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  #21  
Old 02-13-2020, 04:07 AM
RV10Man RV10Man is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
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Going to drift just a little from the thread, but.
My last BFR was done by a USAF AWACS E3 pilot (also a CFI), at night in our C-150.
He "studied" the wind and determined we could practice engine outs at 500', on take-off, with return to the runway. We/I did several of them, and I got pretty good at it myself. It is possible, under certain conditions, you just have to PAY ATTENTION to what you're doing.
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Last edited by RV10Man : 02-13-2020 at 04:12 AM.
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  #22  
Old 02-13-2020, 04:33 AM
Capt Capt is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Australia
Posts: 615
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You where lucky that wasn't a full on engine failure, the video would be in the hands of the coroner!
Obvioisly a fuel supply issue, remember our engines are mechanical contraptions, they WILL fail at times!
Hope you get to the bottom of the issue.
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  #23  
Old 02-13-2020, 06:17 AM
rvaitor87 rvaitor87 is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Bartow, Florida
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My dad had the same thing happen to him with the -3. The problem was that a dirt dauber decided to start a nest in the vent tube. The engine ran fine on the ground, but when power was applied there was not enough vent to keep fuel flowing. Cleaned out the nest and everything was fine. Just my $.02.
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  #24  
Old 02-13-2020, 07:45 AM
Mudfly Mudfly is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Alpharetta, Ga
Posts: 212
Default Turn Back decision.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sudsf16 View Post
Congrats and well done on getting it safely back on the ground. Here?s a link to a webinar of Brian Schiff talking about ?The Possible Turn? on the NAFI website. At some point after takeoff, it becomes possible to make it back to the airfield. He describes how to figure out that point and how to practice. He also describes when not to turn back. Cheers.
https://www.mentorlive.site/program/20.html
First, excellent job by the OP by getting the plane on the ground safely under a very stressful situation. Second, thanks for posting your experience for the rest of us to "Armchair Quarterback". I suspect this situation happens more than we think, but rarely hear about them. Thanks again for sharing!
It appears the decision of the OP to turn back is met with mixed reviews. However, after watching the video posted in the link above it appears that under certain circumstances the turn back may be an option and sometimes the best decision.
The OP made it safely back to the runway, so it was obviously the best choice in this situation. Watching the cockpit video, it appears he was departing over a densely populated residential area. Had he made the rash decision to land straight ahead, we would likely still be watching it on the news.
As described in the video by Brian Schiff, every takeoff is different and requires different actions in the event of an engine malfunction. For the turn back, the key is knowing the parameters required to do it safely. If the parameters aren't met, then straight ahead may be the only option..trees, residential area, or not.
Probably needs to be another thread, but it would be interesting to see some of the turn back data described in the video for the different RV models.
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  #25  
Old 02-13-2020, 08:10 AM
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Sam Buchanan Sam Buchanan is offline
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[Begin moderator mode]

The original poster is seeking input on why his engine lost power. It would be more appropriate for "turn back" posts to be in a different thread so the response to the inquiry by the original poster won't be lost in the noise. The OP is a newcomer to VAF, lets not swamp his first thread with our renowned ability to drift. Thanks.

[End moderator mode]
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Last edited by Sam Buchanan : 02-13-2020 at 08:14 AM.
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  #26  
Old 02-13-2020, 08:51 AM
cgeyman cgeyman is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Denver co
Posts: 4
Default ?carb float

I had a similar take off in my rv-12. Sudden loss of power and hard to make it back to the runway. It was a bad carb float (leaky sunken float), so I would agree with weighing both carb floats. Good luck. Quite scary when it happens.
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  #27  
Old 02-13-2020, 09:03 AM
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rvbuilder2002 rvbuilder2002 is offline
 
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Location: Hubbard Oregon
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sandpiper View Post
Before you do anything drastic, pull the float bowls. If you see debris then I bet that is what caused this problem.
It is fully possible for there to be FOD contamination in one or both of the carbs and not fins anything in the float bowls.

This has been the cause of quite a few difficult to troubleshoot 912 ULS engine problems.
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  #28  
Old 02-13-2020, 09:09 AM
Azjulian Azjulian is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
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I had a very similar issue happen to me in my RV12, engine went from full power to partial as I was in climb out.

I took the bottom of my carbs apart air cleaned everything out, swapped out all my fuel and it happened to me again.

I then focused on the top of the carbs, I took the pistons out, cleaned them thoroughly and lubed them with oil. I had noticed that the carb pistons felt a little “rough” when moving them up and down prior to cleaning and lube. Post clean and lube very smooth in their bore.

Since that have had zero issues. I really think my partial power was an out of balance situation caused by the dirty pistons. Savvy analysis would support this as the EGTs separated by a couple of hundred F

I also realized that when doing the ignition check before I had seen the rpm move around in the range a lot more when trying to hold 40000 rpm I am conscious of that and to really check my EGTs on run up.
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  #29  
Old 02-13-2020, 10:27 AM
korbike korbike is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Loudon, TN
Posts: 6
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Does the RV12 have a return fuel line? Kitfox factory and Rotax both recommend a return fuel line, (carbs) I have heard stories similar to this on Rotax airplanes without the return line installed. David
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  #30  
Old 02-13-2020, 10:33 AM
Dreadpilot Dreadpilot is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Western Nebraska
Posts: 8
Default Fuel Contamination?

I previously worked the line at an FBO. The fuel training and handling for 100LL is strict. Off the dedicated tanker (only hauls 100LL) it's filtered as pumped into fuel farm tank, filtered again into the fuel truck, then filtered as it's pumped from the truck into my airplane.
I used to "save" money by using five gallon cans to get mogas at the gas station and drive to the airport to fill up the plane. The engine and plane were approved for mogas.
During an annual my A&P pointed out that the only protection I had was a finger screen. As an exercise we poured fuel from one of my cans through a coffee filter. It was pretty scary how much debris was caught. I'd bought the cans new and only used them for the plane.

My A&P also ran the FBO, he pointed out that- YES 100LL is more expensive. IT's also filtered and tested more often than mogas. After that I was happy to buy 100LL. Just my 2 cents. I'd be interested to know what you find.
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