mosquito
Well Known Member
Upon departing the Vidalia, GA Onion Festival on Sunday, while on my mogas tank, I began to lose power on climbout. The airboss informed me I was trailing black smoke, and at around 250ft I suffered full loss of power. There was enough runway to get back down safely.
On the ground, my fuel pressure was pegged, 11psi or so, the highest I've ever seen, very unusual. Activating the boost pump made no change to the reading, not even a blip. Also very unusual. After pointing the plane into the wind for a few moments, I switched to avgas and tried to start. She started after a couple of sputters, and the fuel pressure instantly jumped down to normal readings, where it stayed the rest of the day.
Back at the FBO I met RWayne who helped us secure some vice grips. Thanks, Wayne! We removed the top cowl for inspection. Everything looked fine, so we waited for cooldown, fueled with avgas, and made the 200nm flight home with no issues.
The plane is an RV-6 with a carbed O320. It was approximately 85 degrees in Vidalia.
I did write up a much more detailed narrative while it was fresh in mind, as the ~20 second flight was rather memorable. I can post it if anyone is curious, maybe in the 'lessons learned' category. I'd like to think it reads at least as well as an NTSB report. This is the "executive summary."
Does the "high fuel pressure/black smoke" combo make sense? I had believed fuel pressure would show low, or even zero, with vapor lock. The black smoke/power loss clearly points to a very rich condition, which has led an a&p friend to speculate on a potential carb problem. But I've also read accounts of vapor lock causing this.
Any opinions? Thanks,
-jon
On the ground, my fuel pressure was pegged, 11psi or so, the highest I've ever seen, very unusual. Activating the boost pump made no change to the reading, not even a blip. Also very unusual. After pointing the plane into the wind for a few moments, I switched to avgas and tried to start. She started after a couple of sputters, and the fuel pressure instantly jumped down to normal readings, where it stayed the rest of the day.
Back at the FBO I met RWayne who helped us secure some vice grips. Thanks, Wayne! We removed the top cowl for inspection. Everything looked fine, so we waited for cooldown, fueled with avgas, and made the 200nm flight home with no issues.
The plane is an RV-6 with a carbed O320. It was approximately 85 degrees in Vidalia.
I did write up a much more detailed narrative while it was fresh in mind, as the ~20 second flight was rather memorable. I can post it if anyone is curious, maybe in the 'lessons learned' category. I'd like to think it reads at least as well as an NTSB report. This is the "executive summary."
Does the "high fuel pressure/black smoke" combo make sense? I had believed fuel pressure would show low, or even zero, with vapor lock. The black smoke/power loss clearly points to a very rich condition, which has led an a&p friend to speculate on a potential carb problem. But I've also read accounts of vapor lock causing this.
Any opinions? Thanks,
-jon