Anyone have any idea what happened to this airplane?

[Ethan]

A Mooney Acclaim (N40AU) made an emergency landing on a country road from FL210 because of an unspecified mechanical problem. The point of landing was only a handful of miles from the generously paved and well-equipped LaGrande Oregon Airport. After landing and getting some attention from the local sheriff's Department, the airplane flew to LaGrande. The next day - off to Texas. Does anyone know what happened? Oil cap come loose? Cowl screw? Door pop open? Anyone? 

https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/462556

 

Edited November 26 by Ethan
typos

[toto]

Wow, the departure video was uncomfortable to watch. Looks like a gravel road with very little room on the left to avoid utility poles, and terrain ahead. 
 

 

[EricJ]

A pic of it on the road showed up on FB earlier.   I didn't see any reliable stories of what happened there, either.

[Marc_B]

Geez.  Utility poles all along the left of the road...don't go left!

[Hank]

3 hours ago, Marc_B said:

Geez.  Utility poles all along the left of the road...don't go left!

LOTS of right rudder for that takeoff!

[AME LLC]

Yeah. That was me.  Dead sticked it from FL210 through the clouds, icing, in the mountains, and broke out at 1500 agl.  All I had was this road so I put her in nicely.  There happened to be a bit of water from the left tank (just switched tanks).  The water went into the fuel flow divider and froze.  -36 C OAT. When the water froze, it expanded and shut the flow of fuel to all cylinders.  No possibility for restart.  I let the plane sit for three hours as I dealt with the local sheriff department (who were excellent btw).  Fired her up.  Run up was perfect so I flew it outta there. lol. Another day in the office.  I’m now working g with the FAA, continental, and another shop to remedy this issue. 

[AME LLC]

Remedy this issue … meaning continental already had reports of this happening on other aircraft but hasn’t done anything about it.  So working on a fix for the TSIO-550 series engine 

Edited November 27 by AME LLC

[KSMooniac]

Any idea what the fix might be?  Something like "carb heat" but for a fuel injected engine?  

[AME LLC]

I’ll keep you posted as things progress. 

[AME LLC]

Here are some additional al pics for your viewing pleasure. Lol

Edited November 27 by AME LLC

[dkkim73]

Ouch. Glad you and your airplane are OK! That's a little sporting, coming down through IMC. That part of OR has lots of flat areas, at least. Tight quarters, so nice job. 

This is reminding me of the conversations a while back about adding alcohol to the tanks in the winter. I've got an Acclaim in MT, so a good reminder to me. 

Looks like an MT prop? 

David

[Marc_B]

Awesome report!  A forced landing you can walk away from awesome...one you can fly away from is even more incredible!

[Hank]

2 hours ago, AME LLC said:

Yeah. That was me.  Dead sticked it from FL210 through the clouds, icing, in the mountains, and broke out at 1500 agl.  All I had was this road so I put her in nicely.  There happened to be a bit of water from the left tank (just switched tanks).  The water went into the fuel flow divider and froze.  -36 C OAT. When the water froze, it expanded and shut the flow of fuel to all cylinders.  No possibility for restart.  I let the plane sit for three hours as I dealt with the local sheriff department (who were excellent btw).  Fired her up.  Run up was perfect so I flew it outta there. lol. Another day in the office.  I’m now working g with the FAA, continental, and another shop to remedy this issue. 

Just as cool as a cucumber! Excellent write up, and a hangar-flying tale for life.

"Yeah, I just deadsticked her down from FL210, through icy IMC, and broke out with just enough time to land on a road the size of a taxiway. Couple hours later, the Sheriff made sure the road was clear so I could takeoff and fly home."

Great job!!

[Flyler]

[Ethan]

Nice work AME LLC. Putting that airplane down safely in rural Oregon between the Blue Mountains and the Wallowas is ripe for pitfalls. Thanks for letting us know what happened. Wow, the fuel froze in the flow divider, on top of a hot engine. Amazing, I never thought that could be a thing. I hope Continental can make it right. 

Not to push too much but, were you headed for KLGD (LaGrande) when you broke out and saw that nice straight road?

Thanks again for sharing and wow! Excellent work.

[AME LLC]

Yeah Ethan,  great question.  Emergency situation not much time.  I wanted to go to enterprise.  It was on the rum line and had a good tail wind.  Pretty sure I could have dead sticked that runway no worries.  Seattle Center advised not going to those airports as they were IMC and higher terrain.  La grande was 90 degrees off my right wing and right into a headwind.  It was a tough call, but I figured I could drop in the valley and find something suitable.  So I turned for La grande.  I’m my own worst critic.  The one thing I didn’t do is declare an emergency.  I told Seattle center that I had “loss of engine power and could not maintain FL210”.  The controller and I ended up arguing a bit over a few details on the way down and it just made things mores stressful. And at 8000 feet he said the frightful words “radar contact lost”.  I said out loud, “Brad, do some of that pilot shit!”   Lol. I followed a canyon on the terrain page of the MFD and prayed to God that I’d break out.  And He graciously gave me 1500 ft.   And a dirt road with power lines and an eagles nest.  Good enough for me.

