Rino,
On this list we may (or may not) agree
with each other about a point – however, we expect any debate to remain
civil and about the topic at hand and not egos or personalities. On this
list, we are all here for the same reason – to exchange,
information, data, ideas, experiences, etc all in the hopes of helping the next
guy rolling down the runway to a better, safer flight. Arguments stand on
their own merit not because someone said so. If your argument/hypothesis
is believe to be ill formed, incorrect or misleading then you can expect
someone (or many {:>)) to ask you to clarify or otherwise challenge you on
it..
On the other hand, no one should be
reluctant to express their viewpoint or raise a question even if its not
perfectedly stated. Often times, the process that occurs here leads from
a nebulous hypothesis that gets debated until it narrows down to something
meaningful.
I doubt if there is a mistake I have not
made – hell, I even have a certificate from Real World Solutions attesting
to it {:>). Fortunately, I have thus far managed a graceful recovery
from my stupidity, inattention or smug attitude of thinking I know it.
Even with a perfect aircraft installation (if there is any such thing), you
still have human error, distraction, etc which can and do cause things to go
wrong. I need not point out the number of certified aircraft that
have met tragic ends to make my point.
We are engaged in a “hobby”
that entails risks – if anyone thinks otherwise, then they had better
reconsider. I personally do not like the accelerated heart rate nor stomach
tightening sensation when the engine goes quite – it really, really
bothers me. So I take what I consider reasonable precautions based on my
risk profile – which may not be your risk profile. But, have no illusions
- if the engine can go quite on those certified birds with 10s of thousands of
hours and million of dollars of test and development – it can certainly
happen to our projects.
But, your question or viewpoint just
might save some guys bacon – and it might be mine. So have no
hesitancy about stating your view – just keep it civil and you’ll
never have a problem on this list – now you may or may not get anybody to
agree with you – but that is a different horse {:>).
Ed
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Rino
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 10:58
AM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Ut-Oh...
Please don't knock me down or kick me out, I love this list,
I learn a lot from the people who write it. But I want to add my
grain of salt.
I know that the following belong in another list, not a
list that deal with rotary engines.
I believe there are no accident accident, all are forseable
and avoidable, why is my unconsious setting me up to that accident. All I
can add is that I have looked into my past accidents and I am convinced my
unconsious could have avoided it if it wanted to, why did it happened?
All I can say at this time is that in the process of
building and flying a Glass Goose I have learned more about the PILOT
(me) than building airplanes.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, March 15,
2010 11:09 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re:
Ut-Oh...
Another dead stick landing. Same old causes.
Fortunately no fatalities....this time.
Let's pretend you are the copilot. You've been flying along
for 10 minutes. When the pilot says: "Hey Bob, how about giving me 150
times as much fuel right now." You'd say:"WHAT?!! You are
crazy, that will shut down the engine!"
Pilot:" Oops, my bad. O2 and egt's are normal. My
mistake"
Does that sound far fetched? Nope. It happens a couple times
a year. Often it's a case where the pilot inadvertently drives the ecu
to super lean condition. Engines suddenly quits. Let's use your home pc as
an example. You tell the pc to delete all files on your hard drive. It
recognizes this is most unusual and could be catastrophic. So it says:"Are
you sure you want to wipe out hard drive? This could be fatal"
Every failure has more than one cause. Yes, the pilot
inadvertently flipped the "cold start" switch when he was reaching
for his gps. Was it Ed last year who inadvertently rotated the mixture to full lean?
Last year Keith's passenger bumped the ecu mixture knob while getting in
the plane. So, yes, Ed, Keith, and Dave all made the same mistakes. They
placed a switch capable of shutting down the engine in the wrong area of the
instrument panel. End of story? NO!
As soon as one of these ECU suppliers adds the "Are you
sure?" logic, then all of these failures disappear. Pretty simple logic
statement. Actually, there are a whole bunch of ways this can be handled. I had
to do this type of programming with industrial plc's because these same
"oops" were so common. Think about this. If engine has been running
for more than 5 minutes, only allow small mixture changes. Never enough to shut
down engine. So let's say that 100 will shut down engine, then we only allow a
change of 20 each minute.
I think the ECU providers recognize builder error.
"Whew! Not MY problem." They don't ask: "Is there
something I can do to save lives?" If they make these simple
changes, then every single plane is no longer sensitive to these common
"oops" scenarios. So yes, if Dave moves his switch, HE will be
safer. But if the ECU supplier makes this simple programming change, then every
single plane will be safer. Real world mistakes will no longer shut down the engine.
I want these suppliers to be successful. I want fewer plane
crashes. But it's not going to happen unless you guys (privately) encourage
these simple changes.
This group is making good progress on failure reduction.
There are a handful of ecu changes that will really make a difference. Please
pursue! Question question question.
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