Instructive experience of the week

[BorealOne]

 

My instructive experience of the week:

 

Last Friday I lost throttle authority on short final into a 3000' gravel runway at CYLK (Lutsel K'e, Northwest Territories) in my Ovation. There's nothing quite like the feeling of turning final and backing off the throttle only to have the control knob back entirely out of the firewall with no cable attached--leaving the plane at about 30% power.

 

Fortunately, it went back in, and I was able to restore full power for the go-around. However, the throttle was now full open, and staying that way. So the next question became what to do next--especially given the fact I had my friend's 4 y/o son, Hawke, on board. Lutsel K'e is a small Dene community of about 300 people. A dead-stick landing would have been possible, but not advisable given terrain, runway length and the lack of any kind of aviation services - emergency or otherwise.

 

Yellowknife, however, has a 7500' strip + all the amenities (firetrucks included) and was only 100 nm away - so we declared an emergency and diverted there. It was a short flight at full power, and we landed without incident; deploying speedbrakes, lowering RPM and leaning the mix to get into the gear deployment speed range, and then dead-sticking down once we had made the field. We used about 2/3 of the available runway.

 

As to cause, it appears the vernier throttle adjustment mechanism had failed, twisting the cable and causing it to bind, abrade and ultimately fail. I had noticed some stiffness in the mechanism a few weeks back, had it checked out and lubricated, and was advised that it was airworthy but that replacement was recommended. Ironically, I was in fact on my way to Calgary for a 100h inspection at Cavalier Aviation that very day, and a further inspection/possible replacement was on my list of squawks, but Murphy clearly had other plans for me.

 

What I learned:

 

1) Don't defer recommended maintenance--even for couple of weeks.

2) Maintain proficiency in emergency procedures - you never know when you will need them.

3) When taking children for 'short flights', take one of their parents with you - and advise them to pack a toothbrush...just in case ;-)

 

And yes, we made the papers. Excerpts below:

 

Stricken plane makes safe landing

Terrence McEachern
Northern News Services
Published Saturday, April 9, 2011

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Despite a few tense moments, no one was harmed after a Mooney M-20 single engine plane had to make a dramatic emergency landing on the runway near the Adlair Air hangar at the Yellowknife Airport on Friday at 1:33 p.m. 

This single engine airplane landed without incident despite requesting emergency assistance from the Yellowknife Airport due to engine trouble. No one was injured during the emergency landing. - Ian Vaydik/NNSL photo

"The plane landed safely, there was no damage to the aircraft and everyone was fine," said Earl Blacklock, manager of public affairs and communications with the GNWT's Department of Transportation.

Traffic on Highway 3 was temporarily halted while emergency crews waited for the plane to land.

The plane flew into the airport from the north at an accelerated speed at 1:33 p.m. but landed without incident. For several minutes, two airport fire trucks with their lights activated followed the plane on the runway until it came to a stop near Adlair Air's hangar. Two passengers, a man and a child, exited the plane after it came to a stop, and there were no visible signs of smoke or damage to the aircraft. Blacklock said airport officials received the call from the pilot at 1:15 p.m. that the plane was having engine trouble. Besides the two airport fire trucks, an ambulance, an RCMP and a Municipal Enforcement vehicle responded to the scene, said Blacklock. Also, a helicopter from Trinity Helicopters was standing by to offer assistance.

 

 

 

--

Mom relieved after son's harrowing adventure

Four-year-old boy on plane that landed Friday with broken throttle

by Terrence McEachern Northern News Service

What was supposed to be an enjoyable 10-minute tour of the skies over Lutsel K'e turned into a frightful ordeal for a mother as she watched the plane carrying her young son fly past the airport's runway and off into the horizon, not to return Friday.

"Finally, after about 30 minutes, (we realized) they've gone to Yellowknife. Something is wrong (and) we don't know what," said Tracey Williams, the mother of four-yearold Hawke Finn Williams Ellis. She and her husband Steve Ellis raced home and started frantically making phone calls to find out what was happening. Finally, they were able to reach the pilot who told her the plane's throttle had malfunctioned and he had to make an emergency landing 200 km away in Yellowknife with the plane's engine shut off.

Emergency landing

The Mooney single-engine aircraft landed safely at around 1:30 p.m. at the city's airport. Williams said the pilot is known to the family and had been in Lutsel K'e on business when he offered to take Hawke for a plane ride above the community. She said her son wasn't traumatized by the experience and enjoyed spending time with the airport's firefighters and pilots at Buffalo Airways.

"It was an exciting event for him," she said.

But this was only the beginning for Hawke and his family. He was quickly booked on a flight back to Lutsel K'e that afternoon; however, after circling the community's airport twice, the scheduled Air Tindi flight had to turn around and head back to Yellowknife because of poor visibility due to an unexpected snowstorm that swept into the area.

"It was a comedy of errors that never seemed to end," said Williams, who then had to get back on the phone and try to find a place for her son to stay the night in Yellowknife. She managed to reach one of her friends, who picked Hawke up at the airport, and put him up for the evening. Hawke finally made it home on Saturday at around 2:30 p.m.

