N546RV
Well Known Member
No, I didn't actually land off-airport, but I was worried about it for a bit.
I was going up for another OSH prep flight, planning to head to the local lake for some air work followed by pattern work at a local untowered field. A friend had expressed interest in flying with me, so I invited him and another friend to ride along.
Preflight, taxi, and takeoff were uneventful. There were still some low scattered clouds over PDK, so I initially leveled off at pattern altitude while heading out towards Lake Lanier. About six miles from the airport, I was out from under the clouds, so I came back in with the power to climb up to 3500', since I was planning on some stalls.
I'd made it up to about 3000' when I felt a few small jolts, almost imperceptible, but kind of like the engine momentarily lost power a couple times. I was in the middle of wondering what that was when my friend in the front seat (a mechanically smart car guy) said "Is the fuel pressure supposed to be like that?" I looked down and the needle was almost at the bottom of the gauge's range, almost in the red.
The immediate good news was that I was flying over an area with lot of large open fields, so if things went further south, I had good options. I was about ten miles out of PDK at this point, and maybe 5-6 miles north of LZU. I ran through those options in what seemed like a nanosecond, then reached over and flipped the boost pump on.
The pressure gauge immediately popped back up into the green, where it should be. With the fuel pressure stabilized, I decided to go back home instead of landing somewhere closer; that way I could get the flight school to look at the plane with a minimum of effort. (I'd already decided that I was going to be done flying once I got home)
I called up PDK tower, asked to return, explained the situation, and declined to declare an emergency. I was given the option of either of the parallel runways; I chose the 6000' 21L instead of 3500' 21R. Way more runway than I should ever need, but I figured I might as well be conservative.
Once established on the way home, I tried flipping the boost pump off a couple times, just to gather information. The first time, the pressure sagged again, but the next couple of times, it seemed fairly stable. Approach and landing were uneventful. It wasn't until I'd taxied back and was tying the plane down that I noticed my heart rate was up a bit.
Back inside, I ran into the chief instructor and told him about my flight. He said that he'd never heard of a mechanical pump failing, but agreed that I made the right decision to come back regardless. Not that I had any personal doubts about that decision, mind you; once I made the decision to go home, it wasn't going to change. Even seeing stable pressure with the boost pump off on the way back didn't make me rethink at all.
It was mostly luck that I was in an area with lots of fields when the problem happened. I have to admit that since getting my private, I've not really been good at subconsciously keeping an eye for decent landing spots, but I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call to pay more attention in the future.
I was going up for another OSH prep flight, planning to head to the local lake for some air work followed by pattern work at a local untowered field. A friend had expressed interest in flying with me, so I invited him and another friend to ride along.
Preflight, taxi, and takeoff were uneventful. There were still some low scattered clouds over PDK, so I initially leveled off at pattern altitude while heading out towards Lake Lanier. About six miles from the airport, I was out from under the clouds, so I came back in with the power to climb up to 3500', since I was planning on some stalls.
I'd made it up to about 3000' when I felt a few small jolts, almost imperceptible, but kind of like the engine momentarily lost power a couple times. I was in the middle of wondering what that was when my friend in the front seat (a mechanically smart car guy) said "Is the fuel pressure supposed to be like that?" I looked down and the needle was almost at the bottom of the gauge's range, almost in the red.
The immediate good news was that I was flying over an area with lot of large open fields, so if things went further south, I had good options. I was about ten miles out of PDK at this point, and maybe 5-6 miles north of LZU. I ran through those options in what seemed like a nanosecond, then reached over and flipped the boost pump on.
The pressure gauge immediately popped back up into the green, where it should be. With the fuel pressure stabilized, I decided to go back home instead of landing somewhere closer; that way I could get the flight school to look at the plane with a minimum of effort. (I'd already decided that I was going to be done flying once I got home)
I called up PDK tower, asked to return, explained the situation, and declined to declare an emergency. I was given the option of either of the parallel runways; I chose the 6000' 21L instead of 3500' 21R. Way more runway than I should ever need, but I figured I might as well be conservative.
Once established on the way home, I tried flipping the boost pump off a couple times, just to gather information. The first time, the pressure sagged again, but the next couple of times, it seemed fairly stable. Approach and landing were uneventful. It wasn't until I'd taxied back and was tying the plane down that I noticed my heart rate was up a bit.
Back inside, I ran into the chief instructor and told him about my flight. He said that he'd never heard of a mechanical pump failing, but agreed that I made the right decision to come back regardless. Not that I had any personal doubts about that decision, mind you; once I made the decision to go home, it wasn't going to change. Even seeing stable pressure with the boost pump off on the way back didn't make me rethink at all.
It was mostly luck that I was in an area with lots of fields when the problem happened. I have to admit that since getting my private, I've not really been good at subconsciously keeping an eye for decent landing spots, but I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call to pay more attention in the future.
