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Emergency Dead stick landing

MedFlightDoc

Active Member
I hate to have to write this, but I've been urged by many to put this out there for others to heed warning. It's tough to even talk or write about, but I hope others might learn something.

My aircraft is a 1991 RV-6, with an O-320 and fixed pitch sensenich prop, with about 1275 hours total time and ~780 SMOH. Pretty standard set up. I've owned for about a year, and flown regularly including two flights the day before this all started and multiple trips in and out of OSH during EAA a few weeks before.

Flight #1: Nighttime cruise home after picking up my daughter from the grandparents house. Easy flight from Milwaukee Timmerman to Middleton Morey (KMWC to C29). Heading west at 2500', checked in with Madison approach, talking to my daughter when the engine suddenly stumbles and starts to lose significant RPM. I immediately knee jerk thought I had run a tank dry and reach down to switch tanks. As I'm doing so, the engine picks back up and acts as if nothing had happened. So quickly in fact, that I didn't think that the switching of tanks had even kicked in yet. I had almost full tanks, so a dry tank was of course not the culprit. Rest of flight proceeds uneventfully with no issues. Leaving me perplexed. CHT, EGT, mags, RPM's, volts, amps are all normal when I get home and do an extensive check and run up.

Flight #2: The next day, go out to airport in afternoon to check things out again. All is normal. No issues with temps, pressures, run up or static RPM. Ambient temps were in mid 80's (about 83-85 or so). Take off seemed normal until about 250-400' or so when engine stumbles badly, lose significant RPM. I do something I probably should not have (no need to chastise me, I've done enough of it already in the last month) and make the impossible turn and get it back on the runway. I chose this option mainly because I was taking off on 09 at Morey-Middleton (C29) and the city of Middleton and Madison is to the east. I didn't want to go down in the city. At this point however, the engine is still turning over as I sit on the runway and taxi off. The FBO mechanics heard the engine cut, piled into a pick up truck and came racing down the taxiway expecting to find me off the end of the runway in the field to the west.

I do a runup, and all seems normal now. CHT, EGT, amps, volts, run up and even full static run up are all NORMAL. Taxi to the FBO. We pull the cowl and nothing seems amiss. Sump the gas, no debris or water. Start to think if vapor lock might be the culprit? This aircraft does not have baffling to the gascolator, but does have sleeved fuel lines from the gascolator to engine driven fuel pump to carb.

The mechanics look thru as much as they can over the next day and a half. The fuel vents are clear, gas is not an issue. Everything seems normal. Start it up again and on the ground all the temps and pressures are normal, normal run up, full static run RPM check on both tanks (per the mechanic) were all normal with one exception: there seemed to be low fuel pressure gauge readings of barely 1 psi with the engine driven fuel pump, but would increase to about 4 psi (normal) with the electric boost pump on. Running it up to full power with the electric boost pump on would also then see the fuel pressure gauge drop some but the engine was running normally the entire time with no stumble or dropped rpm. We were starting to think the engine driven fuel pump might be failing, but this scenario seemed unusual (their experience had been that they usually just fail, not a "soft" failure with things still running normally).

This then led to the question of what exactly was going on. We also only had one more day to fly, as the annual was set to expire. The mechanics didn't have it pinned down and it couldn't be reproduced on the ground as everything appeared to be working normally...

I make the decision to make one more test flight to see if we can narrow it down more and get more information as we don't really have enough go on.

Flight #3: Evening flight the day after Flight #2. Do it all over again, completely thorough pre-flight, check gas, check everything. Starts fine. Warm up, taxi, all checks are completely normal as is the run up and even a full static run up with the exception that the fuel pressure gauge on the engine driven fuel pump is low (~1) but comes up to ~4 with the electric boost pump. My plan is to stay directly over the airport.

Decide to take off, slightly down wind on Rwy 28 so as to take advantage of open farm fields if something happens...

Take off, fully expecting to put my glider training to use and...nothing happens. Normal take off and climb. Orbit over the airport and everything is normal. Boost pump off, then on. Full RPM speed run, banks, turns...nothing happens. All is normal.

