Awesome video Tom (and you had already told me the story!)!!! I didn't know a Turbo-Prop was taking off on your right!!! Jeez!
The video kinda makes it look like you might have had enough altitude for a 180 (really almost 270° of total turns because a 180 only gets you turned opposite direction, but then you have to jog back over to the landing strip and line up with it again), but clearly, with your 45° Left, and 45° Right (90° total) to line up on the taxi you were out of altitude (but, it looks like you were pulling in to get to the Taxi quicker too, so had more alt). Great Brakes on the Tanarg-- one of my favorite things about it!!! Minor issue, you did overshoot your lineup to the taxiway-- loss of 5-10' alt. Sometimes closely following roads from a safe height and whipping the trike onto an exact 90, or whatever the road does, without overshooting is great and fun practice for super accuracy.
The grass was a good option- you're familiar with grass strips-- often this stuff is a little high though, and possibly unknown features in it.
I'd really like to know what was going on on the Radio during all this! You're taking off, then what did you call? Did the controller freeze all traffic on the movement areas-- did you call your landing on the taxiway? Did you say "Mayday," or "Pan Pan Pan" or just report the issue, "I'm loosing power, I'm going to have to set it down." What did the turbo-prop do? (great situational awareness to keep him in your mind over there- How would things have been different if you'd waited for his takeoff instead of rushing to beat him?) Was the turbo prop already on the roll? What did the tower say when you said, "I'm going again!!" --> "WTF!!??" ;)
So, the backup electric pump allowed an adequate amount of fuel through it for a period of time, then completely stopped doing that !!?? Why? I've heard that a Rotax 912 pump fails by leaking first, not failing to pump-- based on that rumor, I didn't want to add several potential failure points like a backup electric pump, all the connections and wiring (you suffered more here from adding that stuff). Maybe though I'm wrong on that rumor about 912 pump failure modes-- in which case you demonstrated very well why it can be very important to have at least one functional fuel pump!!! ;) Let's green screen your movie and substitute trees / Elk River / that lake you were flying over with this configuration a few weeks ago-- then it would be heart stopping.
Hi tom well it looked pretty good to me since you're still here.you maintained you're composure and got it back on the ground so hookah for a good e/o video.one question remains! Post to putting on backup pump did you do a high rpm test prior to flight test.would the problem showed itself prior to flight, please explain.and second half of first question (since I said I only have one question) does this influence you in you're low flying maybe a candid review of you're thoughts and feelings on this subject.every pilot has different set of assumed safety envelope and that's ok.and the 3Rd part of the first question in regards to xc comment give us a complete review of what you would of done in the same sinerio happens at elk river.I did think you did a good job getting her back on the ground don't know if I would of put her back in the air though! it is a her ain't it.anyways Sonya and I are looking forward to seeing you and Kathy in a few weeks?
XC - regarding the radio, I made the call to tower as I was coming in for the lineup on the Taxi. Look at the second vid (side cam) and you'll see me hitting the Tx button. I simply said I was aborting take-off but I was stumbling trying to get out my call-sign! Making the call did however distract me from my line up somewhat which I believe that's why I over shot. There was too much stuff going on in my brain. It was a good thing though cuz it caused me to bleed off some of that airspeed making the correction and landing.
Next time I'd just say ' aborting Take-off'! That's enough to get everyones' attention and you can take care of flying! Everyone else will at least pause and look to the runway with a radio call like that.
David - regarding question ....
1a - the fuel was restricted - not cut off. So it takes a while for the fuel line to loose pressure before the engine is effected. A ground run up in this case would have showed no faults. George and I actually hooked the trike up to his car and let it rip. It took a while before the problem surface but it did!. After we removed the pump, we did the run-up again to confirm the problem was fixed. I have a picture of the George's Amazing Runup Retention System (GARRS) lol ....
Works great for doing a bunch of stuff - like setting your prop pitch, etc ...
1b - When I have immediate LZ's such as wheat fields and alike, you better duck if you see me coming. But the reason I added the fuel pump is because I do think often about the 'what if'. As far as low level flying, pick your battles. I'd suggest for starters having your head flying as good as your machine.
