Story time... my near heart attack.

[Austintatious]

Ok, so last weekend I was flying from KNEW to KORL...  we got a little behind and ended up getting in after dark, which I don't particularly like to do.  Anyhow along the way I was playing with fuel flows at around 55% power, which theoretically means I cant hurt the engine... well I was in some bumps and messing with the mixture and I heard a "THUMP"... that got my attention.  I still do not know waht it was but it was either a mild backfire or possible my phone sliding off the glareshield... I had it sitting on the eyebrow and after this thump I looked around to see it far forward against the window.  It may have jumped up in the turbulence, who knows.

So, everything is still looking OK, EGT's CHT's, TIT, fuel flow... everything is normal.   I proceed on to KORL and make an uneventful landing.  However, when I get out I am greeted by a line worker on the brightly lit ramp and as we are pulling bags he says " what is this discoloration on your cowl?"  I perk up and go up to the front of the plane and sure enough on the front left of the cowl is a darkened area of paint.  " it Looks like it got hot" he says.    I hold my hand up to it casting a shadow on it and as far as I can tell, it looks like there has been a fire under the cowl atop the front left cylinder which has burned the paint.  It is even tapered back to a point....  I'm thinking  Ohh crap I have done it now.  This CANT be good.

  I Immediately pull the top cowl and start looking around with a flashlight.  I scour the area but I cannot see anything that looks amiss.  Now I am really confused and even more worried.  I keep looking... Nothing.  I decide to investigate the paint again... this time I hold up a flashlight onto the paint.... no discoloration at all....  I turn the flashlight off, again discoloration....   So what gives?  Well for any of you who have seen a Rocket, the modified cowl has a lump bulging out on the front left to accommodate the underlying cylinder.  The ramp lights were casting a shadow from this hump onto the side of the cowl.  There was apparently enough of an angle from the individual lights on the array that holding up my hand and casting a shadow on the area did not remove the effect.

Damn, that is the most scared I have been in a while!  Gotta love these little coincidences in aviation... I have plenty of stories that were the result of silly little coincidences stacking up like this to make me think I was stuck with a broken aircraft.

[FloridaMan]

So what were your fuel flows, RPM, TIT, MP and TAS?

[Austintatious]

2 hours ago, FloridaMan said:

So what were your fuel flows, RPM, TIT, MP and TAS?

I don't recall what I was running at that moment... I had the rocket tables out and was comparing them to what I had, they were right in line with the book numbers.  I dont always run the same settings, it depends on what I am doing IE: flying high/low, tailwind/headwind, conserving fuel or hauling ass.  I find myself using anything from econ cruise to max continuous depending on conditions.

[Seth]

Wow.  My Missile has the same “Hump” (great, now I’m thinking of Fergie) so this is good to know to avoid a heart attack.  
 

I’ve hit thumps like that at lower altitude before near BWI and Dulles at night - my guess is wake turbulence for this two specific occurrences.  Otherwise, it could have been anything. 
 

-Seth

[carusoam]

For Seth...

Check to see if the turbo fell out, and the plumbing healed itself...  

That cowl clearly was designed to house a turbo...

OK, I’m partially serious, but only in a humorous way...

 

The Missile’s cowl comes from the existing long nose cowl of an M20K.

So...  it came with the extra length for the extra pair of cylinders... but it also came with space for a turbo...

 

how does that sound?

For more fun ideas... consider asking Rocket Engineering to put the TN’d IO550 on the J... Using an Acclaim’s Cowl... call it the Rocket2...!

Imagine for a moment... higher performance, and better UL... than an Acclaim...

 

For Austin...

Toss the iPhone on the floor again, see if you can duplicate the bump you experienced in flight...?

PP thoughts only, including thoughts of the economy expanding at a really high rate... but not an economist...

Best regards,

-a-

[aviatoreb]

44 minutes ago, carusoam said:

For Seth...

Check to see if the turbo fell out, and the plumbing healed itself...  

That cowl clearly was designed to house a turbo...

OK, I’m partially serious, but only in a humorous way...

 

The Missile’s cowl comes from the existing long nose cowl of an M20K.

So...  it came with the extra length for the extra pair of cylinders... but it also came with space for a turbo...

 

how does that sound?

For more fun ideas... consider asking Rocket Engineering to put the TN’d IO550 on the J... Using an Acclaim’s Cowl... call it the Rocket2...!

Imagine for a moment... higher performance, and better UL... than an Acclaim...

 

For Austin...

Toss the iPhone on the floor again, see if you can duplicate the bump you experienced in flight...?

PP thoughts only, including thoughts of the economy expanding at a really high rate... but not an economist...

Best regards,

-a-

A turbo normalized missile would be fab!

but it would be rocket 3... didn’t forget the rare liquid rockets.

[carusoam]

With a four blade MT, to balance out any added weight concerns..!   
 

-a-

[1964-M20E]

When things go bump in the night