|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Oct 30, 2008
Description:
“Five Seconds. Last check: Gear down, Flaps 30, Belts tight, Ignition off, Canopy open.”
“Yep.”
“We’re good to go. Hang on to your hat.”
“Watch out for the pipes and the stakes!”
“No worries, flaring to land.”
“Oh, geez.”
“Yee Haw! How about that! That’s got to be the shortest landing in SeaRey history.”
“Don’t pat yourself on the back. A 35 knot wind makes for a pretty slow touchdown and you didn’t make it to the pavement.”
“Yeah, but other than that, it’s cool. No damage to Peli and we’re sitting pretty.”
“It’s cool except that we’ve made an emergency landing on a construction site. There’ll be some explaining to do.”
“So what? No harm, no foul.”
“Yeah, well, the way I figure it is you ran out of gas. You can’t explain being stupid.”
“No way I ran out of gas.”
“Well why don’t you just look? There’s not a drop showing in the sight tube.”
“So? It doesn’t show anything less than 3 gallons anyway. I’ll bet there is fuel. But I’ll check. I’ll take the fuel line off the regulator and turn on the pumps.”
“Hey, the rubber hose is cracked through at the clamp! Maybe the fuel did leak out.”
“Check it anyway.”
“No gas.”
“Well, I’ll cut the bad end off the hose and we’ll go get some gas. We’ll be back in business in no time.”
“What! You haven’t necessarily fixed the problem. You don’t know that the rest of the line won’t crack.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s okay. It simply looks like the clamp was over tightened. It’s certainly good enough to go another 15 miles.”
“Oh, great! You’re ‘pretty sure’? We can call and get Paige’s trailer to retrieve the airplane. There is no way we’re flying this thing outta here without knowing for sure what caused the problem.”
“That’s easy. We’ll know for sure if it starts up when we get fuel. I’ll just call Ann and get some fuel coming this way.”
“Are you home?” she asked.
“Not exactly.”
Ann was nonplussed by the situation. “Okay, I’ll go to the hangar and get some fuel. How do I get to you?”
“Well, I’m not really sure. I’ll walk out to the road and call you back.”
“Call when you have an address.”
Click.
“Okay, so, instead of hiking out to the road why don’t we just get GPS coordinates.”
“There is no GPS in the Jeep.”
“Well, Ann can bring her car. It has a GPS.”
“No way Ann is going to put gas in the back of her car.”
“Might as well start walking then. It looks like it might be quite a trek.”
A couple of guys walking across the field called out. “Hey! Are you okay?”
“Hello. Yes.”
“What happened? We heard the engine sputtering and my neighbor Glen here saw you coming down.”
“Yeah. There was a fuel leak and I’m out of gas. Other than that, everything is fine.”
“Is help on the way?”
“I’ve called my wife. She’s bringing gas. I’m not exactly sure how to tell her to get here though.”
“I have auto gas back at the house. Does it take anything special?”
“Yes. It uses premium auto gas.”
“No problem. If you want we’ll take you up to the local station.”
“That would be great. It would save my wife a lot of driving.”
“We’ll let’s go then. It isn’t every day you get a plane crashing in your backyard.”
(“It’s not a crash. Why does he keep saying it’s a crash?”
“What would you call an uncontrolled descent into an unplanned place?”)
Five gallons of gas went into the tank. Peli fired right up. It ran great.
“Are you going to fly it out of here?” Glen asked somewhat incredulously.
“Sure. There is plenty of room to take off into this wind.”
(“But it is not necessarily a good idea. How many airplanes have crashed trying to take off out of an emergency landing field?”
“Some, but I’m not counting. Besides, it looks like there should be plenty of room.”
“What about the soft sand? It might get stuck or not accelerate rapidly.”
“Well, if it doesn’t we’ll soon be up on the pavement and off like a flash. Fifteen minutes later Peli will be in the hangar.”
“The most conservative solution would be to trailer it out. That way it would be back in the hangar tonight without any more risk.”
