Emergency - Mental Planning

[sandpiper]

Didn't realize he is from another country

 

Australia.

[FlyingMonkey]

What's the Australian designation, "Advanced Microlight" or something similar?  

 

Man I wish the FAA had not gone with the dumb 120kt speed limit...we'd have -12° reflex and variable pitch props and be at least 10kt faster.

[Roger Lee]

There are CT's in the world that do have in flight adjustable props, just not here in the US.

His plan of action would be a good one.

Corey is also correct that an overspe d is usually anything over the 5800 mark and most of us here in the US have our ground adjustable props set below that around 5500-5700 so yo should be good to go.

 

The first issue here is save your butt then worry about everything else.

[ausctls]

Don't over rev it

[FastEddieB]

1) This is a valuable discussion. I probably went at least 5 or 6 years of ROTAX ownership without thinking about it.

 

2) Our BING's started out as BMW motorcycle carbs. For obvious reasons, if a cable breaks on a motorcycle, you want the throttle return spring to go to idle, which is the norm. One change for airplane use was a pretty straightforward reworking of the spring arrangement to spring open rather than closed.

 

3) As Roger just posted, in an emergency, virtually NO consideration should be given to saving the engine, prop, or even the plane - many pilots have died over the years trying to do so. Writing a $20k check for a new engine would not be fun, but a pilot in an emergency should have survival of him or herself and their passengers as the ONLY consideration.

 

4) Every pilot should be confident of being able to land on a runway after pulling power right over the airport. If you're not 100% sure you could, please practice until you can - either solo (it's fun) or with an instructor if you have and doubts at all. Slipping is a valuable tool in that procedure, so be sure to be comfortable with slips as well.

[Ed Cesnalis]

When the carbs are grossly out of balance you will naturally adjust the throttle.  Even if you don't have this thought out  there's a good chance you would find it  when it happened.  Now we will all remember this reminder and go WOT right away.  Thanks for posting Roger.

[gbigs]

are you sure?

 

He is right technically...The prop is ground adjustable.... not constant or variable pitch.

[gbigs]

If the throttle cable is broken how are you manipulating the carbs?  They are disconnected from the throttle control when this happens.  I don't fly the 912ULS (or didn't) so is there another nob in the plane?

[ausctls]

He is right technically...The prop is ground adjustable.... not constant or variable pitch.

Inflight adjustable

[gbigs]

Inflight adjustable

 

You are flying a CT with an inflight adjustable prop in the USA? 

[ausctls]

In Australia yes

[Doug G.]

Roger, would it help to go to one mag and/or carb heat to lower the rpm a bit, or would that do more harm than good?

[Roger Lee]

I wouldn't ever just go to one mag. The bottom plugs have really different pulse waves when they fire. I would leave both mags on. The carb heat isn't going to help much.

 

It really isn't an issue to fly wherever you want to go at 5500-5700 rpm to make a safe landing and I think most of us are between that rpm.

[rhanson]

The Canadians, EUs, Aussies, Kiwis  ( maybe UK common wealth members )

can have constant speed props, and -12 deg flaps, even remove the BRS,

if you like; the real world out there.

 

RH

[Roger Lee]

Speed and altitude play the part for chute full openings. I used to skydive years ago.  You may have a low altitude, but if you have enough speed the chute will fully deploy and have enough time to stretch the cords. Having low altitude and a slow speed is the worst scenario. Plus you need enough altitude for the cords to stretch and allow you to swing back under and start slowing before you contact the ground in a total drop.

 

There have been saves from 100' and 200'. Those are quick acting pilots with some air speed. I have talked to BRS directly about this. Publically they'll say 400' minimum. Behind closed doors much less and they have the saves to prove it. If you were only 100' and only doing 55-60 knots you may be in trouble, but it still may be just enough to keep you from getting killed. 100' and 90-110 knots much better chance, but you still need to swing under before contacting the ground. 200'+ with some speed a very good chance.

 

You need to have enough speed to pull the cute to full deployment. Thank God ours is a ballistic system, but it still needs some time. The cords need to be at full stretch, the cords are long so that reduces your altitude that the plane is going to be off the ground and reduces the time to allow the chute to slow your short vertical descent or fall.  So the higher the better and the faster the better and speed is a definite plus at low altitude. If I was at 100' and had an in flight control surface failure my hand would already be on that handle as soon as I felt the plane start to be out of my control. You always have time to turn loose if it's a false alarm, but never enough time if you stop to think about it and you're low.

 

p.s.

Forget the aft stick here.   

[ralarcon]

Thanks for the info. Very valuable.

 

Cheers

[cgrbu]

for Canada and European regions it is an allowable option, Kaspar props