New item for checklist.

[Bennett]

I would have thought that after thirty and more years of flying, I would have come across this before. What was this? I alway do a complete run up before every flight, and I always thought my checking of gauges, flap position, circuit breakers, etc. was thorough.and complete. I had taken my Mooney up to LASAR for an oil change, a compression test, and fir the installation of a passive door pin. We ran into something seldom seen - a pin hole in the new oil filter that spayed oil over the engine as soon as it was fired up. No problem - just replace on new filter with another new filter. All was well with the compression test, and the pin installation was perfect. In the late afternoon, with the outside temp in the mid 90s, and with a field elevation of about 1200' I expected a high density altitude, and planned accordingly. Lampson field is about 3500' long, about a 1000' feet longer than my home base: San Carlos, CA. Lampson field has a displaced threshold, and I decided to use it for a maximum runway length. I did my usual run up, and everything appeared normal. I took off, used a bit more runway than I expected, and after accelerating in ground effect, I tucked up the gear and tried to climb. I couldn't climb! I headed for the lake to circle and climb up there. To get there I skimmed over some trees and wires with minimum clearance. I could barely manage 200 ft/min, and sometimes less. I made a couple of 360s and finally gained. 1000'. I was showing 2670 RPM, and a fuel flow of about 14.5 gallons/hour. I tried leaning the mixture to no improvement. Tried climbing at 80 and 90 kts, but neither speed made a difference. I was about to return to LASAR to have things checked out (bit concerned about making a go around if necessary) When I noticed the throttle was not pushed in all the way. I always fly with full throttle, and I checked this before my takeoff roll. What I didn't check ( but I will in the future) is that the clamping ring was not tight, Under takeoff acceleration, the throttle control slid back, and I didn't spot it as I always keep the friction clamp ring tight. Not faulting anyone at LASAR , but they did run up the engine several times, and I heard them change engine speed. I should have caught the loose clamp ring, but through complacency, I never thought of it. New item for the check list now. The inability to climb was just plain dangerous and scary. As soon as I pushed in the throttle I was able to climb at a normal rate. Lesson learned.

[PMcClure]

Been there on my f headed toward rising terrain. I checked the friction lock thereafter and manually held the throttle in and confirmed mp pressure. Glad you are safe!

[201er]

You're not the first: http://mooneyspace.com/topic/9250-i-discovered-something-that-was-not-in-my-scan

 

Where I might fault your procedure is that you didn't keep your hand on the throttle. I have flown too many run down planes with too many unreliable gizmos so I'm in the habit of holding the throttle full forward until on a comfortable climb.

 

At what point did you let go of the throttle?

[David Mazer]

Like 201er, I always keep my hand on the throttle and prop until I put up the gear then back again until flaps up.

[Bennett]

Held the throttle until I reached over to hit the Gear switch. I was in ground effect and accelerating so I didn't notice the friction ring wasn't tight. Completely my failure to notice it then, and later when trying to get a bit of climb. Mentioning this so that someone else might think about keeping the friction ring tight. When I was learning to fly twins, my instructor always kept his hand on top of my hand on the throttles.

[M016576]

Just like a couple others have mentioned, I hold my hand on the throttle all the way until gear / flaps, then my hand goes back to the throttle until I'm greater than 1000' AGL. Probably a habit from flying carrier based aircraft.... A catapult shot is more than enough to throw the throttles back to idle unless you hold them forward...

[mikesalman]

When I first learned how to fly in a Cessna 172 my instructor always made me keep my hand on the throttle during t/o and landings. It's a good habit to have. Now in my F the only time I take off my hand is when I raise the gear or flaps then back to the throttle, my hand never strays from the throttle for more than a second or two during t/o's and landings. 

[1964-M20E]

I've seen this before as well.  I generally ensure the throtlte lock is tight after I go full throttle.  Glad to hear everythign work out ok.

[DAVIDWH]

Hmmn:

 

Perhaps the vernier throttle has some redeeming qualities after all.

[Marauder]

Ahhh, but there is nothing like retracting your gear and dropping your paw back on this baby!

[chrisk]

Thanks for the reminder!  It's been a personal habit of mine since I flew my first Mooney, a 67 F.   Even with a reasonably tight throttle lock, it would still slip.

[Dave Marten]

Bennet, thanks for sharing.

 

For everyone else out there: Problem - loss of power. Step 1: check throttle position.

 

Never trust a friction lock (or anything else in the airplane for that matter) w/o frequent verification. Hand on the throttle during takeoff and landing. Remove to retract gear, flaps, change radios, etc. Then BACK ON THE THROTTLE!

[Bennett]

Thanks to all who responded to the post. Yes, bad habit to trust a friction lock in the throttle. I have been doing so after retracting the gear on takeoff. Hand is always on the throttle landing. I am surprised I didn't immediately analyze the problem. I was literally dodging trees and wires trying to find low spots and gaps, which worked out until I could get to the lake and start circling for altitude. MP looked OK, RPM was where it should be for climb, but I missed seeing the throttle had slipped back. After I finally made a couple of circles, and gained about a thousand feet, one to two hundred feet per minute, and sometimes less, I was able to take a moment to work out the problem. Old adage: First fly the airplane. The engine was sounding normal, but the Zulu's ANR might have something to do with that. I just missed the simplest reason for lack of climb power, and while embarrassing to me, i hope telling the story might help others in a similar situation. .

[201er]

Question, you have a fancy engine analyzer don't you? If it's like mine it shows % power. Did you ever glance at this and find the number was on the low side? That's what I think would have alerted me that one of the 3 knobs wasn't in all the way. Also did you consider opening ram air for a little extra power?

[jetdriven]

I would think to make a Mooney climb so poorly, the manifold pressure would have to be 20" or less. Did  you recall the reading?

