Sensorcon Inspector CO Detector Endorsement

[Rick Junkin]

My Sensorcon Inspector alerted on climb out on my second sortie today on my way home from dropping off my father. I attach it to my shoulder belt, and it usually reads between 0 and 15 during taxi and takeoff/climb. The Inspector is programmed to alert at 30PPM. It was reading 38PPM when I looked at it. As I continued the climb in IMC, the reading climbed through 50+PPM while I tried to figure out where it could be coming from. Over the next minute as I looked at all of my vents, heat, etc the reading had risen to 98PPM and was still climbing. About that time I was on top in VMC. I declared an emergency and made a turn back to my departure field, keeping the power up to stay on top. The next time I looked at the sensor it was over 200PPM and climbing. The sensor indications started to drop after I pulled the throttle to 15"MAP. I slowed down, and started back down through the clag with a clearance from Memphis Center down to what I thought was below their MVA for the sector I was in. But it got me below the 1,100' ceiling without having to shoot an instrument approach, and I was able to set up for a visual approach and uneventful landing. I called the number on my Sporty's Breakdown Assistance card and have arrangements made to get a professional once-over first thing in the morning to try to find out what happened.

I don't know how high the CO concentration would have gone had I kept the power in, but without the Sensorcon I possibly wouldn't have known I had a problem until it was getting too late. I'm having a drink with my father tonight, instead of my wife, to celebrate the fact that I will live another day. If you don't have one of these things, get one.

Cheers,
Rick

[carusoam]

Nice work, Rick!

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Any other indications like aroma of exhaust in the cabin?  Leaking exhaust marks under the cowl?

Looking forward to what you find.  Exhaust cracks, heater muff issues...  See if your exhaust clamps are still torqued tight... (Bravo specific clamp issue) also look for thinning issues on the exhaust pipe between the engine and turbo.  Heat and pressure challenge for metallurgy....

PP stuff I learned about by reading MS, not a mechanic... 

Best regards,

-a-

[Rick Junkin]

Thanks.

Nope, this was a classic CO poisoning event waiting to happen. No odors in the cockpit.

Yes, the v-clamps are at the top of my list, followed by the torques on the exhaust manifold. I had a leak on #5 that was repaired at annual, with new gaskets all around. Something may have loosened up.

I'll let y'all know what we find.

Cheers,
Rick

[Rick Junkin]

1 hour ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Thanks for this, Rick. Who knows but your Sensorcon might have saved your life. I fly with one, too, since Dan’s fateful flight and am really looking forward to your findings. If I was there tonight the drinks would be on me!

Jim

Thanks Jim, we’ll have to talk over one of those drinks some day.

Yeah, without being too melodramatic, no telling where this might have gone until I get the cowl off in the morning and have a look. 200PPM over the 1.5 I had in front of me would have resulted in a headache, but if it continued to increase it could have been more painful. Fortunately I didn’t get to find out.

Cheers,

Rick

[DanM20C]

Rick,

Thanks for posting!  I’ve been keeping track, your the 4th to report the sensorcon alerting to a problem. Good job not being shy and using the e word to get down. 

1 hour ago, Junkman said:

Thanks Jim, we’ll have to talk over one of those drinks some day

I’ll buy a round

Keep us posted to the cause.

cheers,

Dan

[Rick Junkin]

4 minutes ago, DanM20C said:

I’ll buy a round

Dan, aren’t you the one who alerted the community to the need for active monitoring? In MY world, sir, YOU drink on ME!

Cheers,

Rick

[EricJ]

Glad to hear that you got alerted to the problem and got on the ground okay!

Mine has alerted twice, both times in landing configuration and low power settings.   The first time I couldn't figure out what was beeping, and after making sure the gear was down a hundred times I figured out it was the Sensorcom.   By the time I landed it had shut up and I don't know what the peak reading was.   It did it again a couple weeks later, in the same conditions.   I think I might have an air path through the nose gear well or something that only flows in those conditions.    Usually it shows around 1-5ppm, so I don't think I have any major leaks, but that thing is still a great tool for providing awareness of potential problems that you would not have otherwise.

 

[DanM20C]

Just now, Junkman said:

Dan, aren’t you the one who alerted the community to the need for active monitoring? In MY world, sir, YOU drink on ME!

Cheers,

Rick

That will work too.

I really want to thank you for posting this though. 

Positive reports of detectors doing there job will keep people thinking about it.  CO accidents are rare, but almost always fatal. By the time the NTSB releases releases the findings its yesterday’s news. If we keep talking about our “close calls” with the digital detectors, hopefully more pilots will spring for the hardware and keep the NTSB out of it all together.

Cheers, 

Dan

[Mooneymite]

7 hours ago, EricJ said:

.....   By the time I landed it had shut up and I don't know what the peak reading was.  ....

I bought a Sensorcon right after Dan's presentation at the Summit.  I really like it, but wish it could display the peak reading since power on.  Unless it alarms, or you happen to be watching it, there's  no way to know how high the CO level went on any particular flight.

The old household CO detector I previously used had this "peak" feature, but it was not particularly accurate.  Compared to the Sensorcon, it read higher.

[Shiny moose]

I have a sensorcon also. I think a CO sensor would be something that everyone would want in light piston aircraft, if not for you for your family. I personally know a dude that took off with his wife and both woke up after the crash, in a field (both survived) , he remembers taking off but that's it, all because of a corroded and cracked exhaust and shitty maintenance on a newly purchased aircraft with a fresh annual inspection. 

I would not fly without a real detector, if you don't have a panel mounted one get a portable one ($100) not a sportys circle  it just may save your life

[bradp]

Great catch and good execution- did you open up all the vents after it alarmed?

