DakotaHawk
Well Known Member
Today's flight was billed as an opportunity to do some close work with the local formation flight group. E-mails were sent out, times and locations ironed out, and six planes were set to tear up the skies over Arlington. We met at the airport restaurant for a bite to eat and a pre-flight brief. After ironing out the details of the flight, we sauntered out to our aircraft like the cool pilots that we are, strapped ourselves into the planes, and waited for the START signal.
When Lead raised his hand and twirled his finger, six starters engaged and almost instantly we had aver 1000 hp purring away! Gauges checked - all in the green - and Lead taxied out to the run-up area. I'm #2, so I position my plane offset from Lead on the taxiway, and everyone else falls in place behind us. It's about 1/2 mile from the restaurant tie-downs to the run up area, so I have plenty of time to make sure that "all systems are go". A scan of the gauges shows no problems, the engine is purring, I wiggle the stick and rudder to make sure I have full control throws, radio is set to primary and backup frequencies... I'm ready to fly!
We taxi into our run up position, cocked at a 45* angle, all eyes on Lead, Waiting for the signal to do our pre-flight run up. Once again, the hand is raised, the finger twirls, and six sets of eyes swivel from Lead down into the cockpit. Brakes set, throttle up to 1800 rpm, cycle the prop, check the Mag, check the Electronic Ignition...
WAIT! As soon as I turned off the Electronic Ign, my Dynon shows EGT on cylinder #3 goes cold! Hmmmm... This could be a fouled plug... could be a bad magneto... could be a bad ignition harness wire... Well, let's do some quick troubleshooting while everyone else is still doing their run up... Mag and EI both on... Engine is running smooth as a baby's butt. 1800 rpm. Lean hard and see if I can clean the plug. Turn off the EI again, and the Dynon shows EGT on cylinder #3 is cold.
I call Lead, "Two's out - got a cold cylinder." Lead quickly rearranges the flight and I taxi back to my hangar to begin troubleshooting.
to be continued...
When Lead raised his hand and twirled his finger, six starters engaged and almost instantly we had aver 1000 hp purring away! Gauges checked - all in the green - and Lead taxied out to the run-up area. I'm #2, so I position my plane offset from Lead on the taxiway, and everyone else falls in place behind us. It's about 1/2 mile from the restaurant tie-downs to the run up area, so I have plenty of time to make sure that "all systems are go". A scan of the gauges shows no problems, the engine is purring, I wiggle the stick and rudder to make sure I have full control throws, radio is set to primary and backup frequencies... I'm ready to fly!
We taxi into our run up position, cocked at a 45* angle, all eyes on Lead, Waiting for the signal to do our pre-flight run up. Once again, the hand is raised, the finger twirls, and six sets of eyes swivel from Lead down into the cockpit. Brakes set, throttle up to 1800 rpm, cycle the prop, check the Mag, check the Electronic Ignition...
WAIT! As soon as I turned off the Electronic Ign, my Dynon shows EGT on cylinder #3 goes cold! Hmmmm... This could be a fouled plug... could be a bad magneto... could be a bad ignition harness wire... Well, let's do some quick troubleshooting while everyone else is still doing their run up... Mag and EI both on... Engine is running smooth as a baby's butt. 1800 rpm. Lean hard and see if I can clean the plug. Turn off the EI again, and the Dynon shows EGT on cylinder #3 is cold.
I call Lead, "Two's out - got a cold cylinder." Lead quickly rearranges the flight and I taxi back to my hangar to begin troubleshooting.
to be continued...