-------------- Original message from Bob Tilley <btilley@mchsi.com>: --------------


> 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 ai rport 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
& gt; 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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