rrogerramjet Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Well what an adventure.... My second navex training (YPFT-YADY-YCRG-YJIN-YPFT) and we were going to overfly Corryong enroute to Jindabyne when I spied the huge asphalt strip and having never landed on asphalt before I asked my instructor to come in for a full stop landing. I pulled off a nice landing (if not the tidiest circuit) and no sooner had we taxied and shut down, my instructor jumps out and says "ooh, have a look at this" - there is oil coming out the RHS cowling and down the fuselage under the door. We assess it's probably only just occurred as the oil hasn't made it's way right along the fuselage and the Ts & Ps were all definitely in the green on downwind. Off with the top cowling and oil sprayed everywhere and dripping heavily onto the bottom cowling of the oil cooler. We can't tell really what's happened but certainly conclude that we aren't going any further in this thing today. So it's a lunch stop at Corryong whilst we wait for the rescue party. Phone call to base, the J170 and the J230 come out to rescue us a while later with the LAME onboard who spies a blown cylinder bolt on No.1(?). Yep, it's definitely cactus. We tie the plane down and I bravely continue my navex in the 170 whilst the CFI and LAME fly back in the 230 to discuss repair options. We had only just come across the ranges from Adaminaby and were going to continue straight back over Khancoban and across the main range to Jindabyne - all over designated remote areas and some very nasty tiger country. It was only damn good fortune and lucky timing that I called a full stop at Corryong and the engine decided to give up when it did, or I (and my instructor) may not be sitting here writing this today. As an added navigational bonus I had to fly through a random fleet of hang gliders competing in the Corryong Cup, they were all at different heights and scattered up and down the range catching thermals - pick a hole at an altitude between a few gliders and zoom through it, 3 to the left about 1000 mtrs, 3 to the right about 1200 mtrs, 1 over there , 1 over here.... and one just above us about 500ft as we pass through. Hope they were ok with that :-) CFI is filing an incident report and I've got a 'close call' story to tell so early in my flying career ! Hopefully I'll get my little incident write up in Sports Pilot in the next issue or two and I'll frame it for posterity and a good reminder of how lucky we were !! btw beautiful country across those ranges, really quite spectacular. Looking forward to my next navex very close to nav and pax endorsement now !! Fly Safe ! R 1
dazza 38 Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Great news to hear that you OK mate, but your story isn't unusual with those engines.
turboplanner Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 A great story all round, amend the plan slightly to experience something new, handle bitumen OK (it does grab the wheels more than grass or gravel), and then find you technically made a forced landing before the boom, and country where it may not have worked out so well. Someone sure was watching over you.
metalman Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Quite a story , very lucky , any heads up on the lotto numbers this week Matty 1
biggles Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Mmmm , thanks for that report Roger but.... " dripping heavily onto the bottom cowling of the oil cooler " . Do you mean dripping from the cooler ? . "Lame spies a blown cylinder bolt on No.1 " Tough little engine the Jab 2200's to operate with that , and apparently no indications . Bob 1
Guest Maj Millard Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Well done roger, Lots of good experience gained there. Obviously had you continued further, the oil would all have been drained overboard, and things would have become more interesting shortly thereafter !......excuse me for being critical of the quality of Jab engines. This is supposably a CASA certified engine that has been sold, and in Service now for many years. Critical components like this should not fail often, and should have been upgraded or beefed up by the factory some time ago. These failures continue to occur, and it's past time we called the manufacturers to task for it......honeymoons been over for a while now Jab !.................Maj.....
DrZoos Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Man im so glad your alive to have an tell a story rather then be a news story. Too close for comfort. Thats number 2 so far and its the 10th January
rrogerramjet Posted January 10, 2014 Author Posted January 10, 2014 Hey Matty - double entry in Tattslotto this weekend for me, it's my lucky week ! Funnily enough I'd reminded myself to get a Powerball ticket for last night as I drove to the airport but after all the drama of the day I completely forgot. @Maj - We've actually discussed this on and off in the past - how come the automotive industry can make car engines that run for 1000's of hours even with poor treatment and servicing, but somehow Jab engines appear frequently in incident reports of engine failure ? Reminds me of the fellow many years ago who on passing my L series Forester told me had an EA81 in his plane...I didn't believe him at the time but have since found out it's true....those EA81/82 motors are very reliable. Apparently the LAME had already refit those bolts according to Jab technical advice to avoid such issues (I really don't know the full details on this aspect). In my VERY limited experience I've already become a bit suspect on the Jab motors. It did take a little while to fully digest the facts later in the afternoon that 15 minutes either side of that landing we could have been in some serious trouble.... Anyway, I've had my close call already so with chaos theory and statistics in play, I should have some trouble free flying for a few hundred hours yet..... 1
Guest Maj Millard Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Well done Roger...always good to have a fresh one under your belt, and behind you.............Maj... PS: I expect the owners of the aircraft will file a full incident report with RAA, and Jab will give us a full report on the reason for the occurrence fairly quickly.....yeah right, you believe that and I've got some nice land in Florida I can sell you..
