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What's left you stranded?

R

Raiz

Well Known Member
My intended mission involves visiting remote places, so I'm putting some thought into how to provide a "get home capability", for each of the common failures.

Have you ever been stranded by a technical failure? Did you find a get-me-home solution?
 
I have been lucky. However, most common are;
#1 - Dead Battery, usually from the master being left on.
#2 - Flat Tire

The problem with a dead battery is you typically will not have enough current to energize the alternator field. So, you can hand prop and get it started, unless you are total electronic ignition, but you will not have any charging and no electronics. No radio, etc....
When I go into truly remote areas, I carry a spare PC680 battery, just in case, although I have never left the master on, yet.....
 
I see you are building a RV-10

I had to rescue a stranded RV-10 at a major airport because the RV-10 brake pads are somewhat unique and not a popular size that would be stacked by FBOs. The pads had been contaminated by a leaky O-ring.

Add brake pads to your list, all of the other brake stuff such as O-rings should be easily available.
 
A left Mag.. left me stranded in Buffalo, MN in middle of winter. That was the day I decided to go dual EFII.
 
ideas

I have never been stranded yet....
But always keep a spare fuel drain, fuel cap, alt belt, one auto plug one mag plug , tube for nose and mains
 
Aternator belt

Best time to get a spare alternator belt is next time you have the prop off. Put an extra belt behind the flywheel and secure it with tie wraps so when you need a spare you do not have to remove the prop on a trip.
 
Awesome

This forum is amazing. Within minutes there are several things that I would never have thought of. Thank you.

I've only been stranded twice - both times it was the left (impulse mag) but in different aircraft.
 
Starter cable

Only time I have been stranded was because of a broken lug on the starter cable at the starter terminal. I was able to replace the cable with one from the local auto parts store, which BTW is a better cable than the original one.

I made the original cable with using a soldered aluminum lug and rigid tefzel cable - BAD. The aluminum lug cracked unnoticed and failed catastrophically.

The auto cable has a steel "shell" lug crimped around the copper cable so the copper strands go all the way thru the lug itself, no way that thing is gonna break all at once. Also the cable is way more flexible than the tefzel one.

Luckily there was a convenient auto parts store. If I were truly in a remote location, I could prolly have jury-rigged it with some safety wire or other wire enough to get it started once. So maybe its good to have some wire and odd bits of things in your toolbag. :)
 
Nosewheel pant

Oh! And another time I taxied into a curb (very slowly) and cracked up my nose wheelpant. Duct tape is your friend!!!
 
Oh, yeah... forgot to mention the leaking fuel drain down in Baja, with no fuel at the airstrip. Fixed that with a tapered stick and a bit of duct tape, got me back to Colorado, so recommend a knife for whittling, some duct tape and if your destination doesn't have wood (some don't) a stick. Other people might say to take a replacement drain.... but which is more generally useful?

If you're taking brake pads also take the installation tools.
Likewise, if you're taking tire-changing tools, don't forget a jack. If you're taking a spark plug, you'll need that socket and a torque wrench.

Parts don't do any good without the tools.

Dave
 
Vern said:
Best time to get a spare alternator belt is next time you have the prop off. Put an extra belt behind the flywheel and secure it with tie wraps so when you need a spare you do not have to remove the prop on a trip.
Click to expand...

I prefer to take the prop off every 2 years and install a new belt as preventive maintenance - and check the belt when I have the cowl off, which is a maximum of 25 hours.
 
I've had:

- a broken mixture vernier at Johnson Creek, ID. I used the phone at the office and Van's overnighted me one to Cascade. I was flying the next day.

- a dead battery at a remote strip in Idaho, hand proping got me going.

- a bad plug at Marble Canyon in AZ, and had an extra in the kit.

- a tach cable break going into Longmont, CO. The RV guys at the airport had one laying around that fit.

I've had other issues, but they were near my home field so would not have stranded me somewhere....
 
