Montycosmos racer
503 rotax pukes- Engine Out over 2 years ago now
By Monty
Categories: Equipment, Training / Learning to Fly a Trike, Safety, Low & Slow Trikes, Maintenance
Comments (10)Pistons seized (even 503s die some-time!) the ground was frozen ( 20deg ), and bumpy! my 12 meter wing didn't like slowing down. this happened on 1st january 2011, hell of a way to start the new year! it gets worse! in april my wallet and id was stolen! in july i had my shoulder re-manufactured and the operation failed! so i'm stuck with a 76year old joint! and the year ain't over yet!
Comments
my comment regarding my 12m wing not wanting to slow down meant of course once on the ground. a poor choice of words! not my first nor my last ! by the way i rebuilt it using chinese pishkins and top end stuff and am still aviating with them, so the quality seems ok. the price for the whole top end kit inc shipping from florida, i think was $249. probably a third of the rotax prices! monty
I thought you did good Monty. When I first saw the engine cut, I thought you were going to head for a dirt road, but you basically went straight ahead to an open (frozen) field. Why'd you have a 12M wing on a light trike?
cos thats what was on it when i bought it. i bought a n/wing 14.7m and use it up north where uv ain't allowed, i prefer to fly the 12m, it is a smoother wing to fly, but it does land a bit faster. in fact it does everything a little faster! its 20yrs old yet the trilam is still stiffer than a wedding dick! (psst!) that trike ain't all that light, though it does make 103 weight (sans wing!) the only down side is it eez french, though most of the chariot has over the years been replaced with amurracan metal. monty
it's good to be back! i'm going 'jammies' now, nitey nite!
Monty its a great thing for you to let you e/0 be for learning. I personally thought you did a great job.keeped youre head reached a lz .liked the comment ( that was not fun). So if i understand that was a 12 mt wing. Just to add that not all e/0 s are created equal. Your video looks like when you first lost engine youre sink happened pretty guick. So you made a good assesment to that rough field.what i cant tell is did you minimize your loss of altitude while making a decicion or did you instinktively see the field and put it there.i believe you first thoughts are the most important in any e/0. Ive had a couple e/0 in my big floaty falcon 225 t . The first was rather a duh? I had been flying over a hugh lz at 2-3g agl for a few hours when i took a moment to think well i wounder how much fuel do i have left. A second later the engine stopped and i said oh that much. Flew for another 20 min and dive bombed my wife filming from our car.(the video on my pro page) the second flying with xc at elk river which is not to e/0friendly. If you watch my e/0 video on that one . I had been preparing for that very sinerio all week at elk river .with my not so great climb rate i wanted a pattern that would give me a good option for the runway untill i had sufficient altitude to venture out. When i started ventureing out my plug cap vibrated out on my inverted engine even though i had just double banded it. As you see the nose drop with e/0 i imediatly went to best l/drag becausei didnt want to lose precious altitude while making my accessment to the runway. So an e/0 while you have a safe altitude from the ground i belive its critical to not lose altitude while taking a moment that you are looking for the best option.but preparing for a engine out when you are below critical altitude is different and should be well worked out in your preflight so there is no question in what you are going to do (should be instant reaction). I have not had a e/0 in my airbourne red back(yet) but with a 15m mustang strutted wing i make a point to have a reachable lz under me at all times. So i guess iam intertaining that all e/0 is not created equal. It would be great to know what altitude and the specifics of your e/0 with that smaller wing.like i said it looks like you did a great job landing and getting it on the ground.i also like to look back and say (what if) what would have been the outcome if i wpuld have made a different decision?
hi white eagle, yes the sink happened immediately. i never try to re-start the engine. (i've had quite a few 'engine outs', flew hirth for several years,!and in the club i flew free if i tested the planes( fixed-wings,) after 'repairs' got a fair amount of 'gliding' time.) i think the l/d descent rate and the decision to aim for the open area was automatic. i ALWAYS have an escape route planned (well ALMOST always!), (well SOMETIMES!.) when i crashed in 2006 i had only 5secs to plan , arrange and execute an arrival due to my trusting that hirth crank not to seize., that wing was a 12.9 cosmos and the trike was heavy, so there wasn't much 'float'. if you see the video i got real close to the surface before pushing the bar all the way forward into full stall, so only dropped a foot or so, and 30 mph, apprx forward speed, also i pulled the bar into my gut to minimise the damage to me! at touchdown. in the 503 event i was chastised severely by the greatest self confessed authority on EVERYTHING for not pushing the bar fully out at touchdown. well, i've done a little checking since and that wing (power off) quits flying LONG before the bar is anywhere near the downtube, and the actual touchdown was about as smooth as a babys butt! in a blog on tps i explained how to crash a trike. i stand by the regimine, get as close to the surface as you can (an still fly!), push the bar forward into 'no longer lifting' then swiftly pull the bar into your gut, (if you leave it out its gonna slam you HARD in the ribs, damaging stuff!) very important to get as close as poss before stalling in, don't drop more than a foot or so, or rollover city is your next stop! it's all a question of timing! (and luck!) just because the big fan quits turning is no excuse to crash, just go ahead and land, only crash if there is NO chance of a 'rollout'. i feel that training should be carried out on a 'fast' wing rather than a big 'floaty' wing , so that a student isn't overwhelmed by 'groundrush' when they fly a faster wing than they trained on, just a thought! monty
Very good blog monty i was trained to crash in hang gliding.i was taught to let go and tuck when all hope was lost.proved effective when i was going for a spot landing for my hang 3 rating. The spot was quite tight in on the hill and blowing 15-20. On my base to final i had to do a tight 180 close to the ground and caught a wingtip let go tucked and walked away with a brused ego and a cracked finger.had i not let the glider take the impact it surley would have been two spiral fractured arms. After a slowing flare in a trike i think it good to pull bar to gut to avoid getting slammed. Anyways ive never seen much blog on how to crash a trike.maybe some of are advanced trikers could way in here yft xc norm jeff bill p all lets get some opinions on this and then mayby a poll?
Ps when i look back on it i should of told the spot examiner to go take a belly flop in the lake.it was a very difficult spot .if he was testing me to see if i would back out then he never should of let me launch?
I dont think he even thought that much about it. It was more like land there. Very dangerous (question aithority)
Great rock&roll on ground... :) Very good decission to fly straight on and to land on the field before. My father taught me it: when you have engine out, you search for open area before. He one time forgotten it and he turn 180 and downwind he landed on grass. He landed nice all 3 wheels, but he was fast and front wheel bombed into hard clump of grass and overturned. His arm was broken, his wing, his prop and his ego was broken too. When All was repaired I made first flight on his trike. There was very bad weather and my instructor forbidde me to fly. But I had to did it for my father. And I showed to my father what beautiful his trike flying and landing into gusty crosswind. He have 12 meters wing too, with one seat laminated fairing and heavy VW engine. He flying it so far.
Thats so cool about your dad jozinko