Decide to call Madison approach and get a transponder code to climb up over the airport, which they give me and I then try to provoke it by doing a full power climb with boost pump OFF to see what happens. It climbs right up to 4000' msl without any hint of trouble or stumbling. The fuel pressure gauge is still doing the same thing however (~1 without boost pump, 4 with it on) so at this point I'm thinking that the engine driven boost pump is dying and will need to be replaced. Call up Madison approach again, sign off and descend.

Then, at probably the worst possible time, getting to pattern altitude or slightly below, about 2 miles from airport (I had drifted out and away while descending) then engine stumbles badly. Quick electric fuel pump on, get a brief surge, then stumbles again with loss of significant RPM. Cycle it again quickly while turning back in towards airport and get a brief surge and then the engine DIES. At this point my speed had started to decay while I was trying to troubleshoot at very low altitude, so I abandoned further efforts to relight in order to concentrate on flying.

Thought I was going to make it to the runway by turning a very quick and sharp base to final while sweating my altitude and best-glide speed in the turn. I was approaching the runway about half way down, at about a 45 degree angle from the runway heading, heavily banked to try and make it when I realized it wasn't going to happen. Rolled wings level while still about 20-30 degrees off the runway heading and tried to dissipate as much energy as I could in a full stall landing in the rough prairie grass and farm field adjacent to the runway. Came down pretty hard, probably stalled a few feet too high but was doing ok for the first 50 feet or so but the vegetation and/or the lip of the runway concrete caught the gear, wiped it out and as I transitioned to the concrete came up on the nose as I thought I was going to go over on it's back. Slid the last 50 feet or so up on the nose on the concrete. So I actually did make the runway...AND when the engine died, the prop had stopped horizontal, so not a scratch on the prop...

All switches off, canopy open, exit very quickly...
 
First off, I'm elated you're OK and telling this story. But now I'm on the edge of my seat for Part 2 .... the Rest of the Story. My hat is off to you for your successful dead stick ...nicely done, even thought you do have some damage. As my brother likes to say, "Fixing the machine or getting a new is is only money. You can ALWAYS get more of that."

Again, glad your safe.:)
 
Kiss the ground... your alive!

Thank God, My friend your alive to tell the story!!! Its ruled a good landing!!!You walked away!:eek:
RHill
 
Part 2: Emergency dead stick landing

After exiting the airplane, I realized there was not going to be a fire, so went back and gathered my things and especially grabbed my handheld I keep in the cockpit, to warn off anyone else as I was sitting on the side of the runway.

Called the Madison tower, told them that Morey runway was obstructed. Called the airport manager, who called FSS to get the runway NOTAM'd as temp closed. Got the airplane off the runway and out of the way.

Did all the usual things one is supposed to do in these situations. Spoke with the FAA and insurance. I can tell more about that process if anyone is interested.

After a sleepless night replaying it all in my head, two gentlemen from the Milwaukee FSDO came out the next morning to interview me and inspect the airplane. Both were utmost professionals, and were airworthiness guys. We talked at length about what had happened and they then pulled the cowls and started to dive into things to try and get to the bottom of what may have happened.

We talked at length about the various theories: vapor lock, engine driven fuel pump failure, gas contamination, etc, etc. It seemed to revolve around fuel to the engine, as the engine itself seemed fine in all of this. They had tools, and came prepared, so we then pulled fuel lines at the carb, then the engine driven fuel pump, then the gascolator (working backwards) and there seemed to be paltry fuel flow with the boost pump both on and off (couldn't really crank the engine up and check the engine driven pump for obvious reasons) and we couldn't get much fuel pressure to show on the gauge. We started thinking about a failure of the electric fuel boost pump as it had been making loud noises when turned on, but this seemed unlikely with the reading we had been getting.

Then there was an "aha" moment, asking about which tank I was running on. As is my habit, I usually start off on the left tank when I have full tanks and I'm solo to balance the wings out. We then checked left tank vs right fuel flow (just eyeballing the pressure gauge and how much fuel appeared visually from the line as we let it drain into a gas can), and there appeared to be a noticeable difference of right tank vs left. They then made a call to Van's and spoke to one of the engineer's about the fuel system take up in the tanks (I might add that I did not build this plane). We then shifted to inspecting the fuel tanks themselves and there did appear to be sealant possibly coming off of the far corners of the tanks from what can be observed, which isn't much I might add. The only counterpoint to this theory is that the mechanic who had done the troubleshooting is absolutely sure he tried the run up on both tanks...

