Hi guys,
I had a bit of a "pucker" moment yesterday when I was climbing out of my home airport. At about 1500' AGL the engine lost an significant and audible amount of power for about 1-2 seconds, then went back to full power as if nothing had happened. It sounded as if it had encountered a heavy load and then overcome it.
After looking around and figuring out my exit plan, I started analyzing the engine instruments looking for a problem. I did not see anything. Fuel & oil pressure were fine. Oil temp was great, CHT and EGT on all cylinders was fine. Alternator was producing power. I did a mag check and both mags were working fine.
Being that I could not see anything immediately catastrophic occurring from reading the instruments, I decided that rather than landing out I would continue flying to see if anything else would happen. I climbed to 3500' AGL then went to cruise power for a little over half an hour. Nothing further happened.
My question for you guys:
Is this something that would cause you any concern? Is it cause to ground the plane for inspection? If so, what would you look for?
A few more salient points:
- OAT temp was ~75F at 4000' MSL. I regularly fly in much hotter temps with no problems.
- Fuel tanks were 10gal/5gal, so relatively low.
- Engine is an IO-320 B1A and has about 400 hours SMOH. I have never had an issue like this before. Oil consumption is very low.
- Was running full rich at the time of the incident. I generally do not lean on climb out until 6000' MSL.
- Aircraft is regularly hangared. It hasn't been exposed to rain in well over a month and a few fuel tank refills. I sump it before every flight.
I had a bit of a "pucker" moment yesterday when I was climbing out of my home airport. At about 1500' AGL the engine lost an significant and audible amount of power for about 1-2 seconds, then went back to full power as if nothing had happened. It sounded as if it had encountered a heavy load and then overcome it.
After looking around and figuring out my exit plan, I started analyzing the engine instruments looking for a problem. I did not see anything. Fuel & oil pressure were fine. Oil temp was great, CHT and EGT on all cylinders was fine. Alternator was producing power. I did a mag check and both mags were working fine.
Being that I could not see anything immediately catastrophic occurring from reading the instruments, I decided that rather than landing out I would continue flying to see if anything else would happen. I climbed to 3500' AGL then went to cruise power for a little over half an hour. Nothing further happened.
My question for you guys:
Is this something that would cause you any concern? Is it cause to ground the plane for inspection? If so, what would you look for?
A few more salient points:
- OAT temp was ~75F at 4000' MSL. I regularly fly in much hotter temps with no problems.
- Fuel tanks were 10gal/5gal, so relatively low.
- Engine is an IO-320 B1A and has about 400 hours SMOH. I have never had an issue like this before. Oil consumption is very low.
- Was running full rich at the time of the incident. I generally do not lean on climb out until 6000' MSL.
- Aircraft is regularly hangared. It hasn't been exposed to rain in well over a month and a few fuel tank refills. I sump it before every flight.
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