[AME LLC]

And nothing is too pushy. Ask away.  I want people to learn from this, be prepared, and I hope to save lives.   There are no dumb questions.  But to post about some guy landing on a dirt runway, next to power poles, and have  comments that it’s too tight…. better watch that.  And I don’t mean from this platform necessarily.  But my word,

some of the other platforms and news articles and FB.  Geez.  Remember, some pilot skill levels are higher than others.  Lol.  In anycase, I’m gonna push to make sure that continental  and the FAA do something about this.   

Edited November 27 by AME LLC

[toto]

1 hour ago, AME LLC said:

But to post about some guy landing on a dirt runway, next to power poles, and have  comments that it’s too tight…. better watch that.

No judgment from me. Seems like a fantastic landing and a fantastic outcome all around. I was only commenting on the news video. 

[AME LLC]

On a different note.  You guys should just switch to jets.  No freezing issues and FL 450.  And it’s smooth up there.

[hais]

1 hour ago, AME LLC said:

On a different note.  You guys should just switch to jets.  No freezing issues and FL 450.  And it’s smooth up there.

Like the jet operating BA38?

[N201MKTurbo]

Seems weird the water would freeze in the flow divider on top of a hot engine and was liquid in the fuel tank. 

It seems more likely there was suspended ice particles in the fuel that clogged the fuel screen. 

How did you figure the ice clogged the divider? did you disassemble it on site? If not the evidence goes away.

[201er]

8 hours ago, AME LLC said:

In anycase, I’m gonna push to make sure that continental  and the FAA do something about this.   

Avgas positive? Some way to have an additive to prevent this?

12 hours ago, AME LLC said:

There happened to be a bit of water from the left tank (just switched tanks).  The water went into the fuel flow divider and froze.  -36 C OAT. When the water froze, it expanded and shut the flow of fuel to all cylinders. 

Couldn’t sump it out on the ground beforehand?

[MatthiasArnold]

AVGAS additive for low temperature operations = IPA.

See POH and https://mooneyspace.com/topic/35373-ipa-winter-ops/

Matthias

[AME LLC]

I sump the tanks religiously.   Didn’t get any water or contamination before takeoff. Yes, you can use a mixture of alcohol per the POH.  I didn’t do this.  But it is a thing.  However, if you screw up the ratio, which seems easy to do, you can actually go the other way.    The fuel cap o rings are a known issue as well. Replace them every annual.  
This engine was just overhauled by Victor Aviation Black Edition.  We have about 130 hours on the engine now.  I called around to mooney service station friends of mine while on the dirt road.  We came to the conclusion of ice, but we thought it was ice particles in the tank.   Then I called John Pava at Victor Aviation.  He told me that this happened to a Malibu about 15 years ago.   Same engine just a different dash number.  It’s a C I think. The acclaim is a G. Same situation engine quit at FL250 deadstick landing.   Victor Aviation disassembled the flow divider and found the ice there.  
We suspected it was the same thing in this situation.  But there is a solution other than mixing additives and avoiding cold weather.  Working on that now. 

 

Edited November 27 by AME LLC

[aviatoreb]

My guess as said here - suspended ice particles in the fuel clogged the fuel screen.  This is not a Mooney specific or even a Continental specific possibility.  It can happen to any of us who might fly in below freezing conditions - which can happen in summer at altitude or winter at lower altitudes.

I have for at least a decade put a dabble of IPA - you want extreme pure IPA rather than the drugstore stuff that has water in it which is self defeating - for this purpose.  Correct dosing is mentioned here in other threads and IPA is an approved substance at correct dosages for continental engines as noted in their circulars.  It doesnt take much to prevent ice crystals from suspending in the fuel and clogging the flow divider.

A thought - if this does happen to anyone and it is above freezing at lower altitudes I would guess its possible that the ice would melt before landing so even if a restart is not possible early in the event during cruise it might be possible at lower altitude - so file that away in case a restart might still be possible.

In any case well done - and wow!

I too once upon a time had a complete loss of power in cruise - at FL16 but due to a turbo issue - and a nice dead stick landing to an airport - on a nice summers day - not ice in any form.  In any case I was quite shaken after.  Well done sir!