The other counterpoint is that these events happened in three completely different phases of flight (cruise, hight power take off, and descent).

So the leading theory right now, until a post-mortem is done on the fuel tanks, is that there might have been an intermittent obstruction of the fuel line somewhere that then became complete, possibly from sealant coming off the walls of the tank and getting into the fuel line itself. We will see and I will post what is found out for sure here, but suffice it to say that everyone should go out and check that their tanks don't appear to be sloughing off sealant on the inside.

The two FAA FSDO gentleman I might add encouraged me to write this up (as have others) and post it on this forum (with which they were familiar) to generate some discussion and make people aware. They were the utmost professionals. I asked how often in their investigations of incidents and accidents do they encounter a mechanical "who dun it" mystery like this and they said only about 15% of the time. 85% are pilot error related. They were very complimentary towards my flying, which made me feel slightly better...

The damage to the airplane was primarily limited to the gear, and the engine mount (which many of you obviously are aware that the gear connects into). The bottom of the cowls got scuffed up as well. It is classified as an "incident", not an "accident" by the definitions of the FAA and NTSB. I will also NOT have to go through a "709" ride as it was classified as mechanical in origin.

Despite this, my days of flying experimentals may be over and it will be put up for sale as a project. The airplane will be going to Myers Aviation in Oshkosh, WI per the insurance company to get repaired. They will also need to look into the fuel system as well to get the final answer. I will put it in the classified section as a project for sale. Someone may get a good deal on an RV-6 project that will have a new engine mount and gear, but require attention to the fuel system.

Contact me if you might be interested in the airplane as a project. I'm open to offers or I might part it out.

I will post some lessons learned about this whole experience as well as a debrief...
 
Part 3: Lessons Learned

A few lessons learned...

For those of us who didn't build, having a good working relationship with your mechanics is important. The FAA FSDO investigators went out of their way to go up to the FBO and talk to the mechanics and reassure them that they had not done anything wrong or missed anything.

Know your emergency checklists cold. You WILL NOT have time to pull it out (and it was right next to me within easy reach) if you have a low altitude emergency. The emergency part of my last flight was (at best guess) only about 30-45 seconds from start to hitting ground.

DO NOT spend much time at low altitude trying to trouble shoot at the expense of flying the airplane. In the first few seconds I was just stunned it was happening again, then the next 5-10 seconds flipping the boost pump on and off and trying to see if that would work (as I was semi-convinced at that point it was the engine driven fuel pump that had failed). When I did cross check the ASI, it was precipitously dropping past 60. I immediately pushed the nose over, and devoted my full concentration to flying the plane the last 30 seconds or so. I am absolutely convinced now, that many stall-spin accidents in these situations are guys trying to trouble shoot too long. On the other hand, had I had about 10-15 more seconds I might have been able to switch tanks and that might have helped, but I'll never know for sure.

Have a canopy smashing tool very close at hand. NOT in back, not behind the seat, VERY close at hand. I very nearly went over on my back and that was what I was most fearful of is getting trapped with the fuel now ON TOP of me (although I was wearing my nomex flight suit and boots from my work).

Pay for good insurance!

I'm sure I'll think of more...
 
You stated the plane was a 1991 vintage. That means it was probably started in the 1980s......

Do you know if the fuel tanks were "Sloshed""
 
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Interesting write up and analysis. I appreciate your frankness and willingness to discuss the incident and congratulations on how you handled the situation.

I am curious about what time frame your RV was built and if you know whether the tanks were sealed with "slosh" or proseal? I've never heard of proseal coming loose but that doesn't mean it can't or doesn't happen. Sloshed tanks have been the subject of a Van's SB and are a known issue.

Thanks again.
 
You stated the plane was a 1991 vintage.
Do you know if the fuel tanks were "Sloshed""

I agree that "slosh" would be my first suspect. Also the slosh can easily cover the original "bench made" pick-ups. These are much easier to block with a leaf of slosh than the later screen pick-ups.
 
First off, I am glad you are around to share your story and experience. Nice job getting the plane on the ground. You walked away... that's a good landing.

