That is what the NTSB report also
concluded, Bobby, failure of the ignition switch.
All of my crucial switches (EC2,
ignition, fuel pump) are wired to a 20 amp circuit breaker I call my “Live
Man Switch”. The circuit breaker is normally OPEN so all switches work
normally. Should the engine stop running due to a mechanical failure of a
switch, pushing in the CB will route power to all crucial circuits. I spent $$
on sealed, heavy duty industrial toggle switches back in the early 90s –
they cost over $30.00 each back then. But realizing that anything mechanical
(or electrical) can fail, I decided to wire up my “Live Man Switch”.
I used it once during a take off I aborted
after getting airborne due to the engine surging – turned out that it was
nothing electrical, so it did not remedy the problem, but I was pleased I had
remembered it and had punched it shut.
This was when I was using a HALTECH EFI –
the problem was you had to tune it with a lap top and you couldn’t tune
the Fuel map on the ground beyond your static rpm. Well, I did the fuel map up
to my static of 5200 (when I was using the 2.17:1 gear box) and the
extrapolated the fuel map pass that point (obviously inappropriately). As
soon as I lifted off the ground, the engine started a wild surge between approx
5500 and 3000 rpm. I punched my life man switch (which did nothing) and then
decided to put it back down on the 2200 ft strip doing approx 75 mph. Touched
down 300 ft from the end and pushed the brake peddles through the floor.
Thought I had made the wrong decision (and probably did) as the end of the
runway approached like and express train. But ended up about 12 ft off the end
of the runway trying to get my heart restarted – no damaged to anything
other than my nerves, lifespan and seat cushion.
In hindsight, with a bit more experience I
would have recognized the “lean surge” – first time I had
encountered it in the rotary and then I would have realized the solution would
have been to reach over and turned the manual mixture control knob to full rich.
But with only about 1-2 seconds to make a decision – I went with my
pre-made decision that I would rather go off the far end of the runway at 20-30
mph than get airborne and then have to set it down in a less desirable
situation. A few days later the HALTECH failed with the injectors full open
and I had gasoline running out the tail pipes before I could get the pumps shut
off. Ordered Tracy’s
EC2 and have flown with confidence ever since.
But, back to the design issues – I try
not to have any unnecessary single points of failure, but I think we all
realize there is risk in our endeavor and should plan accordingly.
Ed
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Bobby J. Hughes
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009
6:44 PM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Fuel
economy -
I spoke with Powersport after the crash.
Jim had installed a key switch that was also his power master switch. I believe
the key switch failed.
Bobby
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Ed Anderson
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009
4:33 PM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Fuel
economy -
Thanks for the additional info on
Jim’s crash, Bill. I was not aware that he had broken his arm.
Hummm, do you recall exactly what
failed in his system? – I’m interested as I fly with a single
battery. I initially flew with 2 but after 8 years of never using the
second one but to help crank on a cold morning I took it out. I am
waiting on one of those super duper very tiny batteries that Bill Dube is
developing – but, have to wait until the price comes down a bit {:>).
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of wrjjrs@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009
11:37 AM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Fuel
economy -
Ed,
Jim Clark's crash in one of the PowerSport powered RV-8s was not caused by
an engine failure. His problem was a single battery electrical system which
failed. Jim did break his arm in the crash but wasn't hurt otherwise. The plane
was supposed to be rebuildable. I was very saddened by the Vans test BTW
because they didn't let the rotarys fly an optimum flight plan but made them do
exactly what the Lycs did. The post Everett Hatch Powersport EMS was also far
from optimum. The Dave Lenard N4AVY flight in Dan Checcoways 100 mile race
shows that the rotary is very comparable in cost and fuel consumption.
Bill Jepson
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Anderson <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
<flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 5:47 am
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Fuel economy -
Yes, Mike, I read that article about
the comparison as well. This was clearly a case of two guys who had more
money than knowledge of the rotary. One eventually had an engine failure
which damaged fortunately only the aircraft – never did hear the
cause. So I personally did not get any indication reading the results that
either of the pilots really understood how to get the best out of their
rotary. But, yes, the powersport engine certainly looked nice – but
at $30K it should {:>).
=0 A
One the other hand, I personally saw Tracy
Crook win the Sun & Fun 100 air race on two occasions before they decided
to stop the air races because of the embarrassment of his junk yard engine
(yes, this was before his Renesis installation) beating lycomings that in some
cases had $10,000 of additional prep.
Here Tracy
was in a rather dirty airframe (compared to some of the racers), with
automotive muffler hanging in the slip stream and a fixed pitch wooden prop
winning the air races. Didn’t hear anything about it in any of the
aviation publications did you? – too embarrassing to all those
Lycoming owners. So they decided to cancel the air races to
preclude further embarrassment – Yeah! I know they claimed it was due to
insurance consideration, Yeah! Right! {:>)
Rv-6A N494BW Rotary
Powered
From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Mike Wills
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009
10:50 PM
To: Rotary m otors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Fuel
economy -
There was an article in the May 2006 issue of Sport
Aviation. Two RV-8s powered by Powersport Rotaries compared to two of Van's
factory demo RV-8s. Time to climb and speeds were pretty comparable. The rotary
powered airplanes were a little heavier. Fuel consumption for a 160 mile out
and return flight the rotaries burned 12.9 and 11.5 gallons while the Lyc
powered RVs burned 8.9 and 9.5 gallons. Cruise portion of the flight was
rotaries 7.85 and 7.1, Lycs 5.05 and 5.45.
My guess is that if the pilots could have aggressively
leaned the numbers would be closer but the rotaries were
equipped with Powersport's FADEC. No idea what it does with mixture.
Anyway its articles like this that perpetuate
the ideas about rotaries being gas hogs. Until we generate some numbers to
contradict, this is going to be the perception. If you guys generate the
numbers I'll volunteer to write the magazine article!
I should also mention that the Powersport RVs looked
WAYYYY cooler than the Lyc powered RVs!
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, March
04, 2009 7:27 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Fuel
economy -
Most are just plain scared to run their engines lean
of peak where they are able to get close to the
"advertised" bsfc.
That seems to be the rule. I
chatted yesterday with a hangar neighbor with his beautiful Lancair Legacy with
Continental 550. Does he run lean of peak? “Eh-h, well, I tried it,
but it sounded different, and I hear the valves don’t last as long; so I
run it rich of peak. It’s a few more dollars, but cheap insurance”
Alcohol and possible vapor lock are the only issues I know
of, and with a properly designed EFI fuel system, vapor lock isn't an
issue. As long as they don't start blending alcohol in the
fuel in my neck of the woods, I'll keep burning mogas and pocketing
the difference.
I did the ethanol test on my auto fuel
yesterday. Within the accuracy of the test,=2 0the fuel had between 4 and 6%
ethanol – consistent with what Mike said regarding CA fuels. So I
got out my light and little my mirror and stiff wire with a sharp end; and inspected
my fiberglass/EZpoxy fuel tanks. No sign of any softening of the surfaces; no
sign of anything happening. Nothing in the fuel filter. So far, so good.
So I’ll keep runnin’ with
auto fuel – certainly when near my home base. Saves close to $15
for every hour of flying – including the 6 – 8 cents/ga for the
2-cycle oil (SuperTech 2-stroke oil, $10.97/ga at Walmart, mix ¾ oz per ga.).
You stated, "But really the biggest motivation was to do something
a little different." As for that statement... I couldn't agree more,
but how do you quantify something like that?
I like to put it differently:
"But really the biggest motivation was to do something a little better."
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