alf jessup Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Well done Roger...always good to have a fresh one under your belt, and behind you.............Maj...PS: I expect the owners of the aircraft will file a full incident report with RAA, and Jab will give us a full report on the reason for the occurrence fairly quickly.....yeah right, you believe that and I've got some nice land in Florida I can sell you.. Maj, Jab will give the usual, owner was not maintaining it to Jab specifications, funny thing is the only way they will make TBO is if they stay in the box the day they are built and you set the stop watch running for 83.33 days that is 2000 hrs of trouble free service. Roger RJ, You got far bigger Cohuna's than me my friend, I got about 50hrs behind a J engine and I would never fly one over that country, nearly 900 behind a R and have flown over that type of country before, Not saying the R isn't going to stop at some stage but I can guarantee they don't stop on the regularity the J's do. Just another unbiased opinion. Alf 2
cooperplace Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Well what an adventure....My second navex training (YPFT-YADY-YCRG-YJIN-YPFT) and we were going to overfly Corryong enroute to Jindabyne when I spied the huge asphalt strip and having never landed on asphalt before I asked my instructor to come in for a full stop landing. I pulled off a nice landing (if not the tidiest circuit) and no sooner had we taxied and shut down, my instructor jumps out and says "ooh, have a look at this" - there is oil coming out the RHS cowling and down the fuselage under the door. We assess it's probably only just occurred as the oil hasn't made it's way right along the fuselage and the Ts & Ps were all definitely in the green on downwind. Off with the top cowling and oil sprayed everywhere and dripping heavily onto the bottom cowling of the oil cooler. We can't tell really what's happened but certainly conclude that we aren't going any further in this thing today. So it's a lunch stop at Corryong whilst we wait for the rescue party. Phone call to base, the J170 and the J230 come out to rescue us a while later with the LAME onboard who spies a blown cylinder bolt on No.1(?). Yep, it's definitely cactus. We tie the plane down and I bravely continue my navex in the 170 whilst the CFI and LAME fly back in the 230 to discuss repair options. We had only just come across the ranges from Adaminaby and were going to continue straight back over Khancoban and across the main range to Jindabyne - all over designated remote areas and some very nasty tiger country. It was only damn good fortune and lucky timing that I called a full stop at Corryong and the engine decided to give up when it did, or I (and my instructor) may not be sitting here writing this today. As an added navigational bonus I had to fly through a random fleet of hang gliders competing in the Corryong Cup, they were all at different heights and scattered up and down the range catching thermals - pick a hole at an altitude between a few gliders and zoom through it, 3 to the left about 1000 mtrs, 3 to the right about 1200 mtrs, 1 over there , 1 over here.... and one just above us about 500ft as we pass through. Hope they were ok with that :-) CFI is filing an incident report and I've got a 'close call' story to tell so early in my flying career ! Hopefully I'll get my little incident write up in Sports Pilot in the next issue or two and I'll frame it for posterity and a good reminder of how lucky we were !! btw beautiful country across those ranges, really quite spectacular. Looking forward to my next navex very close to nav and pax endorsement now !! Fly Safe ! R thanks for this great account. How many hours on the engine?
rrogerramjet Posted January 10, 2014 Author Posted January 10, 2014 Hi @@cooperplace, I have the massive total of 30.9 dual and 7.4 solo between the 120 and 170. <..I'll leave the above comment in place to demonstrate my limited flying experience..> @@cooperplace, you mean the engine hours not my flying hours? (doh!) Just over 850 from memory... Alf, I don't know what an 'R' engine is? Can you elucidate?
alf jessup Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Hi @@cooperplace, I have the massive total of 30.9 dual and 7.4 solo between the 120 and 170. Alf, I don't know what an 'R' engine is? Can you elucidate? Sorry Roger, Just took it for granted, R is for Rotax with me meaning the 912 range, I have had a 80hp one and it had 860hrs on it when I sold the trike and it never missed a beat in that time, never had anything other than plugs, oil changed & filters and the usual maintenance requirements as per the manual. Got a 100hp one now in my Tecnam with 360 hours on it and it is the same. Bit like Holden & Ford on here between R & J
goflying Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Great outcome Roger, No need to buy that lotto ticket, you've already won first prize "LIFE" Frank 2
facthunter Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 I don't trust any engine in that tall timber country. I tend to go from a clear spot to another, if possible. ALL engines can fail. Sometimes it is not the actual engine, but an oil pipe or water pump seal, exhaust pipe cracked etc . Nev 2
alf jessup Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 R= Reliability....... J= ????? J = Something that floats in a Chinese Harbour ? 1
Downunder Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 J = Something that floats in a Chinese Harbour ? And has a sail.....
facthunter Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Been on one of those things . Quite well constructed really. Nev
Guest Maj Millard Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Been on one of those things . Quite well constructed really. Nev There used to be one sailing around on Sydney Harbor last time I was down there. An interesting craft that appeared to have lots of room on board............Maj.....
Ultralights Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 so, did the hang glider pilots know you were coming? and did you know where they were? were they marked on the charts?
ianwells Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Just a quetion. Why was a nav training flight carried out over such tigger country? surely the reason for doing nav training is to teach us NOT to fly over such areas. If the head bolt had let go a bit earlier and the outcome not been so good, whoose fault would the crash have been, Jabbirus, the instructors or the pilot in commands? 2 1
turboplanner Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 The clock is ticking on that one, and we are waaay past the law of averages
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