1c - Elk River does not give you many options. However, I think had this scenario been based in Elk River, I had enough altitude to do a right turn 180 and land on the frontage road along the creek. The other option would be to ditch in that large wetland area at the north end of the runway. (that's not a good option but it may be all you have. It will definitely leave a mark!). From this I've learned there's truth to climbing to 500' on take-off to assess how the aircraft is going to perform and have options if it doesn't.
I will be practicing my power-off 180 turn-arounds at a little landing strip I know of. It will be a good skill to have a keen feel for.
No messing around with an 180 or S-turns to bleed off some altitude. Got it down, on the ground. If your brakes were not as good as they were, you could have just rolled straight ahead off the taxiway into the grass and you would have been fine. Curious about what was your peak AGL altitude? Could you have made a 180?
I think your 912 fuel pump was strong enough to push(or pull) enough fuel through the electric fuel pump and fill up the carburetor bowls and keep them topped off on your taxi, then they were drained on takeoff. That's another reason to always do a touch and go (if possible) before leaving the pattern. If you can't do a touch and go, then do a descent and low pass and a second climb to fully exercise the engine before heading out away from the safety of the pattern.
Do you always run the electric fuel pump, or only on takeoff and landing?
I don't have an electric fuel pump. I have heard of about problems they cause. I try to keep it as simple as possible. And if your mechanical pump is having problems, the electric might hide the problem.
Jeff - I probably had enough altitude for a 180 in hind sight. What I found interesting was the amount of time it took for me to accept the problem, make a decision, and take action. It took a few valuable seconds. The weird thing was at first, I kept thinking oh - this will go away once I level off. In hind sight, that would have been unlikely and it probably would have led to a much worse outcome.
So in my case, there was a period of denial in there that consumed valuable time away from assessing and taking action. I guess it's something you may have to experience in a real emergency to know what I mean.
As far as the fuel pump use goes, I turn it on at start-up and turn it off right after I see oil pressure. That's it for the fuel pump for me. Afterwords, it's an emergency back-up for the remainder of the flight.
I have some new thoughts about auxiliary fuel pumps (as you can imagine). I think there still is an important role for them - but I need to speak with several Rotax fellas before I discuss here. For now - I'd remove secondary fuel pumps from any direct fuel line.
Bravo Tom for releasing the videos. Many others wouldn't. You made the most of what you had dropping in on the taxiway, all of that grass already had my decision but you knew what you were flying. Kinda...well, excluding the fuel line/pump configuration. And, yeah, a checklist is invaluable without question.
I think you should cut that electric pump open and see what the deal is-- what if you discover a big chunk of debris, or ethanol damage (possible since the change was gradual). At least what type of pump is it inside? Inquiring minds want to know.
Interesting restraint system with the GARRS-- we've always just held the brakes on and they holds the 912 back at full throttle-- so, for clarification, had you not done a full power / prolonged ground runup prior? Did it pass the mag check (brief 3500 rpm) this day- I would guess that it probably did ( it's designed to see if either "mag" drops the RPM, not to see how much throttle it takes to get to and hold 3500- suppose with a clear fuel flow system it takes 1/2 WOT to get 3500 on the ground, it would be hard for you to tell that today it was taking 3/4 WOT to get that. Now if it had taken full WOT, or an increasing throttle to maintain it then that would have tipped you off).
@Jeff_Trike has advocated once around the pattern before, and this reminds me graphically why that's a great idea. At Elk River (in a box valley) that's basically mandatory- box pattern climb outs will be a good idea on our upcoming back country trip.
We can also have a 180 "contest" to refresh our skills and remind us below what altitude not to try it-- we start into the wind at least 2000 AGL in climbing configuration, then suddenly cut to idle at progressively lower altitudes above 2000 AGL and radio back to the other guys the lowest we can 180 and stay above 2000 (lining up on a road into the wind to start would be best)-- in fact, that would be a cool world-wide virtual contest!! That would give us a gross world-wide range for all trikes, all wings, all skill levels from which we could discuss a conservative minimum.
Still trying to see the clip...almost no bandwith on offshore drilling rigs.