Second, thanks for taking the time and effort to share your experience. We all take on the risks of flying with every flight. When things are going well, we can forget how quickly it can change.
 
Ditto to all the previous comments. Glad you are fine, excellent flying and thank you for sharing the experience.
Gus
 
Slosh was recommended up until the mid nineties. I don't remember the exact year, but I completed 2 RV-6s in '93 and it was recommended then.
I have removed slosh from a number of RV tanks.
 
Thank you for the kind words. I had waited a full month to post on this as it was very hard to even talk about it, let alone write it up. I was pretty sure I was going to get raked thru the coals by the experts, so some kind words are nice...

I did think of one more thing:

1. Get a glider rating! My first actual rating was Private Pilot-Glider (even though I had soloed in power first). I learned a great deal about energy management and weather, not to mention power off landings by learning to fly gliders. For PP-SEL pilots, its only a check ride after you get the required dual time in, no written!
You also spend quite a bit of time learning what fields are good to land in and not, and you constantly have a scan going for landing fields.
 
I will second the glider rating comment. It adds a level of finesse to propeller trained GA pilots that many would normally not get to experience/develop until jet experience, where you "fly the wing" entirely much like a glider. I have taken a year or two off glider flying but plan to do some soaring again from time to time for the rest of my flying days. It's different and a lot of fun.

MedFlight, I bet when your "glider senses" picked up on the energy dissipating (speed, sink, attitude), you properly just snapped back into "oh, I'm in some serious sink" mode (well experienced already in gliders probably), got the nose down, and saved your energy for the flare. Bob Hoover preaches the same thing... never stop flying the plane and never ever stall before you are ready to touch tierra firma (or trees, etc) You did what it took when it counted. Well done!
 
The other lesson I forgot to mention:

It was good for me to get back in the saddle as soon as I could. Within about 4-5 days after the accident I got checked out in the FBO J-3 Cub and 172 and have been flying as much as I can to make things right in the world again...

Ryan in Madison
 
Glad you're ok. As someone who has experienced partial loss of power I can only say it is scary when things are shaking and not developing power.

Please update this thread if and when the mechanics or next owner finds some root cause.
 
Thanks

Like others have said, glad you are ok and thanks for sharing. It is only through forums like this and honesty and open discussions that we can all work to fly safer, and have more fun and less accidents.

Dont give up on experimentals. I have been up in a few cessnas....what a step backwards. DONT GO TO THE DARK SIDE!
 
I think an important thing here that no one seems to want to mention is; When you have a problem, FIND OUT WHAT THAT PROBLEM IS!, before venturing out away from the airport.
Regardless of what the problem is, it needs to be identified.
 
...new to the RV world....but not to aviation.

I have heard a couple times of fuel being cut off by the collapsing of (non-metal) fuel lines, some of the inner layer coming loose and collapsing into the hose lumen.

Are there such lines (which can age and deteriorate) in the RV-engine 320 systems?
 
This is where an engine monitor that logs data is an extremely valuable asset...the drop in fuel flow would have been logged.
 
Dont give up on experimentals. I have been up in a few cessnas....what a step backwards. DONT GO TO THE DARK SIDE!

Let me second that comment and add, I had a similar experience to yours in a Cherokee with one difference...your last flight. One evening I took another pilot up for a flight and the engine quit about 400-500' up after take off and I was looking at a truck stop, I-95, and some scrubby pines for a landing. My initial reaction was denial, the I heard "Oh snap" (or something similar) in my headphones and I immediately started looking for the softest pine tree to plant the Cherokee in. The engine came back on. Hmmm. I gently climbed, turned downwind, kept the pattern tight expecting the engine to quite at any second. It didn't, I landed, and my copilot, an A&P and I looked everything over and found nothing. The A&P suggested vapor lock and flying some more. An hour flight that evening went without a hitch. Over the next week there were two more flights and two more problems. I had had enough and grounded the plane until I found the problem. Eventually I found a blue streak originating from the auxiliary fuel pump. I changed it and everything was fine. Apparently the Facet fuel pump has a rubber bladder and it was leaking, letting air in the fuel line. When the air got to the carburetor, the engine would quit. Ten years later, it hasn't happened again.