Thought I might get stuck during my first off home airport stop during my fly off period. My parking brake valve blew a seal and leaked out the fluid from one side, giving me brakes and steering only to the right. I thought about the pathway from where I was to where I needed to get and the only hiccup was clearing the runway at my home field. I could have worked out 90 degree ground turns, but I called the tower at home and they kindly turned the active around for me. Seven right turns got me from a distant ramp to my home hangar. While the unit was sent off for repair, I made two short patch lines to connect the two sides together that I now keep in my essentials kit.
 
Two B&C alternator regulators filled with rain water resulted in the "worst case" stranded in the islands where the only room left was $1k per night. I called it worth it. Our flight lived like kings during that night of stress :)

Choose carefully where you mount stuff.
 
gasman said:
If you are worried about an alternator belt failure........ this https://www.google.com/search?q=Power+twist+link+belt&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 will work to get you home.
It is not a replacement, just a crutch that can be installed with no tools if you had to.
Many bearing shops sell this by the inch.
Click to expand...

I've seen those used commercially but never considered it for an emergency kit item. Thanks for the idea. I'll have one of those in the kit soon. :)

In regards to my history of getting stranded. Have not yet in the 7A although I did need a jump once because of the standard stupid move of leaving the master on. FBO helped me out. FYI for those mounting switches on the bottom of the panel, a knee can hit the master while exiting the craft if it is not guarded.

Once I was outbound on a trip in a rental Arrow before the 7A was finished. Made the mistake of taking the plane right out of annual. The alternator cable end broke right at the "B" terminal because the line was short (and under stress). The problem showed up at first biological stop which was sooner than normal. Rental FBO brought a 172 over the let us finish the trip. They flew the Arrow back on battery.
 
Lost an Allen bolt

I once lost one of the Allen bolts that holds the nose wheel fairing in place on my 6A. I now carry a spare bolt and the wrench to tighten it. John
 
My airplane has only stranded me twice (knock on wood).

Both with the same problem. When I bought my airplane, it had been sitting for a while. It had only flown 10 hours in the previous 10 years. Total time was 112. So I flew it for an hour after buying it and both brakes went out. The seals in the Pistons went out. They were dry and brittle. So after an hour of airplane ownership... To the shop. Quick fix though.

The next time, it was my first day of flying in the Airshow world. I had two scheduled for the day. After I landed at the first place, my RH brake was leaking. I couldn't get it fixed in time to do the show. (Note to readers... The RV-4 brakes are super easy to bleed, you just have to use pressurized air from the top, and let the air get pushed out of the bottom). Lesson learned. As it turned out, my brake pad got to low and my seal in the brake piston knocked the end of the cylinder and took a bite out of it. Again, lesson learned.

X
 
Flat tyre - in long grass on an RV8. Try and get a efficient system to jack the aeroplane...not easy.

Flat battery..we now have an Anderson connector in the luggage bay to jump start, otherwise in the -10 you have to take the rear panel out to get at the battery..a real pita

Also we now have a "below 12 volts" flashing light which is on if the bms is on and the engine is not running and charging, a good visual reminder.

You will never have tools for everything, preventative maintenance is your friend
 
Altenator

I was on a crosscountry and lost the radio due to electrical fault. Got permision from the tower to land noradio. Almost laned at destination but then realize i may never be able to take off again so i did a go around and headed home without landing. I came in to home field with barely enough radio to hear tower say cleared to land. Turnout out altenator had a fault. I probably should not have kept on reseting the 60 amp circuit breaker like in the movie Galaxy Quest :). So another vote for altenator
 
Adrian Bonwitt said:
Flat tyre - in long grass on an RV8. Try and get a efficient system to jack the aeroplane...not easy.

Flat battery..we now have an Anderson connector in the luggage bay to jump start, otherwise in the -10 you have to take the rear panel out to get at the battery..a real pita

Also we now have a "below 12 volts" flashing light which is on if the bms is on and the engine is not running and charging, a good visual reminder.

You will never have tools for everything, preventative maintenance is your friend
Click to expand...

That is way too late of a warning.......... Set it at 13.5V then you will know when the alternator failed and you have another 1.5 volts to make decisions.
 
