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rjscep(at)yahoo.com
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 Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:14 pm Post subject: Corvair engine failure |
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| Quote: | Hello all, one of my chapter members had just
recently test flew his KR-2 with a Corvair engine
installed. Some of us suggested to him that he
should
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| Quote: | practice flying with a Citabria and only fly it off
the runway about a couple of feet off and then land
it to assure that he had practice the art of making
an emergency landing to avoid any mishaps, however
he didn't do that. That was last Monday. On Tuesday
morning he had taken off with an observer on the
ground to watch. On take off the observer noticed
that the plane had not climbed to its appropiate
altitude and had run out of runway. The plane had
only reached an altitude of 200 or 300 feet and the
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| Quote: | pilot had slowly but gently made a turn losing
altitude but maintianed enough altitude to put it in
the treetops. The plane was completely destroyed but
the pilot walked away with a bump on his nose and a
couple of black eyes from his sun glasses. He was
extremely lucky. We don't know why the engine had
only partial power. It was checked out numerous
times according to the owner/pilot.
The report here is not to say that the Corvair
engine
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| Quote: | is in question. An engine failure on takeoff could
very well happen to any aircraft, be it Cessna,
Piper
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| Quote: | or homebuilt. This incident only tells us to be on
our toes when we test fly our planes for the first
time. The pilot was interviewed on the local TV
station. His comments were that he kept his cool and
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| Quote: | tried to keep the plane flying, he never panicked
and avoided hitting any houses or persons. Bob S.
Do not archive
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p.mulwitz(at)worldnet.att
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:13 am Post subject: Corvair engine failure |
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One way to have this kind of problem is to have the wrong prop
pitch. If the pitch number is too small, then all the torque in the
world won't make the plane go fast enough to fly well. It is like
trying to drive 60 miles per hour in first gear. There may have been
perfect operation of the Corvair engine and still have a power plant
unable to make the plane fly.
Of course I don't know whether or not this happened to the
unfortunate flyer who lost his plane on the first flight. If he had
practiced take-off and landing with just a few feet of altitude he
could have determined how much runway was needed and possibly avoided
this horrible loss. After learning the plane wouldn't climb properly
he could have gone back to the hangar and analyzed the problem with
his plane still intact.
On the brighter side -- it could have been worse.
Paul
XL wings
Do not archive
At 09:10 PM 4/17/2006, you wrote:
| Quote: | On take off the observer noticed
> that the plane had not climbed to its appropiate
> altitude and had run out of runway. The plane had
> only reached an altitude of 200 or 300 feet
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---------------------------------------------
Paul Mulwitz
32013 NE Dial Road
Camas, WA 98607
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Gig Giacona
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1416
Location: El Dorado Arkansas USA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:58 am Post subject: Re: Corvair engine failure |
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You stated the plane on developed partial power. Was this a low RPM issue or did the plane just not accelerate to the speed necessary to allow a proper climb once out of ground effect?
Since he didn't abort the take off roll I would hope it is the later and if so look at the prop pitch.
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_________________
W.R. "Gig" Giacona
601XL Under Construction
See my progress at www.peoamerica.net/N601WR |
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rjscep(at)yahoo.com
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:58 pm Post subject: Corvair engine failure |
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| Quote: | Gig, from what I have learned from the pilot that he
said he had full power from the time he rolled down
the runway and got airborne. At that point I don't
know if he had enough runway left to abort his take
off. All he said was that he tried to climb, but it
would start to buffet therefore going to stall. He
kept the plane flying in a gentle turn towards the
tree tops and then hit them. The wings sheared off
breaking his impact, then the plane came down into
the ground below. I saw the plane on Monday its
stored outside. I observed that the cockpit area
from
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| Quote: | the firewall forward is completely destroyed and
from
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| Quote: | turtle deck back is completely intact including the
tail section. Now I talked to another person who got
a different version form the observer who witnessed
the takeoff. He observed that the pilot struggled
to get airborne and used most of the runway to get
off. The runway is 5000 ft, which leads to ones
belief that maybe the engine never reached full
power
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| Quote: | at all, but that would have to be argued since the
observer wasn't in the cockpit. Gig, I saw the prop
and its a Warpdrive Prop, so I think it might be
ground adjustable. This of course is all speculation
and a full report by the pilot will address the
mambers at the next meeting. I am sure that there
will be questions pertaning to this accident. Bob S.
Do not archive
--- Gig Giacona <wr.giacona(at)cox.net> wrote:
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| Quote: |
<wr.giacona(at)cox.net>
You stated the plane on developed partial power. Was
this a low RPM issue or did the plane just not
accelerate to the speed necessary to allow a proper
climb once out of ground effect?
Since he didn't abort the take off roll I would hope
it is the later and if so look at the prop pitch.
--------
W.R. Gig Giacona
601XL Under Construction
See my progress at www.peoamerica.net/N601WR
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=29115#29115
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Gig Giacona
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1416
Location: El Dorado Arkansas USA
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:24 am Post subject: Re: Corvair engine failure |
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Sounds very much like a take off that should have been aborted. If he was using the Warp Drive prop that William Wynne recommends then it is indeed ground adjustable.
I look forward to hearing more info.
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_________________
W.R. "Gig" Giacona
601XL Under Construction
See my progress at www.peoamerica.net/N601WR |
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