My primary point is, avoiding experimental aircraft won't keep you from having similar problems. And the second point for me is, when you get a data point saying there's a problem, look until you find it. My experience convinced me to do that and your experience reinforces that. James Clark also reinforced this point for me (he may not know it though) by phone last year. I was talking to him about a plane I was considering buying and the conversation drifted from the 9A I was considering to RVs in general to flying the RV-1. He mentioned when he took off in RV-1 once, there was a "burp" on the climb out. No big deal and he almost forgot about it. Apparently he and some friends decided to look hard and found a bit of debris in the fuel line (I may be wrong but I know they found something). Without really digging in to the issue and looking, RV-1 might have had a similar problem to yours on the tour.

I sure can't (and don't want) to make the decision to avoid experimental aircraft for you, but I'm not sure you really improve your odds of avoiding mechanical issues if you do.
 
The main point here with this emergency and any other inflight emergency is to do exactly what Ryan did.. FLY THE AIRPLANE. You stall it that low to the ground and it's over guys. Fly the plane.

Here's another point/suggestion.. Ryan mentioned that while trouble shooting he looked up to see his airspeed approaching 60 KTS and immediately pushed the nose over. Great job Ryan and good on you for recognizing the onset of something that would have been very unpleasant. For those of you on the fence about installing AOA in your bird or don't have it yet, if this incident doesn't sell you, I don't know what will. As "cheap" as these units are, it should be required equipment for all of our planes. In Ryan's case, he would've gotten the aural "angle, angle, push" sooner than recognizing he was getting slow (especially in the turn). AOA is a life saver folks. Great piece of equipment. Read Paul Dye's editorial in the current issue of Kitplanes in regards to AOA. Great read.

Congrats again, Ryan on handling this emergency superbly. Glad you're ok.
 
Or for a heck of a lot cheaper version, get Van's vane switch stall warning kit. It's like the old stall warning switches on the older Cessnas.

They just work.

Dave
 
...new to the RV world....but not to aviation.

I have heard a couple times of fuel being cut off by the collapsing of (non-metal) fuel lines, some of the inner layer coming loose and collapsing into the hose lumen.

Are there such lines (which can age and deteriorate) in the RV-engine 320 systems?

Most of us have stainless steel braid covered teflon lines anywhere in the fuel system that needs to flex. These don't collapse internally but can "pinch off" if bent around too tight of a turn radius. Older RVs may still be around with rubber lined fuel hose that can deteriorate with age but hopefully by now most of those have been upgraded to teflon.
 
Thanks for posting this, I know it had to be hard to do. For you to step up and bring this out for all of us to read and think about is fantastic, you might be saving someone's backside with this. I'm not going to second-guess anything you did or didn't do, I just appreciate you're sharing it with us.

For me, this is very significant for several reasons:

I have very little single engine airplane time and I already feel like a flying emergency procedure, although I'm getting used to it.

My 1993 vintage RV-6 is of course sloshed. It was done by an A&P/IA builder, and he appears to have done a very good job with it. I have complied with the Vans SB 11-9-13 for sloshed tanks, initially as part the pre-purchase inspection. All looked good and continues to do so. There are no leaks/seeps and there is no slosh compound visible except over the proseal.

I heard some terrible things about slosh, I've seen a bad one and I think how it holds up is VERY dependent on how correctly it was done originally.

We did have a brief power interruption in my RV-6 just after breaking ground on takeoff during the pre-purchase flight with the builder/owner on the controls. With plenty of room to abort and despite my objections he continued the takeoff, of course the engine stumbled again at a point that probably would have put us in the trees had it failed fully. In all of my flying experience, including combat, I've never been so uncomfortable in an aircraft as I was during that event, riding along with the owner/builder as that little piston engine stumbled. Not-in-control-of-the-situation.

We went back through everything again, eliminated the fuel system as the cause, and discovered/corrected ignition problems.

It seriously damaged my confidence in the airplane and made me question if I even wanted to buy an RV. After a successful flight the next day I still had reservations until I took it up by myself. After that all was good and I left Alabama the next morning for California.

You survived, sounds like without injury, a very bad situation. You've jumped right back in the saddle which was very smart of you. You're sharing the unfortunate experience so that you might help someone else. That's the way to make the best of a bad situation. Thanks again.

