----- Original Message -----

From: Bob White

Hi Chuck,

I'm sorry to hear about your engine failure, but glad that at least it
was a soft failure.  No smoke or flames and you were making enough
power to extend your glide to an airport. :)  I will be very
interested in what you find when you tear it down.

Bob W.


On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 22:26:29 -0700
"Chuck Dunlap" <crayd@cableone.net> wrote:

> Sorry I didn't make to Bill Eslick's for the Rotorfest, I missed by
> about one hour. About 30 miles north of San Angelo TX the RPM suddenly
> dropped and I could not restore it with any of my emergency procedures.
> GPS told me nearest airport was Robert Lee about 15 miles away. I headed
> there and landed without incident.
> Turning the prop by hand shows almost zero compression in one rotor,
> indicating bad/broken apex seals, quite similar to my engine-out
> experience 2 1/2 years ago which caused a forced landing near the Grand
> Canyon. This time the vibration was not quite as bad, and the RPM
> dropped to around 4300 which was still not enough to maintain altitude.
> I called my friend with a Glasair and he cam got me and took me home. I
> will have to find some time to build another motor and drive 12 hours
> back there and swap motors. Or I might drive there, remove the wings and
> trailer it back, have not decided yet.
> My good friend/mentor/flight instructor is trying to talk me into going
> back to a Lycosaurus, and I have to think of some good reasons not to.
> Until I get the motor back and torn apart, I wont know what caused the
> failure, but I will post anything that I find.
> 
> Regards
> Chuck Dunlap
> RV-6 13B 535 hours
>


--
http://www.bob-white.com
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