RV7Guy
Well Known Member
I've teased a little about this event and now am able to do a full report, analysis, conclusions and solutions as to what occurred. I'm going to first preface this with a few things. I am a medical helicopter pilot in AZ. (Fellow RVer Glenn Brasch is as well). We fly in very demanding conditions day and night. We work 7 days on, 7 off and alternate days/nights. I absolutely love flying at night. When flying the helicopter we are fortunate to have Night Vision Goggles to assist us. When I tell you we fly into black holes sometimes, it is hard to describe just how dark it is. I have over 800 hours of night helicopter time and over 500 hours of fixed with night time.
The aircraft is a RV7 with ECI IO360, Whirlwind 200RV propellor and dual Pmags, full IFR panel and 400 TT. The Pmags had not been updated. They were working great so I left them in. I have had 175 hours of trouble free operation on the PMags since the previous upgrade. I had 3 other previous minor events with the Pmags.
I live at Stellar Airpark in Chandler AZ (P19). I work in Buckeye AZ. It is a 15 minute flight to/from. Roughly 50 NM. Driving requires a trek across central Phoenix on I10 where 20 miles of it is under construction. We change shifts at 7:30. The drive for day shift isn't terrible because I'm going mostly against traffic on the way to work and the traffic has cleared on the way home. Best case is 1 hour of driving. Night shift is just the opposite. I've experienced drive times each way approaching 2 hours.
So, I push the plane out the back door, I'm airborne in 5 minutes, fly for 15 minutes, 5 minutes to tie down and then a 10 minute drive to our facility. We operate out of a medical center, not the airport, so I keep a car there. From the time I leave my house to arriving in the office is 40 minutes. A minimum of 20 minutes of time saved, not to mention the frustration of dealing with traffic.
I've been doing this for several months. In fact, the track line on my 496 looks like an Etcha-sketch. In the winter, no matter what, one side of the trip will be at night. The journey from my house takes me West over a major 4 lane road for the first 5 minutes. I'm flying South of the South Mountains in Phoenix.
At the end of the road, the demographics go from the City of Phoenix to Indian Reservation. I turn Northwest upon reaching an Indian Gaming Casino, toward PIR (Phoenix International Raceway.) This is about a 4-5 minute period over the darkest part of the flight. Upon reaching PIR, I check in with Goodyear tower (kgyr) to transition the South side of their airspace. They know me know and clear me as soon as they hear my tail number. Also virtually ever helicopter flight we have transitions Goodyear airspace when going to one of the Trauma Centers in Phoenix. These guys and gals are the best I've worked with. I fly this route at 2900 ft to stay clear of the Phoenix Class Bravo.
This is great flight. The lights of Phoenix extending North as far as you can see. This includes the miles of backed up traffic that I'm so glad to avoid by flying. When the moon is out the various mountain ranges are backlit giving an ominous visual of the hazards that are out there. Beautiful and frightening at the same time.
On January 27th I push out and took off at 6:30 pm. I make my West turn, climb to 2900 ft, dial in 2450 rpm and 24". The Trutrak is activated with altitude hold and a heading of 265. I hit the "peak" button on my AFS 2500 and lean to 20 degrees lean of peak. Tunes are on the XM and no traffic is showing on the 430. It is remarkably clear for January. The air is crisp and crystal clear. I can see for 50+ miles in every direction. It is dark. No moon.
Upon reaching the Casino, I dial in 295 and head for PIR. I switch frequencies from my home airport to Goodyear. As I level out on heading 295, I feel a slight miss. I look at the engine monitor and notice my CHT's climbing and the engine is starting to run rough. I quickly realize this is a mag failure and I attempt to isolate it with the start switch. No luck. As I was doing this the CHT's were climbing rapidly. I noticed number 3 was through 500 degrees and the other 3 were close. I go to full rich and turn on the boost pump.
In this area my options for an emergency landing are slim. The area is flat but there are no lights and very few roads. I look North and have a road picked out as a possibility. My next best option is the road in front of PIR if I can make it that far. Although it is dark, I know where the road is. I've driven it and know it is wide enough with no obstructions.
The CHT's continued to climb as I weigh my options. I'm now in fear the engine could quit at any time, I've lost 800 feet and I'm hoping I can get to the PIR road. I check in with Goodyear tower and tell them what is going on and Ident. They advise I'm 3 miles Southeast of PIR. I think I can make this if I need to. I tell them this may be where I'm going to have to land.
I throttle back enough to keep the plane flying and the temps come down to the mid 400's. That is good news. I again try to isolate the mag unsuccessfully. The roughness diminishes some. Oil temp is good at just above 200, oil pressure good as is fuel flow and pressure. I'm flying at 120kts and an altitude of 1000 ft agl. This is a nice deal to have a dramatically over powered plane!!!
I'm now passing by PIR and have to decide whether I can make Goodyear. I'm 5 miles out from Goodyear. I've declared an emergency and they've cleared the airspace. I'm able to get 500 feet more altitude. The closer I get to Goodyear the better because of the proximity to bigger roads if I end up short. I'm now on an extended left base for 21 and I'm over airport property. I turn to final and have the runway made. I pull the mixture and kill the engine to get some cold air moving through it. I land and luckily a taxiway is right there to clear the runway.
