.
To my readers - Those viewing in Internet Explorer maybe having a challenge in reading this post. I tried repeatedly last night to get it to work. It looked alright in my blogger preview format , but when it was published,issues arose.
ReplyDeleteThe FireFox version is more acceptable. At least the lines are all in a row. ;)
Kristine - Hubby said his legs were shaking when he got out of the plane. Could have been memories of the other mishap about 5years ago. That one took a while to heal from.
ReplyDeleteHe is fine and working to find fixes. ;)
Thank goodness he is alright and nothing serious happened. Hope he gets it all worked out.
ReplyDeletethe hunter's wife - We appreciate your thoughts. I haven't talked to him for awhile so I don't know how things are coming with finding his parts. He should have some idea within the next few days how long he will be grounded.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind I had thought it was a prop plane that he flew by remote control, not by himself. Hope everything works out for everyone......
ReplyDeleteMarian - Hubby just wouldn't be satisfied with standing on the ground holding a remote control.
ReplyDeleteHe wants to be flying high, feet off the ground.
Everything is going to be A-Okay. Only one more part to round up. Might be the most difficult one to get, that would be the bell housing.