RV-10 off airport emergency landing in CA

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

What a fabulous job of airmanship.

I'm going to go out and practice emergency procedures again ASAP!

[ppilotmike]

IMHO that's the best kind of "crash story" to read (and share).

[kiwipete]

Looks like a excellent job, making the most of a bad situation and keeping a cool head. Aeroplanes can be replaced people can't!

Peter

[Janekom]

Any news on what caused the failure?

[AMac]

Yep, has to be said, outstanding piece of flying & airmanship. And an outstanding aircraft that he's shown it in!

[bruceh]

Originally Posted by Janekom

Any news on what caused the failure?

I got a chance to see the airplane today. It is getting looked over at a repair shop in Ramona. The wing tips are trashed. Lower cowl crushed. Exhaust flattened. Leading edge on one wing is badly crumpled. Tank on the other wing has a big ding in it. Some fairly bad damage to the right side flooring behind the firewall. The rear spar attach brackets for the left wing were badly bent back - which probably happened when they removed the wings. The most significant damage was to the engine mount, front gear and firewall. The center interior tunnel had some wrinkles. One blade of the prop is bent. Tires were flattened. A very sobering sight.



The cause of the loss of oil appears to be the oil pressure hose wasn't tightened down on the restrictor fitting coming out of the engine. The hose disconnected and the oil started coming out. The firewall was completely coated with oil. Very lucky not to have had a fire.

[N427EF]

Thank you for the update.
Once again, this pilot exhibited superior airmanship and skill during an engine emergency. I sincerely hope the pilot will recover from the loss of the RV-10
and jump back on the horse as soon as possible.
Based on the description of the accident airplane, it is pretty clear that the RV10
suffered substantial impact damage but very little damage to the cabin, at least
not the kind that would have injured the pilot or passengers.

[pierre smith]

I'm very, very happy with the outcome of this event. However, there is an important lesson here. This is what makes VAF such a great site....an oil pressure hose came off...the builder's fault. I'm not taking anyone down but it is what it is.

The builder is the final authority and I'm sure that this builder was as consciencious as any of us but missed a critical connection. Perhaps another set of trained/experienced eyes might have caught this....I don't know. Why did the DAR miss it? Do most DAR's even check all oil and fuel hose connections physically with a wrench? Dunno.

I'm impressed with the pilot's clear-headed thinking and min-speed approach ending with what I consider, a wonderful end result.

Food for thought,

Best,

[Janekom]

I have seen a number of installations where the restrictor was not fitted - just a normal AN fitting. This will surely let the oil spill out much quicker compared to when the proper restrictor (VA128) has been fitted.

This is just a comment - not speculating that the accident AC did not have the correct restrictor fitted.

This brings me to the next question. Assuming that your oil level was OK before the flight, how long will it take to spill out as it happened here, before the pilot will notice a drop in pressure and the RPM starting to fluctuate.

[Wayne Gillispie]

The .040" orifice will flow approximately 1 Qt/minute. Once the fitting starts loosening there should be a drop in oil pressure indication. From there about 8 minutes of oil flow considering most maintain an 8 qt oil level.

I am glad he made it down safely and we have learned the cause. What I will take away from this: Torque then apply torque stripe to all critical connections. Get extra sets of eyes to look over critical items. Maintain 10-11 Qts of oil during phase 1. Remain within glide distance of home airport for 10 hrs. Set minimum oil pressure alarm 5 psi under normal hot wx cruise pressure for earlier warning. A bottom camera and in-cockpit monitor would be nice during phase 1. Fly the plane to a survivable landing site just like he did.