I’ve had six fuel system failures on three trikes during take-offs. All but one…were immediate engine outs on initial climb-out. I made it back to the field five times and landing in the tall grass once. No damage any of these situations fortunately. For any others that may have not had this drilled into their heads during flight training for emergencies:
Hi Ttabs, Thanks for your post. I have had a simular issue with an Airborne 912. The restriction was in the fuel line and this made the carby bowls empty and the reduced power alouded them to fill again. This made the same sound your engine made. I don't have a second fuel pump and have never needed one. Is it a requirement for you to have one?
YFT - it is not a requirement to have a backup fuel pump. I installed it for peace of mind in case I lose fuel flow in flight. Some peace of mind eh?
Henry - I installed directly in my main fuel line like DTA did. To run one in a parallel config, I'd need to also install one or two check valves depending on the setup.
cburg - do you use a tailhook on that drilling rig when you fly?
Having owned three airplanes (Quickie Tri-Q2, KR2, Z-max) with gravity feed, I like the idea of it in general. On more than one occasion I have contemplated installing a transfer tank like my KR2. It had a fuel pump that transferred it to the header tank, but the engine was gravity fed (of course not possibly with many engines). If the fuel transfer pump failed you would know well in advance and could find a place to land while you ran off the header tank.
I am thinking about this again on my current new-build project. It allows the CG to remain low and most of the fuel where it is now. Height and inlet hose size can be adjusted for flow rates.
On my current trike, I have a vacuum actuated fuel pump and an electric aux fuel pump that turns on automatically when the main pump/fuel line pressure drops. A red light comes on when the aux pump is on. Usually only during start-up. I like it to be automatic. Very handy.
Regarding something like a blocked or severed fuel line, cooling system problems, electrical system failure or mechanical engine failure, the only thing to deal with that is a second engine. My (first) lottery plane is an AirCam…love flying them.
Years ago I built a twin engine trike. The second engine was merely a 15 hp sustainer engine. It could maintain level flight at full throttle with a 15 meter DS wing flown at VX. It was a test set-up for an electric sustainer motor with ON/OFF capability only. Then LSA regs complicated things for me so I removed it.
My current new-build is a twin 582, with completely separate and redundant systems. There are a few things that would bring it down, but not many.
Thanks for publishing the videos and commentary - interesting watching and a nice save. How long have you been flying with the auxiliary fuel pump? It's an interesting demonstration of the tradeoff between redundancy and simplicity for sure...
Along those lines, twin-engine aircraft still have common failure modes. Things like the pilot, mechanic, and fuel tank...
Thanks for sharing this valuable information and video with us. In this case trading a few seconds to make the right decision worked out great. Maintaining aircraft control is always the first priority (if possible). Correctly assessing the situation is obviously important and practice or having "chair flown" such a scenario mentally certainly helps in being able to make a decision quickly without panicking. Your comment about "period of denial" is a very helpful insight. I think there is a natural tendency for us to not want to accept something bad right away. Getting past that quickly is something I think as pilots we should mentally prepare for. An example is a video (
) that shows a high density altitude takeoff that is just not working. The pilot passes many better options to land while apparently remaining stuck in that "period of denial" of the situation and hoping to eke out enough performance to clear some trees... He does not make it. As you point out, if you had delayed recognizing the engine was not getting better it could have been a much different result. Great job on making the decision and following through with a safe landing. Great brakes on your Tanarg... I figure you stopped in less than 200 feet ! I guess another valuable lesson to take away from this is to take time to correctly determine the cause of a problem before taking the aircraft up for another "test" flight. An exciting welcome to Felts... two emergency landings one right after another... Great job on both !!!
Thanks Tom for a great video and detailed analysis. I will share here too a video of a takeoff where I lost power on a new 912s engine which reminded me that this can happen at anytime, even with a brand new well maintained engine. I experienced a loss of RPM on takeoff right before turning cross wind. Although I never lost total engine power, it was enough to want to turn and land back at the runway. At first I thought I might have to land off field on the river bed, but fortunately I had enough height and enough power returned to safely land on the runway. The alert bulletin put out the next day shed additional light on the cause of the problem. A Faulty fuel hose after the filter and fuel pump before the carbs. ASB-912-061. End of Vid is a picture of the debris found in float bowls.
