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From: "Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
References: <list-2442651@logan.com>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: reason # 11
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 08:37:30 -0400
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Great work, Bob!

Fly the Airplane!  That one phrase can do more to keeping body and spirit 
together in a tight situation than any other.  It keeps the mind focused on 
the absolutely most important aspect of the situation - if you don't do 
that - all else is moot.  In my 12 miles engine out glide - I had a lot of 
time to repeat that mantra.  Aviate, communicate and navigate!

Its a bonus to hear than even the aircraft did not have any serious damage.

Ed


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Tilley" <btilley@mchsi.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 9:45 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: reason # 11


> Ok folks,
>
> Here's the story!  Got signed off to fly my first short solo cross 
> country! YEAH!!!!  Took off, got to altitude, leveled out, got speed  to 
> 90 knots, everything was good in the world!  Then I picked up a  miss in 
> the engine. OSH... (or something like that), thought my wife  is really 
> going to get MAD. Then thought "Fly the Plane". Said to  myself, "no say 
> it out loud", (a promise I made to myself during Paul  Connors 
> investigation).  So aloud I said "FLY THE D... PLANE"  ;-).   Pulled Power 
> back to around 1700 or so. Looked around to pick a spot  to ditch it. 
> Decided it would probably glide back to the airport. Set  up best glide 
> while making a 180. Looked at what was between me an  the airport and 
> didn't get a calming felling in my stomach. Figured  it was probably 
> better to head south to fly along a 4 lane road, back  to the airport. Had 
> time to try to diagnose the problem. Felt to me I  had lost a cylinder. 
> Tried one mag first, then the other to no avail.  Pulled carb heat, no 
> luck, ran the same. Eased back on the mixture in  case the carb was 
> dumping to much fuel, again no luck. Rechecked my  flight path and was 
> concerned I would make the field. About this time  I lost another 
> cylinder. Pucker factor!! So it became obvious I  wasn't going to make it 
> back to that airport. But there was one about  2-3 miles due south. Took a 
> left 90 degrees and headed for the east  end of the abandoned runway. 
> Needed a little more power to insure I  would come in with enough alt. 
> Since the engine was running worse, I  eased the power in to try to get 
> 1500 rpm. Worked! Well for about  that long. Lost another cylinder. Now I 
> at 900 to 1000 rpm and that  airfield is out of the question. Called 
> Dawson unicom and notified  them of my intent to put it down in a field 
> next to the Pecan VOR.  Turned left into the field, as apposed to right 
> toward the pine trees  and the end of the runway I was not going to make. 
> NOW THE ENGIINE  QUITS. I was at about 100 ft agl. and made the mistake of 
> not putting  the rest of the flaps down. But that worked out OK. Dropped 
> down to  just above the cotton, and held it off as long as I could. Then 
> the  Pucker factor really kicked in!!!!! MY GOD LOOK HOW BIG THOSE TREES 
> ARE!! And they are come real fast!!!  Finally it just dropped those  last 
> 4 feet. I put on the brakes hard but not so hard as to flip me  over. 
> Came to a rest 50 feet from the trees. Total distance from  touchdown to 
> stop, 100 yards. LONG SIGH!!!!. Tried to radio the  airport I was down and 
> OK to no avail. Walked 200 yds to the road and  waited to company to 
> arrive. And boy did it ever. Airport had called  the Emergency rescue and 
> every body else in the world.  TV station  came, etc.
>
> I now KNOW what it feels like to ditch, that's a plus. There was NO 
> damage to the plane, another plus. Except the engine of course. It  eat a 
> valve in the #1 cylinder. Which probably cluttered up the rings  in the 
> others, we will find out when we tear the engine down. Made  the 6:00 
> news, not what I had in mind for the day, but it was a good  report. 
> WALKED away form the landing, a major plus. Cotton boles are  very hard 
> and sharp!!  Not a plus. Will try to get the plane out of  the field in 
> the next couple days. FAA wasn't to mad, another plus.
>
> Safe landings all
> Bob Tilley
> Albany, Ga.
>
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