Doug
 
I was not aware of the Service Bulletin from Vans about slosh in the tanks until the FAA FSDO guys called Vans the day after the accident when they came out to investigate. The FSDO guys weren't aware of it either. Neither had my mechanics who had done the pre-buy on this same airplane.

Part of my reasoning for writing this up was to make people aware of it.

-Ryan
 
Is the fuel tank in question set up for aerobatics? If so maybe the "flop" tube has had some sort of failure?
 
Good job getting down!

1991 makes me think slosh. It is post-PR1005, I think, which was the early slosh that I have not heard any flake/peel reports about. Have twice landed without power, so know the feeling! Hope the plane goes together without too much trouble. Best, J N95JF
 
Another potential cause for reduced fuel flow is a fuel pick-up tube that is loose (there is a service bulletin for that one also).
Everything will work fine as long as the fuel level is above the level of the fitting (all the pump can draw is fuel), when the fuel level gets below the loose fitting connection, the pump can suck some air along with the fuel it is drawing up the pick-up tube. The amount of air is dependent on how loose the fitting is.
 
Ah I remember

Glad you shared. I am about to get my airplane back and if you look back at my thread from march you will see my experience similar. I had a couple scary burps before incident in cruise, and also one aborted takeoff. That was over a months or two period. I thought it was pilot error at the time from a mixture setting or other- and then on final one day I lost my motor. I have been in the dark this whole time and the motor is supposed to be run for the first time in 6 months this weekend. People keep telling me carb ice, mo gas, mixture too rich or other possibilities but I have doubts. You better believe I am freaked out about it and will have someone extensively test this thing before I get back in it. Thanks for your analysis.
 
Not to muddy the water, but I'm curious. Everyone does flow checks, but has anyone tried a suction check?
 
....anyone tried a suction check?

I have. when I had a stumble problem, one of the checks was to put a clear hose on and run it into a bucket. Turn on the boost pump and look for bubbles. none found.
Turns out my stumble problem was idle screw and mixture settings wrong. so the transition on and off idle circuit was causing me problems.
 
Get it fixed, get your confidence back and keep your RV6. You did a good job.

Just make sure you know your plane.

Right now you do not know the 172 or the cub either, so do not assume they are any better.

The devil you know............
 
Seconds count

Ryan,

So sorry to hear about your incident. Glad to hear your OK. In my skydiving instruction days it was important to emphasize to students that if they had a malfunction not to get fixated on fixing it or you may end up too low to deploy your reserve. A lot can happen in 10 sec.
 
Great job flying and writing Ryan. One of the things I like best about owning an experimental is that I can inspect things on my own. I trust only one AP and he flies my plane therefore I know that all that can be inspected and repaired is being done to the best quality standards. I read about a lot of certified aircraft incidents where an AP missed something or messed up, so just turning to a certified aircraft is not necessarily the answer. If your AP flies your plane with his 9 year old son you can bet that every nut and bolt is checked often. (Besides doing this myself)
Kudos,
Woodman
 
Scary Landing

Great flying skills sir!!! You displayed what it takes to be a great pilot with your quick thinking and reaction. There are many smoking holes out there when someone looses sight of the main isue, "Fly The Aircraft".
I too had one of these moments on July 4th of this year and on my 10 second drop back to the earth I beat up the propeller tips. I was so mad at myself for the minor damage but when the motor is no longer pulling at low altitude all one can do is quickly point the nose down and see where you are going to hit and try to make it graceful.
 
Is the fuel tank in question set up for aerobatics? If so maybe the "flop" tube has had some sort of failure?

I was wondering this same thing. I saw some postings several years ago about how, over time, flop tubes are prone to stiffening and may not lie all the way down in the tank, sucking air along with fuel.
 
Time to ruminate...

I think an important thing here that no one seems to want to mention is; When you have a problem, FIND OUT WHAT THAT PROBLEM IS!, before venturing out away from the airport.
Regardless of what the problem is, it needs to be identified.

Since this is posted in the "Safety" section Mel's comment is spot on. One "smart thing to do" would have been to contact an engine guru e.g., Bush, Deakin et al. I had a similar issue with my Skybolt and when I got the plane safely on the ground I contacted Don George of Don George Engines of Orlando. He took the time to dictate a Fault Isolation matrix for me which led to the culprit (pin hole in the servo diaphragm).