Peter thanks that was one of the best e/0 past the Runway 180 videos I've seen.you had me leaning into it on the couch.you were pretty far out on climb out there great job.
Tom I totally missed you're answers to my questions. Thanks and well said. It's just great that we can experience this via video a great learning tool.
I had a problem with my soaring TRIKE while flying the other day, didn't show up in run up but in the evening over the runway about 1000 agl I dropped off the throttle and cruised for a bit lost about 500agl and went for throttle to climb back up and applying throttle quickly it bogged down and wouldn't come back to full RPMs until I backed off throttle and reapplied slowly.after landing I checked float bowl , clean.I must assume that my macuni Carb may need altitude adjustment.it's a new engine with only low hours on it. But these videos keep my mind focused.
Thanks David C., the power loss on takeoff was alarming particularly with a brand new trike. Fortunately I did not lose all power and that helped with the turn back to land on the same runway. Landing in the riverbed was my second option, but the rough terrain might not have resulted in the same smooth outcome.
No - the pump is encased in steel and will be a chore. Maybe I'll take it to the Elk River fly-in and one afternoon - inquiring minds will want to know! lol The pump is piston driven so there are two valves inside. I imagine one of them is deformed both restricting fuel flow and prohibiting the pump from working when turned on. I'll take plenty of pics for you when we take it apart.
David careful you are using blow up land elk river.nsa has probably already flagged you.they'll be watching us from the woods.but tom can give them a hair cut. NSA He's talking about taking apart his personal fuel pump not terrorist related.
Comments
Awesome video Tom (and you had already told me the story!)!!! I didn't know a Turbo-Prop was taking off on your right!!! Jeez!
The video kinda makes it look like you might have had enough altitude for a 180 (really almost 270° of total turns because a 180 only gets you turned opposite direction, but then you have to jog back over to the landing strip and line up with it again), but clearly, with your 45° Left, and 45° Right (90° total) to line up on the taxi you were out of altitude (but, it looks like you were pulling in to get to the Taxi quicker too, so had more alt). Great Brakes on the Tanarg-- one of my favorite things about it!!! Minor issue, you did overshoot your lineup to the taxiway-- loss of 5-10' alt. Sometimes closely following roads from a safe height and whipping the trike onto an exact 90, or whatever the road does, without overshooting is great and fun practice for super accuracy.
The grass was a good option- you're familiar with grass strips-- often this stuff is a little high though, and possibly unknown features in it.
I'd really like to know what was going on on the Radio during all this! You're taking off, then what did you call? Did the controller freeze all traffic on the movement areas-- did you call your landing on the taxiway? Did you say "Mayday," or "Pan Pan Pan" or just report the issue, "I'm loosing power, I'm going to have to set it down." What did the turbo-prop do? (great situational awareness to keep him in your mind over there- How would things have been different if you'd waited for his takeoff instead of rushing to beat him?) Was the turbo prop already on the roll? What did the tower say when you said, "I'm going again!!" --> "WTF!!??" ;)
So, the backup electric pump allowed an adequate amount of fuel through it for a period of time, then completely stopped doing that !!?? Why? I've heard that a Rotax 912 pump fails by leaking first, not failing to pump-- based on that rumor, I didn't want to add several potential failure points like a backup electric pump, all the connections and wiring (you suffered more here from adding that stuff). Maybe though I'm wrong on that rumor about 912 pump failure modes-- in which case you demonstrated very well why it can be very important to have at least one functional fuel pump!!! ;) Let's green screen your movie and substitute trees / Elk River / that lake you were flying over with this configuration a few weeks ago-- then it would be heart stopping.
Fuel, Fuel, Fuel !!! Seems to be the biggest mechanical issue. Glad you use a Racor ! I feel much better with mine.
Nice Job All Around Ttabs!