A couple of airport guys show up to help. One of them had built an 8 and is now building a Titan Mustang. I didn't get his name. They tow me to a tie down. I call my work Comm Center and tell them what occurred. I learn my helicopter is on their way back to Buckeye from Phoenix. They stop by, pick me up and take me to Buckeye airport where I pick up my car.
Go to Part II
The aircraft is a RV7 with ECI IO360, Whirlwind 200RV propellor and dual Pmags, full IFR panel and 400 TT. The Pmags had not been updated. They were working great so I left them in. I have had 175 hours of trouble free operation on the PMags since the previous upgrade. I had 3 other previous minor events with the Pmags.
I live at Stellar Airpark in Chandler AZ (P19). I work in Buckeye AZ. It is a 15 minute flight to/from. Roughly 50 NM. Driving requires a trek across central Phoenix on I10 where 20 miles of it is under construction. We change shifts at 7:30. The drive for day shift isn't terrible because I'm going mostly against traffic on the way to work and the traffic has cleared on the way home. Best case is 1 hour of driving. Night shift is just the opposite. I've experienced drive times each way approaching 2 hours.
So, I push the plane out the back door, I'm airborne in 5 minutes, fly for 15 minutes, 5 minutes to tie down and then a 10 minute drive to our facility. We operate out of a medical center, not the airport, so I keep a car there. From the time I leave my house to arriving in the office is 40 minutes. A minimum of 20 minutes of time saved, not to mention the frustration of dealing with traffic.
I've been doing this for several months. In fact, the track line on my 496 looks like an Etcha-sketch. In the winter, no matter what, one side of the trip will be at night. The journey from my house takes me West over a major 4 lane road for the first 5 minutes. I'm flying South of the South Mountains in Phoenix.
At the end of the road, the demographics go from the City of Phoenix to Indian Reservation. I turn Northwest upon reaching an Indian Gaming Casino, toward PIR (Phoenix International Raceway.) This is about a 4-5 minute period over the darkest part of the flight. Upon reaching PIR, I check in with Goodyear tower (kgyr) to transition the South side of their airspace. They know me know and clear me as soon as they hear my tail number. Also virtually ever helicopter flight we have transitions Goodyear airspace when going to one of the Trauma Centers in Phoenix. These guys and gals are the best I've worked with. I fly this route at 2900 ft to stay clear of the Phoenix Class Bravo.
This is great flight. The lights of Phoenix extending North as far as you can see. This includes the miles of backed up traffic that I'm so glad to avoid by flying. When the moon is out the various mountain ranges are backlit giving an ominous visual of the hazards that are out there. Beautiful and frightening at the same time.
On January 27th I push out and took off at 6:30 pm. I make my West turn, climb to 2900 ft, dial in 2450 rpm and 24". The Trutrak is activated with altitude hold and a heading of 265. I hit the "peak" button on my AFS 2500 and lean to 20 degrees lean of peak. Tunes are on the XM and no traffic is showing on the 430. It is remarkably clear for January. The air is crisp and crystal clear. I can see for 50+ miles in every direction. It is dark. No moon.
Upon reaching the Casino, I dial in 295 and head for PIR. I switch frequencies from my home airport to Goodyear. As I level out on heading 295, I feel a slight miss. I look at the engine monitor and notice my CHT's climbing and the engine is starting to run rough. I quickly realize this is a mag failure and I attempt to isolate it with the start switch. No luck. As I was doing this the CHT's were climbing rapidly. I noticed number 3 was through 500 degrees and the other 3 were close. I go to full rich and turn on the boost pump.
In this area my options for an emergency landing are slim. The area is flat but there are no lights and very few roads. I look North and have a road picked out as a possibility. My next best option is the road in front of PIR if I can make it that far. Although it is dark, I know where the road is. I've driven it and know it is wide enough with no obstructions.
The CHT's continued to climb as I weigh my options. I'm now in fear the engine could quit at any time, I've lost 800 feet and I'm hoping I can get to the PIR road. I check in with Goodyear tower and tell them what is going on and Ident. They advise I'm 3 miles Southeast of PIR. I think I can make this if I need to. I tell them this may be where I'm going to have to land.
I throttle back enough to keep the plane flying and the temps come down to the mid 400's. That is good news. I again try to isolate the mag unsuccessfully. The roughness diminishes some. Oil temp is good at just above 200, oil pressure good as is fuel flow and pressure. I'm flying at 120kts and an altitude of 1000 ft agl. This is a nice deal to have a dramatically over powered plane!!!
I'm now passing by PIR and have to decide whether I can make Goodyear. I'm 5 miles out from Goodyear. I've declared an emergency and they've cleared the airspace. I'm able to get 500 feet more altitude. The closer I get to Goodyear the better because of the proximity to bigger roads if I end up short. I'm now on an extended left base for 21 and I'm over airport property. I turn to final and have the runway made. I pull the mixture and kill the engine to get some cold air moving through it. I land and luckily a taxiway is right there to clear the runway.
A couple of airport guys show up to help. One of them had built an 8 and is now building a Titan Mustang. I didn't get his name. They tow me to a tie down. I call my work Comm Center and tell them what occurred. I learn my helicopter is on their way back to Buckeye from Phoenix. They stop by, pick me up and take me to Buckeye airport where I pick up my car.
Go to Part II
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