Mooney 231 Down in LA (no Injuries)

[Dead Stick Douglas]

i have since heard from friends that saw it on tv that the reporters corrected the low fuel statement, so grateful to them for that.

[Mooneymite]

Well done!

[carusoam]

Great follow-up, DSD!

There is so much detail to your story.  Thanks for sharing so much.

A great learning experience for the rest of us.

A great learning experience for the media as well.  A great success story is better than a plane crash story that doesn't even have any bent metal.

Best regards,

-a-

Edited April 1, 2017 by carusoam

[Jimack]

Earl's field....

[Tony Armour]

Once again, AWESOME piloting !

[EricJ]

13 hours ago, Jimack said:

Earl's field....

Looks like that path with the turn at the end would be more appropriate for a J model.


...is joke...

[bradp]

New airfield called Earls Landing.  Great work!  Great example of fly it and drive it to the very end.  

[thinwing]

On 3/30/2017 at 1:27 PM, DAVIDWH said:

Back to that cracked insulator:

Common causes:

1. Torque wrench not calibrated as they should be on an annual basis.

2. Torque wrench not handled properly, ie, one hand over plug socket, one hand firmly on wrench handle.

3. Overtorquing,  (Just a little more) simple as that.

It doesn't take much, remember the old adage: " For the loss of a nail a shoe was lost, for the loss of a shoe a horse was lost,

for the loss of a horse a rider was lost and lastly, for the loss of a rider a kingdom (Mooney) was lost.

Moral of the story:

Don't text or drink coffee when installing fine wires.

PS: My landings are not that good on 5000 ft. runways.

Well the theory that over torguing a plug will crack an insulator is completely new to me...can you site a source for this belief?

[DAVIDWH]

Several sources, take your choice:

Bosch:

Over torquing is the most common cause of problems with industrial spark plugs.

Over torquing can cause the seal between the ceramic and housing to break and cause

cracks in the housing allowing combustion gases to escape. If the ceramic is not loose,

the discoloration on the ceramic is called corona discharge and is normal when high

voltages are present.

PEPBOYS:

"OVERTIGHTNING A PLUG BODY RESULTS IN STRETCHING THE PLUG  BODY WITH POTENTIAL BREAKAGE POSSIBLE."

[LANCECASPER]

10 hours ago, thinwing said:

Well the theory that over torguing a plug will crack an insulator is completely new to me...can you site a source for this belief?

Just google "over torquing spark plug".

[Yetti]

Well done sir. 

[thinwing]

3 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

Just google "over torquing spark plug".

I did..and after reading Bosch website recommendation that if no torque wrench available ,seat plug to gasket contact and than rotate another 90 degrees...tells me their industrial plugs going into large industrial engines (iron/steel heads)torque not that critical.Our aircraft design plugs are completely different,they have very robust bases with one piece shields ,with no exposed porcelain.Although I guess it is theoretically possible to apply enough force to damage internal parts,I think it more likely the aluminum threads would strip out of our engines before the plug failed...I'm with Bob Belville...calling overtorguing aircraft plugs as main reason for center insulator failure a bit of a stretch.Of course ,I find it difficult to believe any mechanic would apply that much force,properly calibrated wrench or not.More likely scenario is helicoil replacement,if the guy is that hamhanded or not replacing copper gaskets upon re installation.

[RobertGary1]

The 32 ft/lbs of torque required on these plugs already seems pretty high. You'd have to be putting a lot of weight into a breaker bar to go so far over that you damage the plug.

 

-Robert