[Marauder]

I would think to make a Mooney climb so poorly, the manifold pressure would have to be 20" or less. Did  you recall the reading?

 

My thoughts as well.

[flyboy0681]

 

 I'm in the habit of holding the throttle full forward until on a comfortable climb.

 

 

Same here, always in hand with friction until well above terrain.

[Bennett]

Frankly it is a bit easier to think about analyzing a problem when you are not dodging trees and wires.  As I mentioned, I was most concerned with trying to get to the lake, the only low spot, relatively. Clear Lake is surrounded by mountains and hills on all sides, and safety would come from getting over the lake. Runway 28 leads to hills at the end of the runway, so I turned right to take the shortest distance to the lake.  I did glance at the MP, and it was reading low - about 20"-21", and I really had no time to focus on the JPI % HP.  I did open the RAM air, and I closed the cowl flaps to reduce drag.  As I said, I missed seeing that the throttle had slid back. Perhaps, without the friction lock in the tightened position, as I kept it for the last two and a half years for this airplane, gave me a false sense that I did not have a throttle problem. In the loose position, and it was loose when I finally got to the throttle. I might even have inadvertently pulled it back when I took my hand off to reach for the gear handle.  In the past, once I tucked up the gear, and prepared to bring up the flaps from the takeoff position, I relied on the friction lock to maintain full throttle - in reflection, not such a good idea. The 360 degree circles were done at half a standard rate turn, as I didn't want to give up any lift, and the lake is wide enough where I was to allow this. The circling climb was paramount to my thinking, as I wanted to gain some significant altitude before working out the reasons for the lack of climb performance. Even achieving 200 '/min ( mostly less) was difficult, and at times I had no climb at all, but I was in a safe position, had plenty of fuel, and I was confident that I could work out the problem. By the way I was about 250 pounds under gross.  Once I was at 1000' or so AGL, I had the safety net to start sorting out the possible reasons for the poor climb performance. Initially, .I thought, obviously wrong, that I had a combination of too much drag (I thought that the gear might still be down, even though the indicators proved otherwise), and that the density altitude was higher than I calculated.  (98 degrees F  and a runway elevation of about 1200' results in a density altitude of a little over 4,000', which should not have been a problem.)  My Mooney always climbs slower initially after take off, than it does a minute or two later, and I expected the rate of climb to increase with time, which, in this case, it did not. 100 Kts resulted in a negative rate of climb - I had plenty of time to try different speeds while circling over the lake. It was simply my complacency for not checking the throttle earlier in the situation. It was always set at full throttle, except when descending for landing, and for reducing speed in turbulence, so it did not enter my mind to think it was different in this situation. A lesson for me, and perhaps others.  The flight turned out OK, in fact once I had figured out the problem, it was a delightful flight back to KSQL, and a great landing, with hand on throttle as usual.  

 

Someone mentioned a vernier throttle. I had one for my prior Mooney, and the button on top, if pushed in, allowed it to act as a "regular" throttle, or you could dial in the throttle for small adjustments. I liked it for that airplane because I did not want to over-boost the turbo, which could happen dependent upon outside temperatures, and how the stops were set up. Unfortunately, the cable broke at a weld between the cable proper and the vernier section - on takeoff, but I was able to stop on the runway (Little River - 5280' in length). 

[Hank]

Ahhh, but there is nothing like retracting your gear and dropping your paw back on this baby! ImageUploadedByTapatalk1376482637.810048.jpg

 

I like my quadrant, too, but it has problems of its own. It's not bitten me around the pattern, but in cruise things have changes on their own.

 

The friction lock is on the right side, where it's oh-so-easy to remember to check [by feel, there are no markings even if you lean way over to look for it]. Mine has once or twice been loose enough to allow throttle & prop to drift during cruise. Yes, I pull my throttle back enough to move the needle, hoping to achieve better fuel atomization going through the carburetor by inducing a little turbulence.

 

So every now and again I check it and often snug it up a tiny bit. But not too tight or all three levers become difficult to move.

[jlunseth]

I sometimes see this also.  Either the plane has been in the shop and they loosened the ring to run some engine tests, or it just loosened on its own.  Maybe my hands are more sensitive than others, but I always am able to catch it just by the feel of the throttle.

[chrisk]

Hi Bennett,

I'm 100% with you on flying the plane.  Post event, it might be easy to analyze.  But when it's happening, there are so many things that could have been wrong.  You could have been on a single mag, had a bad fuel pump, an obstructed air intake, mixture over leaned, etc.   You only have time to fly the plane and go through what you remember of your engine out check list.   

 

I'm glad it turned out ok for you.   And remember the things you did right.  You didn't stall the plane!  Plenty others have.

[Bennett]

One final thought.  As pilots (and sailors) I believe we all consider ourselves highly self-reliant, and in countless prior instances, we do manage to successfully solve our own problems. Until a few moments ago, I never thought of one of the best resources that would have been available to me yesterday. I was over Clear Lake, a few miles from LASAR, and I know they monitor unicom. Both Paul and MIke were there, since I had seen them just prior to taking off.  Had I made a radio call to either of them once I was circling over the lake, I'm certain one of them would have said: "Check the throttle (dummy)", but I guess that concept was out of my mindset. "Its my problem, and I will solve it".  Funny, in its own way, and not a very good use of available resources.  I've learned a lot from this experience, and see: "You can teach an old dog new tricks". 

[201er]

Amazing how such an obvious solution could be so overlooked.

[DrBill]

I learned to keep my hand on the throttle/mixture from a retired 767 pilot who told me he did that on EVERY flight with the big bodies.

 

BILL

[Larry]

You mentioned a pinhole in the new filter.  What brand was the filter?