OK Guys, Now that I'm down from a near adrenaline overdose (LOL). This is my
story.
I have been tail up taxiing for several weeks and was feeling pretty confident
that I could keep it on the runway. There was another issue that was dealing me
fits and that was nerves. I kept coming up with excuse after excuse not to fly.
I kept dwelling on what could go wrong, this is pretty serious stuff when you
think about it. I finally decided no more excuses, the winds where going to be
favorable Friday evening. I made sure the wife knew all the pertinent
information. Called a trusted friend to be my ground crew and to call the
rescue people if needed. Game on. Climbed in about 5 pm yesterday, fired her up
and taxied to the runway knowing there was no turning back this time. The crazy
thing was that the nervousness was gone. All business now. A quick run up and
let her roll out to 04. Throttle up, tail up, more throttle and she's pulling a
lot harder than my 150 with the same engine. She made a funny bounce and I
thought she wanted to fly, I was right, back on the stick and I was in the air.
I held her down for a couple of seconds before starting a 100 mph climb out. I
could not believe how simple that was and that I was not over controlling the
plane. All of my fears of POH and rolling her upside down on takeoff were gone.
I let her climb to three thousand feet while circling the field, pulled the
throttle back to around 2500 while leveling out. Checked speed, 140 mph without
the paints or spinner. Thinking that I would have to make several attempts at
landing and feeling pretty confident about the handling of the plane, I started
descending back to the pattern with carb heat on. I was going to extend the
downwind to give me a long approach so I pushed carb heat off and added
throttle. Started a turn to base and that's when things went bad. The engine
started stumbling, needless to say, the funny thing is that I was more worried
about destroying the plane than I was getting hurt. I had been in contact with
my friend on the ground, calling out temps, pressures and pilot status. I told
him I had a Mayday situation with engine dying, his response was, Get it down!
I had already started a turn to final, realizing that I could make the runway
all thoughts went to Oh Shit, I've only got 1 chance to land a plane that I've
never landed before. was this really happening ? I was way high once I knew I
could make it, engine still surging, Pulled it back to idle, checked speed,140
mph, Raised nose to slow to 120 mph, lowered speed brake, nosed it over hard
and the brake did it's job. Stayed at 120 aiming for end of runway, started
leveling out and crossed the numbers at 100, I held it off the runway letting
the brake slow her down while making sure not to move the stick, she finally
settled onto the runway, added some forward stick and basically nailed a
perfect landing letting her roll till the tail dropped. Engine ran great
taxiing back to hanger. Did a quick run up and no problems. After a lot of
discussion, We are blaming pilot error. While I was cruising at reduced power
setting, I had leaned the engine, I think I had more throttle than the lean jet
could handle when I tried to extend the down wind or possibly carb icing.
Lesson learned.
Mike Sylvester
kr2s builder
Birmingham,AL.
Cell no.205-966-3854