"It was a long, seemingly never-ending weekend of worry. It was quite the time for us," she said. Although her son was in good spirits, she said he started to get tired and weary toward the end. "It was a little much," she said. "When he got home, he was pretty exhausted." Regardless, she said she was pleased with the pilot's skillful emergency landing. "Otherwise, we'd be in a whole different scenario here talking about this," she said.

She was especially proud of how her son, who she describes as a "plane fanatic," behaved throughout the ordeal. "He was really good, and that's what everyone said. He kept a level head, and maybe we've got the makings for a pilot," she said with a laugh.

 

[carusoam]

Admirable thinking.  Your airports seem to be spread very far apart.

Best regards,

-a-

[mooneygirl]

You did a wonderful job, and flew that beautiful airplane instead of panicing.  I am so very happy that it all turned out so well. I think that losing the throttle cable is one of my larger fears. 

[flhelo]

Great job of keeping situatiuonal awareness!!  Glad all turned out good.

[KSMooniac]

Very nice job!

[fantom]

Well done, and thanks for sharing. A snowstorm in mid April, ugh.

Keeping your cool, not letting them see you sweat, knowing emergency procedures, and using the E word quietly goes a long way to an safe outcome.

If little Hawke is still up for flying, better let the RCAF know now!

[PTK]

Very nive job! Very glad you are all ok.  I will check my throttle linkage asap!!

[Parker_Woodruff]

Good work.  I'm glad the throttle could be advanced still -  saved a lot of maint headache too!

[thinwing]

borealone...great job and clear thinking that could have easily resulted in bent metal!!!Question...how much is 100 ll that far north and any supply problems you know about???sinc kelly

[thinwing]

borealone...great job and clear thinking that could have easily resulted in bent metal!!!Question...how much is 100 ll that far north and any supply problems you know about???sinc kelly

[Kwixdraw]

Fine job of aviating.

 

[HopePilot]

Another good use for speedbrakes!

HopePilot (The Official Spokesperson for Spreedbrakes)

[meddesign]

Great Story, gets the old ticker pumping right?

[Bennett]

Great job.  Glad it turned out so well.  Some years ago, in another Mooney, this one with a vernier throttle, I had a situation that could have had serious consequences.  I was taking off at Little River (CA), with a 5,200' runway when the throttle knob came off in my hand.  I had just lifted off, about 1500' down the runway, when I noticed the turbo was slightly overboosting manifold pressure. When I dialed it back, (and I estimate I was about 100'-150' above the runway), the vernier section just seperated from the control cable (broken weldment). This left me at full throttle.  Since I had so much runway left, I popped the speed brakes, pulled the mixture to stop the engine, bled off as much speed as I could, and got her back on the runway - used just about all of it. I couldn't have done that at my home airport - San Carlos, CA - 2,500'  Had that been the situation, I would have flown to a longer runway, and when I was sure I could make it, I would have dead sticked her in, using the speed brakes, flaps, and cowl flaps, and slips.  I did this once in another airplane, and it wasn't exactly fun, but it did work out just fine.  While I like verniers for the mixture and prop, I now use a simple push-pull for the throttle. Also I never retract the gear until I'm certain I couldn't put it back on the runway. Lessons learned. 

[sleepingsquirrel]

Glad your experience had a great outcome!

Thanks for telling me that all my training never really included "What do you do if the engine WON'T stop!" 

You could just fly all the fuel off then do what I'm sure we all taught ad nauseum ,land without power, but in a Mooney no telling where you would wind up . (Squirrels get dizzy flying in circles)

Now you have me thinking "Johnson bar , gear up , gear down, reliable; Why is it so loose? Cycle ,up, down, no airspeed change. Where is the gear? The Johnson bar is in the back seat, but where is the gear????

Thanks again for a terrific story with a happy ending!

You give  "Aviate,navigate,communicate"  style and a new word;

"Aviate,navigate,communicate, GRAVITATE"

[BorealOne]

Thanks all! Flying the North is all about the stories. At $6-8/gallon for avgas and airports which are at least 100 nm apart with lots of rocks and trees and lakes in between, I'm glad to be flying a Mooney!

[DaV8or]

This story of flying with only full throttle availble brings to mind the aviators of the first world war. The old rotory engines the early fighter planes had in those days had no throttle. As soon as the engine sparked to life, it was full throttle from then on. This was fine for take off, climb and cruise, but for landing they used to have to use the ignition to turn the motor on and off to maintain glide slope. All landings were dead stick.

I wonder if this technique would work in the case of stuck throttle cable on our Mooneys? I can imagine blasting into the traffic pattern, then killing the engine with the ignition and keeping the mixture in. If your glide comes up short, you can quickly switch the engine back on. Interesting to think about, but I hope I never actually have to try this theory.

[KSMooniac]

Dave, if you do that... move the mixture to ICO if you kill the engine, otherwise it will continue pumping unburned fuel through the engine and possibly collecting in the exhaust.  If/when you re-start, you'll likely get a KABOOM in the exhaust and yard-sale some expensive parts!

(A similar awareness needs to be maintained when doing in-flight mag-checks...if the engine dies on one mag, move the mixture to ICO, switch to both, and slowly advance the mixture until it restarts.)