Tag it for "Video7-13"
Hi tom well it looked pretty good to me since you're still here.you maintained you're composure and got it back on the ground so hookah for a good e/o video.one question remains! Post to putting on backup pump did you do a high rpm test prior to flight test.would the problem showed itself prior to flight, please explain.and second half of first question (since I said I only have one question) does this influence you in you're low flying maybe a candid review of you're thoughts and feelings on this subject.every pilot has different set of assumed safety envelope and that's ok.and the 3Rd part of the first question in regards to xc comment give us a complete review of what you would of done in the same sinerio happens at elk river.I did think you did a good job getting her back on the ground don't know if I would of put her back in the air though! it is a her ain't it.anyways Sonya and I are looking forward to seeing you and Kathy in a few weeks?
XC - regarding the radio, I made the call to tower as I was coming in for the lineup on the Taxi. Look at the second vid (side cam) and you'll see me hitting the Tx button. I simply said I was aborting take-off but I was stumbling trying to get out my call-sign! Making the call did however distract me from my line up somewhat which I believe that's why I over shot. There was too much stuff going on in my brain. It was a good thing though cuz it caused me to bleed off some of that airspeed making the correction and landing.
Next time I'd just say ' aborting Take-off'! That's enough to get everyones' attention and you can take care of flying! Everyone else will at least pause and look to the runway with a radio call like that.
David - regarding question ....
1a - the fuel was restricted - not cut off. So it takes a while for the fuel line to loose pressure before the engine is effected. A ground run up in this case would have showed no faults. George and I actually hooked the trike up to his car and let it rip. It took a while before the problem surface but it did!. After we removed the pump, we did the run-up again to confirm the problem was fixed. I have a picture of the George's Amazing Runup Retention System (GARRS) lol ....
Works great for doing a bunch of stuff - like setting your prop pitch, etc ...
1b - When I have immediate LZ's such as wheat fields and alike, you better duck if you see me coming. But the reason I added the fuel pump is because I do think often about the 'what if'. As far as low level flying, pick your battles. I'd suggest for starters having your head flying as good as your machine.
1c - Elk River does not give you many options. However, I think had this scenario been based in Elk River, I had enough altitude to do a right turn 180 and land on the frontage road along the creek. The other option would be to ditch in that large wetland area at the north end of the runway. (that's not a good option but it may be all you have. It will definitely leave a mark!). From this I've learned there's truth to climbing to 500' on take-off to assess how the aircraft is going to perform and have options if it doesn't.
I will be practicing my power-off 180 turn-arounds at a little landing strip I know of. It will be a good skill to have a keen feel for.
Good job Tom.
No messing around with an 180 or S-turns to bleed off some altitude. Got it down, on the ground. If your brakes were not as good as they were, you could have just rolled straight ahead off the taxiway into the grass and you would have been fine. Curious about what was your peak AGL altitude? Could you have made a 180?
I think your 912 fuel pump was strong enough to push(or pull) enough fuel through the electric fuel pump and fill up the carburetor bowls and keep them topped off on your taxi, then they were drained on takeoff. That's another reason to always do a touch and go (if possible) before leaving the pattern. If you can't do a touch and go, then do a descent and low pass and a second climb to fully exercise the engine before heading out away from the safety of the pattern.
Do you always run the electric fuel pump, or only on takeoff and landing?
I don't have an electric fuel pump. I have heard of about problems they cause. I try to keep it as simple as possible. And if your mechanical pump is having problems, the electric might hide the problem.
Jeff - I probably had enough altitude for a 180 in hind sight. What I found interesting was the amount of time it took for me to accept the problem, make a decision, and take action. It took a few valuable seconds. The weird thing was at first, I kept thinking oh - this will go away once I level off. In hind sight, that would have been unlikely and it probably would have led to a much worse outcome.
So in my case, there was a period of denial in there that consumed valuable time away from assessing and taking action. I guess it's something you may have to experience in a real emergency to know what I mean.
As far as the fuel pump use goes, I turn it on at start-up and turn it off right after I see oil pressure. That's it for the fuel pump for me. Afterwords, it's an emergency back-up for the remainder of the flight.
I have some new thoughts about auxiliary fuel pumps (as you can imagine). I think there still is an important role for them - but I need to speak with several Rotax fellas before I discuss here. For now - I'd remove secondary fuel pumps from any direct fuel line.