I get 0-3 in cruise (same as in my car).  Interesting enough my wife is someone who like the heat on High all the time.  So it’s cooking in the cockpit (still 0-1 ppm) with the heat full on.  We land and I open up my little pilot side window  and the co alarm buzzes at 60 ppm.  I close the window l and it goes back to normal.  This was after landing in a right crosswind   Similar thing happened after cracking the door - CO levels shot up.  I think we’re pulling a slight vaccum and entraining exhaust gas when we think we’re getting fresh air sometimes. 

[mike_elliott]

7 hours ago, DanM20C said:

Rick,

Thanks for posting!  I’ve been keeping track, your the 4th to report the sensorcon alerting to a problem. Good job not being shy and using the e word to get down. 

I’ll buy a round

Keep us posted to the cause.

cheers,

Dan

Dan you have to feel good that your horrible experience may have saved Rick. Rick was the first to become a 2018 Mooney Summit Presidents club member, and we will buy you both (and everyone else at the Mooney Summit VI) a round.

Rick, great job! Glennie has her man still and we dont have to speculate here on what happened.

[MyNameIsNobody]

What a great success story!  Great response.  So glad that the unit alarmed and you responded well.  We just replaced our in home unit.  Don’t forget those to everybody.  Cheap protection.  Looking forward to hearing what “culprit” was in the high levels of CO.

[PaulM]

4 hours ago, Mooneymite said:

I bought a Sensorcon right after Dan's presentation at the Summit.  I really like it, but wish it could display the peak reading since power on.  Unless it alarms, or you happen to be watching it, there's  no way to know how high the CO level went on any particular flight.

The "MAX" mode tracks the peak since being enabled. 

[Mooneymite]

2 hours ago, PaulM said:

The "MAX" mode tracks the peak since being enabled. 

Really?

Now....where did I put those instructions?

[Rick Junkin]

UPDATE: A very thorough firewall forward inspection by the folks at Tennessee Aircraft Services at KMKL identified a loose v- band clamp (not the AD clamps, the smaller one forward of the turbo) as the only place that could be leaking exhaust. It’s fixed, but the weather today was 400 overcast, not good enough for a functional check flight. So I rode home in a Caravan and will return to do the FCF and subsequent flight home when the weather improves. More to follow.

Cheers,

Rick

[DanM20C]

15 hours ago, mike_elliott said:

Dan you have to feel good that your horrible experience may have saved Rick. Rick was the first to become a 2018 Mooney Summit Presidents club member, and we will buy you both (and everyone else at the Mooney Summit VI) a round.

Thanks Mike.  It is nice to see such positive things coming from my crash. Not only CO awareness but my personal relationships as well. I have always been grateful for my friends and family, but now it’s 10 fold. Life is good.

cheers,

Dan

[DanM20C]

5 hours ago, Junkman said:

UPDATE: A very thorough firewall forward inspection by the folks at Tennessee Aircraft Services at KMKL identified a loose v- band clamp (not the AD clamps, the smaller one forward of the turbo) as the only place that could be leaking exhaust. It’s fixed, but the weather today was 400 overcast, not good enough for a functional check flight. So I rode home in a Caravan and will return to do the FCF and subsequent flight home when the weather improves. More to follow.

Cheers,

Rick

Thanks for the update Rick.  It’s important to note that this didn’t involve the heater.  About half of all CO incidents don’t.

Cheers,

Dan

[DanM20C]

13 hours ago, MyNameIsNobody said:

What a great success story!  Great response.  So glad that the unit alarmed and you responded well.  We just replaced our in home unit.  Don’t forget those to everybody.  Cheap protection.  Looking forward to hearing what “culprit” was in the high levels of CO.

Scott is right, check your home units also. And don’t forget th have detectors on boats, campers, etc. It’s a very common problem. 

Scott, I don’t know if you remember but years back we met for breakfast at KLNR. I had the blue and white C. We will have to do that again soon.

Cheers,

Dan

[MyNameIsNobody]

11 hours ago, DanM20C said:

Scott is right, check your home units also. And don’t forget th have detectors on boats, campers, etc. It’s a very common problem. 

Scott, I don’t know if you remember but years back we met for breakfast at KLNR. I had the blue and white C. We will have to do that again soon.

Cheers,

Dan

Sure do Dan.  I also remember my forgetting to remove my cowl plugs on departure...We both exchanged a classic look to each other from our side-by-side planes.  (Yours said “Dude”). Mine (Did I really just do that?  Yup.).   Good meal as I recall.  That runway was tough to spot with it covered in snow.  I was looking right at it and I needed some other plane movement to “nail it”.  I think there was a speedy J that joined us that day too

Have a Merry Christmas!

[Yetti]

Just curious if you have "resealed" the cockpit with aluminum tape or do you still have the original factory tape?

[hypertech]

I've had getting one of these on my list and just haven't gotten to it.  The coupon code still works - saw this thread and ordered one yesterday. 

[Rick Junkin]

1 hour ago, Yetti said:

Just curious if you have "resealed" the cockpit with aluminum tape or do you still have the original factory tape?

Short answer - I don’t know.

I bought the airplane in May of 2016 and haven’t done any of that kind of work. Thanks for the point out, I’ll check with the previous owner.

Cheers,

Rick

[nels]

I've been meaning to order one of these but just didn't do it until now. Yes the 20% discount still works with the "aircraft2017" code and free shipping!

[amillet]

To those of you who have a Sensorcon, do you have it calibrated periodically as recommended?  I have not yet done so and I’ve had mine for at least 1 1/2 years.