Electronic ignition. Turns out a wire broke but it took an overnight to fix it. Nothing else has left me stranded. Yes I have had flat tires but I carry tubes, patches and CO2 so I don't consider that stranded. We did loose an alternator once, but flew over Cuba anyway and got the alternator rebuilt in Dothan AL. We would not have done that had we had dual EI.
 
The Brits

I just need an education. What is a tyre?
And how is a battery flat? I have seen dead ones... but they are so solidly built, I cannot imagine one going flat.
For the original post... carry the tube for the nosewheel. Darned hard to find.
(but have heard Tractor Supply might have them)
 
I carry a couple of spare fuel caps, a spare quick drain, a small tube of fuel lube.

On my XC to Syracuse a couple weekends ago, I also threw in a spare headset. I had the space so why not?
 
i would never leave on a big trip after doing a lot of major maintenance. :(
P1020277.jpg
 
I have had planes stranded with failed mags, a bad starter and a bad alternator.

I always try to take an extra headset and definitely extra batteries on any long trip.

Having parts, IMHO, is more critical that having tools. Most places at least have a store that has tools, if not someone on the field. There is much less often someone with the parts I need. Of course, you can't take enough parts for every occasion, but a small tool bag can cover most needs.

I agree with Eddie that there should be a couple of flights after any major maintenance before going on a long trip.
 
After almost 19-years and over 3,180 Hobbs hours, the only time that my RV-6 left me stranded was when a crack developed in the crankcase.
 
Blew nose tire on landing. Tire and tube shredded! Sunday morning!
I carry a tube but that was not enough.
Even worse, two months latter, aluminium wheel developed a circumferential crack. Found that on preflight. Assume they were connected.
 
Jesse said:
....Most places at least have a store that has tools, if not someone on the field....
Click to expand...

Jesse, there are a lot of places I've flown to where the only repair capabilities available were the ones I brought with me. Places in Idaho and Oregon and Baja and Utah and even next door in Wyoming.

These places are usually described as "back country," remote" or something like that. In a couple of places they weren't even airports. The best you can hope for is that someone else, better-equipped or with an extra seat, might fly in. Lots of these places, mid-week, that's not likely, and in some of them it's improbable any time.

Dave
 
Just a note about carrying a spare tube. If they are not inflated, they can rot at the folds in a relatively short period of time. I do not know what their shelf life is, but it isn't very long, maybe two or three years.
I carry a tube patch kit and inflator. If the tube isn't patchable, I probably have bigger problems, like a shredded tire to go along with it.
I quite carrying a tube after I put my expensive never used spare Airstop in the garbage when it rotted out.
 
Bad Master Solenoid

I was recently stranded by a bad master solenoid. Later inspection found the internal coil wire broke at the solder joint. VERY strange that it happened while parked overnight. NO indication during the previous flight. Weird weird weird.

Anyway, was able to bypass it to get going.
 
I have been stranded due to poor hot start capability of my IO-360.
I completely agree Preventive maintenance is best thing with a reliable, thoughtout, redundant systems on the aircraft.
Second best thing to carry is a smart phone which we all forget how dependent we are on it and what it was like trying to make a call, without contact phone numbers, from an FBO pay phone after dark.
Going one step farther, I have all my maintenance manuals, records, parts list (with part numbers), torques, condition inspection check list, etc. on a Google Drive on my iPhone so I always have with me to reference on a trip. This has actually helped get parts on trips. Also helps at OSH when looking at what to buy at the venders.
 
To long a list

This list can be long. Some parts and tools. Two tings that top the list on road trips for us from past years. 1. a set of jumper cables, we have a set with car clamps on one end and a Cessna plug on the other end, yes there is a ground service plug just above the battery on the aircraft. We learned this from old big six Cessna's, it's hard to hand crank them. 2. duck tape a spare key to the inside of an inspection plate, the one you can use the tank sump screw-drive to get open. Yep after a long day at the airshow or layover it hurts to not be able to find the key. Just a couple more to the list, Yours, R.E.A. III #80888
 
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