I too am glad you are here to write about the incident but your judgment needs calibrating. You'd never dream of telling one of your patients who comes in complaining of chest pains while jogging to "go run around the parking lot and see if we can duplicate the problem."
 
To the OP..................

Congrats on the safe outcome.. I only wish the pilot of N820RV had done the same thing...
 
Thank you for the kind words. I had waited a full month to post on this as it was very hard to even talk about it, let alone write it up. I was pretty sure I was going to get raked thru the coals by the experts, so some kind words are nice...

I did think of one more thing:
1. Get a glider rating!
Had the same experience in a Whitman Tailwind- Fuel starvation...
Glider experience does help along with keeping emergency skills current.
You have proven yourself as an aviator. Great job.
 
Oh boy -- brought shivers to my spine. I was at C29 a couple of years ago and watched a plane depart Runway 09 with the fuel shut off. They made it about 350 feet into the air, and wound up in the chain-link fence of that Lexus dealer right at the end of the runway. Fortunately those guys walked away too.

The plane was a different story.

Low-altitude engine outs are the scariest thing I can think of when it comes to flying. Thanks for writing this up in such detail!
 
Again, thanks to all for the kind words. I really appreciate it.

As for the emails and PM's about "giving up" on experimentals, I should probably have gone into more detail: it isn't me that is skeptical it is my wife who is having issues right now. She was actually there at the end of session with the FAA FSDO guys and got to meet and talk with them, and the FAA guys also were of the same mind that this isn't solely an issue with experimentals. They had investigated plenty of accidents and incidents with factory built as well...(this was the FAA guys talking to my wife, mull over the implications of some FAA guys defending E-AB!).

Also, to Mr. Stiver (Apache 56): no need to be judgmental, I've already done that to myself more than you could. Several very smart minds were already convinced that this was a fuel pump issue. We would have gone into annual the next day and replaced the one or both of the fuel pumps, and this situation would have happened on the very next flight after annual...or sometime after that (and maybe not as geared up for something bad to happen).

As for your comment about not having people jog around the parking lot who have had chest pain: We actually do this, in a way, all the time in the Emergency Department in a very formalized protocol with cardiology: it's called an "exercise stress test". It's a provocative test to try and stress someone's heart and see if there are any hints of ischemia. If you fail, you go on to cardiac catheterization...
(sometimes done as a dobutamine and/or nuclear medicine stress test depending on the situation, cardiologist, and one's ability to exercise; but the point is that it is meant to be provocative and get your heart rate going. EXACTLY like running around the parking lot).

Which is somewhat analogous to this situation, in a way (my fuel system had an MI). I'd be interested to hear troubleshooting ideas or strategies for a problem that can't be reproduced on the ground and all visual inspections don't find anything amiss?

Everyone now knows how it played out in my situation, but for future reference for others I'd be curious to know what others may have done differently to troubleshoot (no need for snide or judgmental comments), as we all want to learn from others experiences and maybe help someone out in the future who reads this thread.

Thanks again for all the kind comments, I really appreciate it and it has made be feel much better about the situation. Bending an airplane is not a good feeling, although I'm extraordinarily fortunate that no one was hurt (myself included!).

-Ryan in Madison
 
Idea

In Canada as part of our sign off inspection we must disconnect the fuel line from the engine, and test the flow per minute when boost pump is on. I have heard of many doing this during the annual too.
Why, if you know your boost pump puts out 17gph as an example, this will ensure a year or two later, you are still getting lots of flow, that there are no blockages in fuel lines, filters, etc. A bit of a flush out so to speak. Strain the fuel and return to the tanks. Seems like a good idea as I have heard of slosh and also people who had some proseal or even teflon tape (used in error) get into fuel system. A good system flush out, and of course checking gascolator and fuel strainer in FI systems is wise too. I have and will continue to do this annually. It does not test engine driven pump, but does ensure #2 is good to go. On another note, when I painted my plane, I drained tanks and will likely remove sump drains every year or two and again FLUSH out the tanks. Surprising what can end up in the bottom of the tank over time.
 
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