EricJ

Small confessional: I did this of necessity a few weeks ago due to, we believe, water contamination. I start the gear up at positive rate and climb between 80-90kts (basically Vy) until the gear is all the way up. In this particular instance just as the gear completed the up cycle and I was pushing the nose over to accelerate it felt just like a check pilot reached over and pulled the throttle to idle. There was zero power...I cycled the throttle to verify no response, noticed that I had a *little* bit of runway left, pulled it to idle, got the gear coming back down, got the flaps coming down the rest of the way and just barely got it slowed enough to run off the end of 25R onto the A4 taxiway at Deer Valley. The tires were squealing a little as I turned that corner onto the taxiway. I'd have been paying for some runway lights if I hadn't made the turn. 25R/7L is 4500 feet long. If it was 20 feet shorter I'd have been off the pavement into the dirt, and that was using the taxiway for runoff. It wasn't stopped until I was well off the runway on the taxiway.

I have an advanced degree in engineering, and I've done as much damage on this as I can do.

Any thoughts on why high-temp apps tend to use N2 in tires? One thought I've heard is it's easier to keep N2 dry, but I don't know if that's even the motivator.

That's for ideal gases. ...edited to reduce potential confusion a bit... Not as much. Non-ideal gases behave to (approximately): PV=znRT where z is the compressibility factor. N2 has a favorable Z. I think it is used in airliners due to the extreme temperature change possible under heavy braking. If you've ever seen the vids of the destructive brake testing that Boeing does, letting the tire last a bit longer before it explodes is a safety advantage. I don't see it as an issue on a GA airplane.

The Nitrogen fill argument comes up with race cars all the time, too. A big argument in that application is N2 doesn't expand from heat like many other gases do. Since control of inflated pressure after the tire gets hot (from friction) is critical for handling setup, this can make a big difference. e.g., if I'm shooting for 40psi hot pressure, I may use a 32psi cold temp expecting an 8psi rise on the track as the tire heats up. The guy with N2 just pumps it to 40 and leaves it. Much of the pressure increase with air is due to humidity, though, and if I pump more humid air in there than I expected and wind up with 42 or 43psi hot pressure instead (due to the expansion of the additional water), I may have just given myself a significant disadvantage. Some of us just use driers on our compressors and not worry about it too much. For CB racers that store their race tires inflated, the O2 migration (from the inside to the outside) will slowly harden the rubber compound of the tire (which results in less grip). On an airplane, especially with tubed tires, I don't see this as an issue. Airplane tires make very little grip compared to a race tire (and GA airplane brakes suck), so I don't think the difference would be noticeable to anybody. CB racers that are more serious just store their tires deflated to avoid this. I seem to remember reading that the SR-71 had N2-filled tires for the same reason. With a target pressure over 400psi they didn't want the tire pressures to go up and risk a blowout as the airframe and tires heated up at cruise. Very large, heavy airplanes with big tires may have tighter tolerances on desired tire pressure, and using N2 would help reduce the tire temperature as a variable for target tire pressure. I don't think any of these issues are much of a concern for GA aircraft, but N2 fills certainly don't hurt anything. If you check your tire pressures reasonably regularly, or at least do a visual inflation check, you're probably already getting the same advantage that an N2 fill might give. And N2 won't really make much difference on leaks. With tubed tires, I don't know how it would have anything to do with corrosion, either. Just my dos centavos. It is just interesting to me how this keeps coming up in different places. I'm sad for the people who get talked into paying extra to get N2 in their car tires.

Flying back from Lake Havasu a couple weeks ago, my tablet lit up when we got back to the south Phoenix area.

Had a partial power loss taking off at the home field on Sunday. Was able to make it around the pattern and land. One of the city trucks followed me to my hangar and had me fill my name and phone number on a city airport incident report form. Fingers crossed that that's the worst that it gets for me.

Some Cessnas have sealed tanks, some Cessnas have bladders, and some Cessnas have modular aluminum tanks. I think 310s have bladders, but I'm not sure about other low-wing Cessnas.

A lot of the agricultural guys don't use the radio at all, so you have to really watch out for them at fields where they operate. It often seems that they're like the banner guys, they're usually really good at getting in and out very efficiently with minimal fuss. Like many people, going into untowered fields I'm unfamiliar with I'll just listen to traffic and use the same active runway and generally just do what they're doing. At a field with crossing runways I did this and didn't realize the only reporting traffic was a helicopter and I kind of rained on his training parade by using the same runway he was using, when the fixed-wing traffic was actually using the other runway.

I think the gear motor on my airplane is getting tired, and if I let the airplane accelerate too much it may pop the circuit breaker on gear retraction. If I get the gear up early (positive rate, no obstacles), it's easier to keep it at Vy and keep the gear motor reasonably happy and then once the gear is up drop the nose a bit for cooling, cruise-climb, whatever. It doesn't ever pop the breaker if I do it that way. My gear comes down faster than it goes up, and I have *cough* demonstrated that I can gear the back down in time to land on my home field runway if I really, really need to. In the Arrow I used to fly, the gear came up sooooooo slooowwly that I used to leave it down until I was completely out of runway or easy landing possibilities. But it didn't have a problem with either accelerating easily or bringing the gear up at cruise-climb, so that also helped.

I went in a whole different direction when I read that.

Typical dive tanks hold compressed air at about 3000psi, not O2, or other esoteric mixes that are not appropriate for aviation use. I'm not surprised they wouldn't touch it. The applications are very, very different.

