BigTex Posted April 24, 2014 Report Posted April 24, 2014 Had an interesting follow-up on my problem today. I got a call from the San Antonio FSDO. He said he was following up on my emergency declaration. He said it was his responsibility to make sure the situation was not pilot error, necessitating a check ride. He wanted the name and telephone number of the A&P, and said he would probably request a copy of the log book entry. It was my impression that declaring an emergency was not a problem unless other traffic had to be "interrupted" due to my declaration. I didn't think my situation caused any disruption, but am not certain. This is unbelievable. You have an inflight engine failure and declare an emergency. You land safely and the FSDO wants to know if this was pilot error? Really? What kind of questions will the FSDO ask the A&P? Did Don run his engine too long in that dreaded Red Box? Did he forget to add Camguard? There is nothing that the A&P can tell the FSDO that would be considered pilot error and warrant a check ride. Quote
carusoam Posted April 24, 2014 Report Posted April 24, 2014 Byron is making sense(again)... There should be odd marks on the piston head and a bent valve shaft that accompany that... Something strong enough to break a casting, would leave a mark... IF that is the case. A closer look/cleaning of the other valves may make sense... Insert CamGuard and MMO thread here.... Best regards, -a- Quote
RocketAviator Posted April 24, 2014 Report Posted April 24, 2014 To me thus is exactly the kind of FAA action that could cause someone who has an emergency not to or delay declaring an emergency and the outcome be very bad! So sorry Don, hope all turns out well. 1 Quote
jetdriven Posted April 24, 2014 Report Posted April 24, 2014 I think that anytime an IFR plane declares an emergency or diverts for unknown reasons they have to follow up with a phone call. I think it's the same if a VFR plane declares. I got one of those calls when a 182 I was ferrying a mag quit and it started running rough. Funny thing was I didn't get one the leg before when I also declared an emergency when the prop governor crapped out and the engine would over speed to the point it wouldn't maintain altitude at normal RPM. At any rate I think if the inspector is on the level he is just doing his job. Be sure to file an SDR on this as enough of the same kind of report can generate an AD which can improve safety. It can happen to the next guy too. 1 Quote
mike_elliott Posted April 24, 2014 Report Posted April 24, 2014 Byron is making sense(again)... There should be odd marks on the piston head and a bent valve shaft that accompany that... Something strong enough to break a casting, would leave a mark... IF that is the case. A closer look/cleaning of the other valves may make sense... Insert CamGuard and MMO thread here.... Best regards, -a- Im not sure the continental LB valve to piston clearance is such that you would make contact without swallowing the valve first, I just don't know. Having it seized in the guide could warrant the broken rocker boss. High exhaust valve temps lack of oil on the valve stems for cooling the exhaust valve and lubricating the guide/stem all could contribute to it "sticking/seizing" to the point of causing the boss to take the stess vs bending the pushrod. (or is it also slightly bent?) Quote
mike_elliott Posted April 24, 2014 Report Posted April 24, 2014 The push rod was straight. that easily could be the case because the rocker boss in the cyl head absorbed all the necessary energy of the cam trying to push on the pushrod, rocker and valve, and the valve stuck (or the rocker stuck on the rocker shaft, highly unlikely) Hard to believe the boss would "just let go" under normal stresses of the valve spring. It was designed to withstand way more psi loading in tension than what that lil' ol spring was putting on it. Quote
DonMuncy Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Posted May 3, 2014 I went and retrieved my plane from Spicewood today. The good news is that it performed admirably on the 70 minute flight home. The bad news is that we know no more than we did before about the relationship (or non relationship) between the head failure and the vacuum pump failure. I plan on changing the oil again in 10 or 12 hours. If no metal, I will believe the metal came from the rocker/shaft/valve interaction at the time of the failure. If I find metal again, will send it off for analysis and go from there. 1 Quote
RocketAviator Posted May 3, 2014 Report Posted May 3, 2014 Good luck let me know what you learn. Quote
Marauder Posted May 3, 2014 Report Posted May 3, 2014 Thanks for the update. Truly is a mystery. 1 Quote
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