“It would take at least a couple of hours to get a trailer here and an hour more to get the wings off. By then we could be hit with a squall line that could easily damage the airplane.”
“That squall line you were worried about beating hasn’t gotten here yet. It might just dissipate.”
“Or not. Whatever. I like the idea of getting myself out my own messes anyway.”)
Glen and Paul were thanked for their help. They decided they would stick around to see how it all worked out.
“Okay, the engine is running great, instruments are all good, flaps are set to maximum and trim is up. We’re ready to launch.”
“I still say this is a bad idea.”
“Well, cinch your belt or get out now. I’m going.”
One or two bounces later Peli was up and off.
Date Taken:
Oct 30, 2008
Place Taken:
Near The Villages, FL
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
21_Unexpected_Pit_Stop.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZT0H0000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZT0H0000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZT0H0000s">
Category:
329, Taking Peli Home
|
|
|
|
|
Click on photo to view the original size. |
| Viewers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Read what others had to say:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Jeff Arnold - Oct 31,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Dan, I read this three times and have not been able to locate the word 'TALE'. You forgot to put it in.
| | |
|
Frank A. Carr - Oct 31,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
I noticed the same thing Jeff, but on the previous slide, there appears: “You can pretend.”
| | |
|
Frank A. Carr - Oct 31,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Alas, it appears to be 'No Tale' since it appears in the official daily flight log, several photos ahead.
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Oct 31,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Officially speaking: 'no comment.' Unofficially, 'ops.'
| | |
|
Eric Batterman - Oct 31,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
'Ops' ?
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Oct 31,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Unofficially, yes.
| | |
|
Don Maxwell - Oct 31,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Aha. Dan, this must be the stop your SPOT log showed you made close to home. I've been waiting all this time to see what you were doing there. Never mind.
| | |
|
Tony Gugliuzza - Nov 04,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Yeah, I have been eagerly awaiting this non-tale, and then I went and missed it for four days!<br /><br />Finally! So was it dark when you got home?
| | |
|
Dan Nickens - Nov 04,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Naw, Tony, it was still daylight locally. The times you were looking at on the SPOT track were GMT.
| | |
|
Larry Woods - Nov 05,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Hi Dan:<br /><br />Remarkable and brilliant. <br /><br />I nag my local pals to practice 'engine out simulations' at least every month or so. Without this practice, a positive outcome to a real 'engine out' is almost impossible. I know you share this belief and this 'op' underlines its value.<br /><br />Most amphibious pilots are very surprised at how steep the glide angle is when the engine stops making noise. It sure helps to have experienced it via practicing 'engine out' exercises. <br /><br />Thanks for sharing this with us and a hearty 'well done'.<br /><br />As an aside, the safety experts frequently warn that accidents seem to be more prevalent in the last few miles before we arrive at destination. After traversing the entire continent, it is amazing that Murphy would wait until you were so close to home before he attacked. <br /><br />Best,<br />larry <br /><br />
| | |
|
John Spratt - Nov 05,2008
Viewers
| Reply
|
| |
Engine out practice is essential early on in the flight test 40 hour time. This seaplane pilot hangared his new Marchetti near my Searey and was doing familiarity flights with his new purchase, but had not yet practiced engine out. His fuel mismanagement caused fuel starvation and the engine quit. He misjudged the glide despite the many bare fields around KMEV, clipped a rooftop and rolled it up into a ball. Fatal.
| | Attachments:
NTSB Report
| |
| Attachments:
0658Marchetti
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
- About Searey.us -
- Contact Searey.us -
|
- Privacy Statement -
- Terms of service -
|
Copyright © 2024 Searey.us & Brevard Web Pro, Inc. -
Copyrights may also be reserved
by posters and used by license on this site. See Terms of Service for more information.
|
| |
- Please visit our NEW
Chapter Place Website at: chapterplace.com or
Free Chapter Management Website at: ourchapter.org. Good for all chapters, groups or families. |
| | | | | | |
