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Well I guess it finally had to happen- my engine quit on me in
flight.
I was flying over Santiam pass from Independence OR to Prineville
when I got to the top of the pass and my engine started dying. I
thought it was carb ice and applied heat but that didn't do it.
Thank
the Lord that I was near an airport and I turned to it and set up for
best glide. Unfortunately the State doesn't plow this runway in the
winter (why is beyond me since it's the only one around and the guys
at the ODOT station are right next to the runway) and it was covered
in two feet of snow.
I did a soft field landing and kept the nose off as long as possible
but as soon as the nosegear dug in it bent backwards and broke the
lower part of the engine mount and the plane swapped ends the long
way. Zero damage to me and minimal damage to the plane (relatively
speaking of course.) I'm amazed at how stout the Coupe is- the
cockpit was hardly dented and I was able to climb out through a back
window (which I did in a real hurry since I've heard many horror
stories of Coupes catching fire after hard landings.)
One good thing is that I had just been practicing engine-idle
landings
at an empty airfield. It sure helps when setting up the pattern
cause
boy you only get one chance.
One sort of funny thing is that as soon as I got out and took a look
at things I saw two big snowblower trucks heading towards me throwing
snow about 100' in each direction. My friends were flying their
Maule
just ahead of me and when the engine started dying I had them report
an emergency for me to the Redmond tower. Apparently at about the
same time there was a report of a missing 12 passenger (I think
that's
the right number) plane so the ODOT guys thought I must be it so they
were plowing the runway so emergency vehicles could get into the
crash
site. The first thing the guy asked me as I walked over to him was
how many passengers I had :) It all worked good because they plowed
a
road right to my plane and some EAA friends and I were able to load
it
up on a trailer the next day very easily.
Yesterday the FAA sent a very nice inspector (I'm not being
sarcastic,
he was really informative and friendly, surprised the heck out of me
after all I've heard about the FAA!) to find the problem. It seems
like a glob of what appeared to be sloshing compound had gotten by
the
screens and managed to plug fuel entering into the carb jet. Neither
he nor I were able to figure out how it got there but knowing that
other items on the plane done by the previous owner(s) weren't
exactly
the greatest it doesn't surprise me (like sloshing the wing tanks.)
My mechanic and I had just replaced the float needle and he said we
did a good job and it had absolutely nothing to do with the engine
quitting.
I plan on rebuilding the tanks as well as fixing the other components
that were damaged. Anybody happen to have a list of folks who sell
used Coupe parts?
Keep em flyin (and runnin'!)
Joa
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