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1. 10:41 AM - plans built - no plans (airplayn)
2. 03:08 PM - Precautionary Landing (Long) (Ron Lendon)
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| Subject: | plans built - no plans |
I just bought a 601HDS (N305BM #MM020) from the widow of a friend but she cant
find ANY documentation or logs. I tried to contact the builder but hes disappeared
and Zenith wont help me because they say the serial number is not in their
records. I have questions about fuel system and have been trying to get all
the info I can find. I have gone through the forum and found many useful posts
but would like to chat with someone familiar with the design. Would anyone here
be interested in giving me a hand? I would also like copies of fuel system
as designed.
The plane looks OK except for what I consider serious deficiencies in the plumbing.
The canopy is a terrible mess as well. It looks like someone didnt like to
full span hinges on the ailerons and that they almost literally hacked the skin
apart with a saw and bolted on hinges Sad smile
Other than these things the plane has only 34 hrs on the hobbs with a 235 Lyc..
I have a pix of the Zodiac HD Super" (or "Speedwing" as I like to call her) as
well as my other planes on my facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3875602041779&set=pb.1030543267.0.1346001744
I have been flying and restoring antiques for 35 ears but this is my first experimental
and spam can (I usually go for rag wing taildraggers) and I have three
1940s Taylorcrafts and a 1951 Bellanca Cruisemaster
airplayn@hotmail.com
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=381894#381894
Message 2
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| Subject: | Precautionary Landing (Long) |
Matronics List
In the interest of full disclosure and so others can learn from my mistakes this
statement has been made. Several days ago, while talking to Mark Langford he
asked me if I was going to confess online, well here it is.
Eleven days ago I made a precautionary landing in a Soy Bean Field. Prior to this
landing I was giving an airplane ride to a friend and we had been up for over
an hour already. We had flown over the Islands at the mouth of the Saint
Clair River and were making our way up the river towards Port Huron. I had been
flying low and slow and started gaining altitude to clear the wires that cross
the river between the US and Canada. Just over Fawn Island, near Marine City
the engine began losing power. I did all the pilot stuff, i.e. check throttle,
mixture, carb heat, etc. and nothing would make the RPMs go up. We were
at 1800 and couldnt climb. I had already started heading west towards the US
airport 76G and was over U.S. soil. Mostly farm land and the oil temp was climbing
and the power was falling off. I said to my passenger This is not good.
I could see 76G and it was 4 miles away and at the rate the oil temp was climbing
we would never make it. All the fields I saw were either tall Corn or furrowed
with ditches crossing them. I tipped my wing low, and there right below
was this field of soy beans that was having a bad year but it looked very solid
and sparsely grown, you could see the dirt between the rows, I told my passenger
we would be landing in that field (down arrow).
https://picasaweb.google.com/109384641667389142437/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCIHclp7O_erluQE#5781100289459725602
Situation 1 picture
Now Im on upwind, made a crosswind at the end of the tree lined field, descending
downwind and slipped in base to final for a soft field touch down. Kept the
nose wheel up down to 40mph then rolled out towards the end of the field where
the color changed from green to brown. The farmer had been using this end
of the field to spread cow manure, so you could say I landed in the SHIT!
https://picasaweb.google.com/109384641667389142437/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCIHclp7O_erluQE#5781100371980674754
Situation 2 picture
Engine off, canopy open and phone in hand (star), call Flight Control (my wife
Anne) and explain the situation, safe and sound on the ground. Exit airplane
and open cowling to investigate, nothing but heat, leave cowl open and start walking
the field back. Find a well marked decision point (triangle) if I can
get this thing flying again. Back to the airplane, hand prop and feel low compression.
My passenger is now wandering around looking for the shortest distance
out of the SHIT, she heads for the next field over.
Call friend for rescue and he agrees to bring tools. We try diagnosing the problem
on the phone and all of a sudden I hear screeching tires and dont see my
passenger. Now Im think my passenger might have been hit by a car out on the
road. End phone call and go looking for my passenger, she is OK at the end of
our bean field. In the ditch is a car that just lost control narrowly missing
a tractor. I talk to my passenger and return to the airplane to see if I can
do anything, now the farmer appears.
He said he saw me flying and the tight turn, then he didnt see me. He was responding
to the tire squeals and thats when he saw the airplane in the field. He
said I was one real lucky guy. He said he knows all the fields around here and
this is the only one I could have landed in safely. He then said his last
crop here was Hay then he tried some Soybeans and they didnt take real good, I
said I was glad for that. He gave me a ride back up to the road and talked my
friend in to our location, at this point I only knew we were 117 degrees and
4 miles from 76G.
When my friend got there, we all headed back to the airplane and checked things
over. The timing was good, hand prop gave a little better compression. I started
it up and got full static, oil temp was below 200 now. Shut her down and
told my friend/mentor that I thought I could fly it out if I could get airborne
by a mark I had on the field, if not there was enough room to stop. He asked
what I would do once over the trees, my reply was gain altitude and go directly
to 76G. He said if all went well to 76G I should orbit and gain 5000 above
there before trying for the run home to 57D. All extra weight was purged
from the airplane, passenger, tools, tie downs, etc. Walked the turn around point,
cleared the area of people and did a soft field turn and takeoff. I was
a little heavy on the left rudder and was drifting towards the tree line(diamond),
corrected and left at the end of the field where the trees were lower and
further away. Gained 2000 and made for 76G, temps and oil pressure good. Over
76G slowly gained altitude 200-300fpm to 5500. Then I headed the 15 miles
to 57D. Landed at the home airport and put the airplane away just as my friend
and passenger arrived by car.
So now the question is, what caused this to happen. After much investigation and
soul searching I have determined it to be a design flaw by the manufacturer
(me). Not enough airflow through the cowl, bad exit design, and poor inspection
techniques. Head gaskets leaking on the right head showed up on the leak
down test. During the disassembly I discovered the CHT probe on the right head
was loose, (if I had used my fingers and touched it during inspections I would
have found it long ago), I thought it was running at 200-300 degrees. The
heat was severe enough to have caused the head gasket to make an impression in
the head till it became a constant leak over time.
Repairs are in process and redesign and validation of airflow will be made.
--------
Ron Lendon, Detroit, MI
WW Corvair with Roy's Garage 5th bearing
CH 601 XLB
N601LT - Flying
http://www.mykitlog.com/rlendon
Corvair Engine Prints:
http://www.zenith.aero/profile/RonLendon
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=381901#381901
Attachments:
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