I enjoyed my forty-year old Century III for a couple of weeks, and even figured out that although the alt-hold didn't work, the pitch hold did, even though my electric trim is inop. Until it all didn't. Now it just wants to turn hard left all the time and the pitch control is dead. I haven't had a chance to start debugging it yet, but I *really* like having those functions working.

OTOH, my A&P/IA says that once they start needing to be patched it's often an endless chase of repeated patches. That said, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the patch that Maxwell did on mine in August is the last leak for a long time. If not, I'll schedule a trip to Willmar.

I took a thirty-year break and came back into it by going through King's Private Pilot ground school, which helped me get back up to speed and learn everything that had changed, etc.. John and Martha are the OGs of GA, for sure. They are quirky and kitchy, but they are also very thorough and very clear and straightforward. I found their program very easy to navigate and very helpful. That said, I never tried any of the others, so I've no idea how they compare. But now whenever I see John or Martha in anything, or reading their articles in Flying, I feel like I know them.

Thanks tons for letting us know what happened and for your candor and openness. And most of all I'm glad that you and your family came out of it okay, that's the main thing. I hope you're able to get back in the saddle soon and everybody recovers better than ever.

I was just gonna ask that.

Much tighter tolerances in modern automotive engines than typical reciprocating aircraft engines, and different materials and assumptions about the oil chemistry. Basically, there's not much in common between a modern automotive engine and an ancient air-cooled aircraft engine except that they're four-stroke Otto cycle and burn gasoline.

I'm throwing this out hoping somebody has some pertinent thoughts: I'm on week two of ownership of my airplane, but it's history over the last ten months or so is known. When it was ferried from AZ to Maxwell's in TX the first leg used a lot of oil, it was refilled, and then it used more or less none the rest of the way. This has become a fairly consistent theme: it either uses a crap ton of oil (probably a quart every 1.5-2 hours), or very little. Last week I flew it from AZ to SoDak and back, with fuel stops both ways at about the halfway mark. In both directions it used two quarts during the first 3 hour leg, and no appreciable oil during the second 3.5 hour leg. That was always starting at 6qts. It does leak, but not that much. In SoDak a local shop found that the oil temp sensor had been over-torqued and the copper crush gasket was badly distorted. They replaced it, but there was still oil down the right nosegear door and in the nose wheel well on the way back, so there are other pending leaks. There's no appreciable filth behind the breather tube, and the exhaust pipe goes from sooty black to dark grey depending on how it's feeling (it's kind of a nice grey now, after the last 3.5-hour non-oil-burning leg). There are still leaks, but I don't think that accounts for the massive loss. I'm suspecting maybe a flaky valve seal? Compressions have consistently tested good to very good on the motor during annual in the spring and at Maxwell's last month.

That looks totally TSO'd to me.

There's a J model for rent at Carlsbad. I was looking at using them but wound up with other plans. I've seen the airplane, and it looks decent. http://www.pinnacleacademy.com/aircraft/aircraft.aspx?id=24

It had been getting water in it due to leaky fuel cap o-rings, and I'd been draining the sumps until no water showed up. It subsequently still swallowed a slug of water (is the consensus) and caused a bit of a moment on takeoff. The o-rings were replaced and I haven't detected any significant water since. Yesterday I did not check it at the fuel stop (flame away). It started and taxied fine, and ran up fine, and then ran like crap when I tried to advance to full throttle. Taxied back to the ramp and checked the sumps and didn't see anything, but it eventually cleared after an extended run up period. I switched tanks, it ran like crap again but cleared after an extended run up again. Checked the sumps again, didn't see anything. Did more extended runups with no issues. I've no idea what it was, but it definitely prevented me from taking off. It'd consistently hold around 2300 rpm but just ran rough and wouldn't go any higher. After running whatever it was out of both tanks it was fine. There wasn't much of it, but enough to be an issue. If it had done it during climb out or something it would have been a big problem. To the OP's question, both of these instances in my personal experience happened at takeoff or attempted takeoff. The only other instance I know of personally (to someone I knew) also happened at takeoff and resulted in a successful impossible turn. That case was the result of the fuel truck being left out during a rain storm with one of the hatches not fully secured. Fuel contamination isn't really engine failure, but power failure and has pretty much the same effect.

Another source of trouble is fuel contamination. For the most part the times I've personally had significant issues or people I've known personally had issues were due to fuel contamination (either water or something undefined from a truck/pump, whatever). I had an issue yesterday that, fortunately, manifested itself just when I was pushing the throttle forward to take off. I had just refueled at that field about a half-hour prior and I'm pretty sure I got some nasty crap from that pump. A return to the ramp was necessary. I had an issue last week that was nearly certainly water contamination, so I'm not doing well lately with fuel quality. Some fluorosilicone O-rings in the caps have, hopefully, fixed the water issue, and checking the sumps after every refuel is now highlighted in my brain. Somehow this was all easier when I was renting.

Yes! Everyone stay away from AZ! Nothing to see here! Truly an awful place! DO NOT COME HERE! YOU WILL DIE IN A TOUCH AND GO IF YOU MOVE TO AZ! Actually I think many of the airpark properties here are cheap because there are a LOT of them and some are fairly remote. Some are kind of ratty, too, but if nothing else there's a lot of variety to pick from. The two in/nearest the Phoenix area are both quite nice, though, and pricey. Kirby Chambliss, of Red Bull Air Race fame, lives on a very remote airpark way out in the desert here with only two or three houses, and a big Red Bull logo painted on the runway. Some new lots and development just opened up at the north end of Stellar Airpark in Chandler, but I suspect the lots are expensive.

Mine is the same with the original two wing strobes and no beacon. I think the strobes had to be of the type that had 180-degree view or a tail strobe was needed. What LEDs did you go with?