Bravo Tom for releasing the videos. Many others wouldn't. You made the most of what you had dropping in on the taxiway, all of that grass already had my decision but you knew what you were flying. Kinda...well, excluding the fuel line/pump configuration. And, yeah, a checklist is invaluable without question.
Thanks for the breakdown. I'm always concerned about reaction time. The naging question...Is that noise normal?
I think you should cut that electric pump open and see what the deal is-- what if you discover a big chunk of debris, or ethanol damage (possible since the change was gradual). At least what type of pump is it inside? Inquiring minds want to know.
Interesting restraint system with the GARRS-- we've always just held the brakes on and they holds the 912 back at full throttle-- so, for clarification, had you not done a full power / prolonged ground runup prior? Did it pass the mag check (brief 3500 rpm) this day- I would guess that it probably did ( it's designed to see if either "mag" drops the RPM, not to see how much throttle it takes to get to and hold 3500- suppose with a clear fuel flow system it takes 1/2 WOT to get 3500 on the ground, it would be hard for you to tell that today it was taking 3/4 WOT to get that. Now if it had taken full WOT, or an increasing throttle to maintain it then that would have tipped you off).
@Jeff_Trike has advocated once around the pattern before, and this reminds me graphically why that's a great idea. At Elk River (in a box valley) that's basically mandatory- box pattern climb outs will be a good idea on our upcoming back country trip.
We can also have a 180 "contest" to refresh our skills and remind us below what altitude not to try it-- we start into the wind at least 2000 AGL in climbing configuration, then suddenly cut to idle at progressively lower altitudes above 2000 AGL and radio back to the other guys the lowest we can 180 and stay above 2000 (lining up on a road into the wind to start would be best)-- in fact, that would be a cool world-wide virtual contest!! That would give us a gross world-wide range for all trikes, all wings, all skill levels from which we could discuss a conservative minimum.
Still trying to see the clip...almost no bandwith on offshore drilling rigs.
I’ve had six fuel system failures on three trikes during take-offs. All but one…were immediate engine outs on initial climb-out. I made it back to the field five times and landing in the tall grass once. No damage any of these situations fortunately. For any others that may have not had this drilled into their heads during flight training for emergencies:
1.) Aviate 2.) Navigate 3.) Communicate
Hi Ttabs, Thanks for your post. I have had a simular issue with an Airborne 912. The restriction was in the fuel line and this made the carby bowls empty and the reduced power alouded them to fill again. This made the same sound your engine made. I don't have a second fuel pump and have never needed one. Is it a requirement for you to have one?
YFT - it is not a requirement to have a backup fuel pump. I installed it for peace of mind in case I lose fuel flow in flight. Some peace of mind eh?
Henry - I installed directly in my main fuel line like DTA did. To run one in a parallel config, I'd need to also install one or two check valves depending on the setup.
cburg - do you use a tailhook on that drilling rig when you fly?
Having owned three airplanes (Quickie Tri-Q2, KR2, Z-max) with gravity feed, I like the idea of it in general. On more than one occasion I have contemplated installing a transfer tank like my KR2. It had a fuel pump that transferred it to the header tank, but the engine was gravity fed (of course not possibly with many engines). If the fuel transfer pump failed you would know well in advance and could find a place to land while you ran off the header tank.
I am thinking about this again on my current new-build project. It allows the CG to remain low and most of the fuel where it is now. Height and inlet hose size can be adjusted for flow rates.
On my current trike, I have a vacuum actuated fuel pump and an electric aux fuel pump that turns on automatically when the main pump/fuel line pressure drops. A red light comes on when the aux pump is on. Usually only during start-up. I like it to be automatic. Very handy.
Amazing landing when the occasion called for it, great decision making...WOW!
Regarding something like a blocked or severed fuel line, cooling system problems, electrical system failure or mechanical engine failure, the only thing to deal with that is a second engine. My (first) lottery plane is an AirCam…love flying them.
Years ago I built a twin engine trike. The second engine was merely a 15 hp sustainer engine. It could maintain level flight at full throttle with a 15 meter DS wing flown at VX. It was a test set-up for an electric sustainer motor with ON/OFF capability only. Then LSA regs complicated things for me so I removed it.
