[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I put out this question a few days ago and got no answers.... so I'm trying > again. > When I bought my Coupe it had a dent on one side of the fuse just below the > leading edge of the stab. In reading the Bulletins and Memos book memo #65 > mentions a tail cone repair method. It cites a blueprint RM52-1 as having the > method of repair. I would like to know where this blueprint can be found, or > what to look for to see if the fix was ever done to my plane. The previous > owner told me "it had been like that for years"..... Although several A/Ps > have said it is nothing to worry about, i'd like to be sure. Any info will be > appreciated. > Oh, I liked all of the good info about using car gas. I'm going to switch > after I run the current supply down. I had no idea that AVgas contained so > much lead and that it causes so much plug fouling. It may explian why mine > keeps me cleaning the plugs. My plane has ths STC stickers and papers for > Mogas, so i'm joining the ranks of cheaper, less problematic pilots of > coups:-) > Rob 3040H
Hi Rob,
Just something for you to think about, I've had my coupe for over
12
years and fly it regularly and keep it hangared. The previous owner used
mo-gas so I did too. It had never been done "legally" so I went through
the procedure and got the STC and read carefully all the paper work that
came with it. Well, for a long time there was no problem until, one day
last May, I took my coupe out of the "cool" hangar and flew it to our
Club 'fly-in" about a hundred miles away. It turned out to be pretty
warm that day, and when I got ready to leave and head for home all went
well, as usual, on warm-up, run-up check etc. I took the active,
departed and did a downwind departure towards home (still climbing). At
about 2,000 ft (AGL) I lost power. The engine didn't quit completely, it
just wouldn't produce much power and the RPMs dropped to about 1,000. I
instantly leveled off and did a 180 back towards the field and checked
for carb ice (no sign of ice), tried the throttle control at different
settings and finally after a little easing of the pucker factor as I
had the runway in sight (Glad I had to go downwind to get home instead
of straight out) all of a sudden I had power again (at all settings) and
all was well once again. Feeling better but not knowing for sure what
had caused the problem, I thought it was okay but to be safe I stayed in
a high pattern above the airport and tried a max angle climb at full
throttle to test it. Sure enough, at about 3,000 (AGL) it did the same
thing again. This time I was expecting it and I got on the carb-heat
instantly and again, no ice. I flew a wide pattern to lose some altitude
and did some "S" turns on final to get where I wanted to be and made a
"no-event" landing. Taxied up to a hangar where a friend on mine keeps
his coupe and shut it down (power had come back again, as before).
We checked everything we could think of; no water in the tanks,
drained
the carb float bowl, removed and inspected the bowl on the gascolator,
blew air up the gas line into the nose tank and just "looked 'n wiggled"
everything we could think of. Everything was fine. We even removed and
inspected the air intake filter.
After putting everything back together again I took it for a test
flight. It did the same thing again (at about 2,800ft). I brought it
back in, parked it in the tie-down area and said to the remaining people
of our group that I didn't care if I had to WALK home, I wasn't going to
take a chance on landing in someones field due to fuel starvation. One
of the guys who lives in that area flew me home in his coupe so I didn't
have to walk of course. When I got home Sunday night, I called my AP/AI
and told him what had happened and he dropped what he had scheduled for
the next morning and we drove up there together and "re-inspected"
everything that I had done the day before. We even replaced the final
fuel supply line, (the neoprene line about 2 feet long from the nose
tank to the gascolator) in case it had swelled due to age and gotten
smaller inside thus reducing the fuel flow under full power load. (I cut
the old line in the middle, examined it, and found no problem.)
I have climbed at max power and max angle before and it never ran out of
fuel, so I don't think it has anything to do with the recent posts about
the length of the line inside the tank. Mind you, that night it sat
outside all night and the fuel, engine metal and air were all the same
temperature the next morning when I started it. We found nothing on
monday morning so I did another test flight around the field, and all
was okay. I told my IA before I took-off that if all was okay I'd make
my final lap around the wide pattern and then depart straight above the
runway (quite high) and over mid field I'd wiggle my wings at him and
depart the area headed straight out of the area and meet him back at the
field where his hangar was (and my car). I made it back without any
further incident and since I was due an annual the next month I just
left it with him and he did the annual for me while it was there. He
found nothing at all to explain what, or why, this had happened. I put
the story of my experience on the net and got several replies, three of
the first people who answered made the same comment, "Hi Bob, you're
usuing car-gas, right".
After all the responses were in, discussed & re-cussed, (not only
with
coupers, but several other pilots whom I have told my story to) the
general concensus is that I had a "vapor-lock" problem. Okay, that
makes sense and it was even mentioned on the day that it happened by
some of the guys in the club. This would explain everything and is very
believable, but tell me this, how can you get a vapor-lock in a line
that goes nearly straight down with no rises or "loops" that can trap
air?
I'd have to be climbing nearly straight up in order to get my fuel line
even close to being level so that the fuel would cease to flow from
gravity.
After hearing other mo-gas 'horror stories' I talked to some
people who
are in the fuel business and I 'think' we found the answer. Refineries
of car fuel add all kinds of crap into the fuel depending on altitude,
season of the year, EPA requirements etc. The final conclusion was that
since this happened in the spring of the year (and the fact that I
always keep my tanks full, especially in the winter, to reduce the
possibility of condensation) I obviously had "winter" gas in my plane
with the "winter" additives in it. Since it got pretty warm on that day
in May, (our first really warm day of the season) then the 'quality' of
the fuel itself was the cause of my power failure. This isn't only my
oppinion, but the general consensus of several people more informed on
the subject than I am.
You can do as you please, but I, for one, will spend the extra 50
cents
or so per gallon and burn Av-gas from now on. I don't care if the cost
is double, at only 5 gallons per hour I'll never burn car gas again.
Fuel is far cheaper than airplane repairs. If this had not happened to
me I might have a different attitude, as I guess I did before it
happened. Believe me, that feeling of helplessness at the time of
failure is something I don't ever want to feel again. I know, I'm flying
one of the safest planes ever built. That makes me feel good, but what
makes me feel even better is to keep that prop turning.
Luckily my experience happened near an airport which I was
familiar
with and there never was any really big danger. But, what if it had
happened, lets say 15 minutes later and the runway was a little to far
to get back to? Would I be here writing this now? Where would I have
gone down and would my undercarraige have held up? Would I have
destroyed my plane and maybe myself? No thanks, I'll pay a little
extra and burn the proper fuel in my little "pride and joy" from now on.
"He who flies safely today, will live to fly another day".
I've been flying first as a passenger and then with my own license for
64 years and I plan on continuing for as long as I can. :-)
Just my 'two-cents' worth, take it for what it's worth to you.
Bob Saville
N3396H 415C
Eugene, OR
PS....As for the dent in your fuselage, if it is only in the sheetmetal
(and none of the bulkheads or bracing inside are damaged) then I don't
think it hurts anything but the appearance. Perhaps you can find a body
and fender person who has one of those 'suction-cup' dent removing tools
who will be able to pull the dent back out for you. It probably will
still be a little noticable but not nearly as much. If though, it has
bent or twisted some of the inner structure then I'd have an AP crawl
back in there and check for cracks, or whatever. (And push the dent out
while he's in there)
Good luck. Bob
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