Failed magneto.

[onetrack]

4 hours ago, F10 said:

I heard Huey pilots in Vietnam would rotate all the engine instruments in the panel, so the needles all pointed straight up....you could see a problem with one quick glance.

Not something I saw in my tour of Vietnam. Every Huey I flew in had the instruments correctly oriented. Urban legends have a habit of gaining traction in bar talk.

Sorry about the lack of focus in this photo, I guess I was in a bit of a hurry with the old Canon AE-1 SLR.

 

I do believe that the engine instruments were oriented in the design, so when reading the most favourable operating range, the needle was in the 9 o'clock position.

 

http://www.huey.co.uk/images/servicebook/Instrument Markings 4-2.jpg

 

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by onetrack
... better word choice ...

[F10]

I stand corrected! Thank you for your service.  I had a Cannon AE 1 program, awesome camera. Was stolen....

[onetrack]

Yeah, my Canon ended up being stolen, too. Darned annoyed about it, and what was worse, it was worth only a trifling amount when it was stolen, as digital was starting to take over.

[facthunter]

Just a little hint. If you do continue flight with a plug or a magneto out Use full rich and you should only do it if you have to for the minimum time The magnetos have one part that produces the spark and another "bit" called a distributor which turns slower and coupled by a nylon gear. There's very little load going through that gear and the whole set up is OK if it's serviced..  IF it shears a few teeth off it may be putting a spark to a wrong cylinder now and again which can be pretty bad for the engine. That's when you must turn off  the offending  mag  IF that has happened and I'd not waste a lot of time before doing it. either. Nev