My current new-build is a twin 582, with completely separate and redundant systems. There are a few things that would bring it down, but not many.
Thanks for publishing the videos and commentary - interesting watching and a nice save. How long have you been flying with the auxiliary fuel pump? It's an interesting demonstration of the tradeoff between redundancy and simplicity for sure...
Along those lines, twin-engine aircraft still have common failure modes. Things like the pilot, mechanic, and fuel tank...
Thanks for sharing this valuable information and video with us. In this case trading a few seconds to make the right decision worked out great. Maintaining aircraft control is always the first priority (if possible). Correctly assessing the situation is obviously important and practice or having "chair flown" such a scenario mentally certainly helps in being able to make a decision quickly without panicking. Your comment about "period of denial" is a very helpful insight. I think there is a natural tendency for us to not want to accept something bad right away. Getting past that quickly is something I think as pilots we should mentally prepare for. An example is a video (
) that shows a high density altitude takeoff that is just not working. The pilot passes many better options to land while apparently remaining stuck in that "period of denial" of the situation and hoping to eke out enough performance to clear some trees... He does not make it. As you point out, if you had delayed recognizing the engine was not getting better it could have been a much different result. Great job on making the decision and following through with a safe landing. Great brakes on your Tanarg... I figure you stopped in less than 200 feet ! I guess another valuable lesson to take away from this is to take time to correctly determine the cause of a problem before taking the aircraft up for another "test" flight. An exciting welcome to Felts... two emergency landings one right after another... Great job on both !!!Thanks Tom for a great video and detailed analysis. I will share here too a video of a takeoff where I lost power on a new 912s engine which reminded me that this can happen at anytime, even with a brand new well maintained engine. I experienced a loss of RPM on takeoff right before turning cross wind. Although I never lost total engine power, it was enough to want to turn and land back at the runway. At first I thought I might have to land off field on the river bed, but fortunately I had enough height and enough power returned to safely land on the runway. The alert bulletin put out the next day shed additional light on the cause of the problem. A Faulty fuel hose after the filter and fuel pump before the carbs. ASB-912-061. End of Vid is a picture of the debris found in float bowls.
Here is the video that was imbedded in the text above. Let's see if I do this right....
Ttabs - good video and good nervous (2nd check) and very good brakes! But there is a lot of places where you can to land. Nice airport.
Peter D - good quick reaction, there was not place for landing around.
Peter thanks that was one of the best e/0 past the Runway 180 videos I've seen.you had me leaning into it on the couch.you were pretty far out on climb out there great job.
Tom I totally missed you're answers to my questions. Thanks and well said. It's just great that we can experience this via video a great learning tool.
I had a problem with my soaring TRIKE while flying the other day, didn't show up in run up but in the evening over the runway about 1000 agl I dropped off the throttle and cruised for a bit lost about 500agl and went for throttle to climb back up and applying throttle quickly it bogged down and wouldn't come back to full RPMs until I backed off throttle and reapplied slowly.after landing I checked float bowl , clean.I
must assume that my macuni
Carb may need altitude adjustment.it's a new engine with only low hours on it.
But these videos keep my mind focused.
carb
Thanks David C., the power loss on takeoff was alarming particularly with a brand new trike. Fortunately I did not lose all power and that helped with the turn back to land on the same runway. Landing in the riverbed was my second option, but the rough terrain might not have resulted in the same smooth outcome.
Tom,
Have you opened up the pump to find out what blocked the flow?
Jeff
No - the pump is encased in steel and will be a chore. Maybe I'll take it to the Elk River fly-in and one afternoon - inquiring minds will want to know! lol The pump is piston driven so there are two valves inside. I imagine one of them is deformed both restricting fuel flow and prohibiting the pump from working when turned on. I'll take plenty of pics for you when we take it apart.
Let's blow it up at Elk River and see what's inside!!! ;) Inquiring minds and all ;)
(click on "Next" page / "2" below to find out)
David careful you are using blow up land elk river.nsa has probably already flagged you.they'll be watching us from the woods.but tom can give them a hair cut.
NSA
He's talking about taking apart his personal fuel pump
not terrorist related.