Gang I was ferrying N99828 from Florida to Mid Valley, Texas this past weekend, delivering this beautifully restored Coupe to its new owner. I had to make an emergency landing (in a farmers field) due to a loss of power while at cruise. What I found should be a lesson to all and an added item to everyone's pre-flight inspection list.
I was at 1500 feet, 2450 RPM, mixture leaned. Weather was good VFR. Right at the three hour point, I was only 12 minutes from my next fuel stop. At this point, I expected my mains to be dry and starting to use the 5 gallons in the header tank. As expected, the fuel bobber in the header tank started to sink slightly. No problem, I thought. I have one hour of fuel in that tank and only 12 minutes to my destination. In short order, I noticed by sound, then by reading the tachometer, that I had lost 100 rpm. I gently added throttle and brought it back up to 2450 RPM. Within a few seconds, I noticed another drop in RPM, slightly more than the last drop. I pulled the carb heat but did not notice much change except the normal slight drop in RPM. That told me it was not carb ice. At that point, I decided that I may lose all power at any point so I pushed the mixture rich, the throttle full forward, initiated a climb to get as much altitude as possible before the engine quite, hit the nearest button on the 496 and turned toward the closest airport, which was five miles away. The engine seemed to develop full power in the climb and did not stumble. In about three minutes I was at 4000 feet and according to the GPS, I was over the private 2200 turf runway in about 4 minutes, at least according to the GPS. I circled three or four times looking for the runway but could not find it. I only saw farmers fields below me. There was one long one that looked like a good place to land except for the tractor right in the middle! I thought about flying to the next closest airport but it was about 20 miles away and I didn't know if the engine was going to die. I decided to land on that long field where the tractor was parked as there was enough room on one side of the tractor for the Ercoupe pass by. The landing was successful and the engine was still running. The farmer immediately came over to see if I needed help. As it turns out, what I landed on was his runway, but he had abandoned it as a runway years ago and now leases it to another farmer. He made a few phone calls and was able to reach an A&P mechanic who was willing to come out to help. We spent about 3 hours looking at the fuel system, removing fuel lines and checking for flow problems. None could be found. We also checked the air filter to see if part of it was ingested into the carburetor causing a partial blockage. There was no problem there either. A called a few friends for ideas and one suggest inspecting the fuel vents in the tank caps. I removed the header tank cap and tried to blow through the vent. No air was passing through the vent hole. We poked a wire through the vent hole and a chunk of black goo came out the bottom. My guess it was a bug the got smashed into the vent hole during the flight. I surmise that while the main tanks had fuel in them, they were pressurizing the header tank, keeping the fuel flowing. As soon as the mains went dry, with the bug in the vent hole, the header tank became a vacuum.... like holding your finger over a straw and lifting milk out of a glass. I believe that the longer I flew using only the fuel in the header tank, the worse the problem would have become. The rest of the trip to Texas was uneventful, except for the winds 26, gusting 40, but that is another story. The moral is check your fuel vents before you fly to make sure they are not plugged up, especially the header tank. And, if possible, always land with some fuel in the mains, just as a safety factor. Glen Glen Davis 917 297 1111 www.ishootpictures.com
