Microlighters

Man I love Gyro's!

My wife & I survived an engine out in ZU-RDR this morning and executed a forced landing without incident on the N1 about 5 miles north of De Doorns in the Hex River Valley. The battery lost charge due to apparent alternator failure and the fuelpumps subsequently failed thereafter causing fuel starvation.
I am in the process of reporting the incident fully to CAA and will elaborate in due course.

Thanks to all my instructors in the past. The training paid off.
My wife was so calm throughout the Maydays she filmed the whole event without me even knowing. Will find a way to publish it in due course.

Viva Gyro's

Len

Hi Len

Congratulations probably isnt the correct term to use in this context, so well done and glad to see things turned out fine for all involved. Would like to think of it as an endorsement of your instructional ability as well, pretty sure all your students would agree. Look forward to catching up next weekend.

Cheers
Darren

Very admirative Len ! Never had this bad luck yet, and if it comes, I hope I'll do as well ! Not to wish to anybody !
Like you say, Viva Gyros ! In a Cessna ?
I hope to meet you one day.

Jean-Pierre

Well done Len , yes I believe an instructor is important, but regular engine out practice and a cool head is more important. I agree with Len, viva gyros. Would love to see your video, please post.

Well handled...

Just a note.
In the Cessna you would just have carried on flying along wothout lectrics Does the 914 not have a mechanical fuel pump?

Glad it worked out well. Well done Len. In future I must include that alternator failure light in my scan when in the cruise, to try and identify this problem before the engine quits.

Although the Rotax 4 strokes are extremely reliable, this is a serious weak point in the Rotax if the alternator fails. You would have thought they would have a mechanical pump. Silly really.

Veels geluk Len,wel gedaan.Dit is die eerste keer dat ek hoor van n 914 faling in vlug.Dit is wel moontlik om n meganiese pomp in serie met die bestaande pompe te sit.Monteer op die ratkas waar daar voorsiening voor gemaak is.Ek stel baie belang om te weet waarom die alternator gevaal het.Ek weet van n geval waar perdebye n moddernes gemaak het in die "airgap" van die magnetos.Die oomblik toe die engine draai het dit veroorsaak dat die sensors skuif met die gevolg dat die magnetos nie werk nie.Dis nog baie meer ernstig.Die ander twee moontlikhede is n meganiese faling van n aard of baie belangrik is dat daar een of ander onderhoud moet plaasvind op sekere tye.Ek meen daar was lank gelede n "service bulletin" oor sekere "stators" wat of vervang of verander moes word.Ek sal met Andre Maartins of Johan von Ludwig daaroor praat en terugvoer gee.Baie bly jy en die baas het die saak so goed hanteer.Ek meen ek het gisteraand op nie nuus gesien van n microlight instrukteer wat dood verongeluk het by gansbaai.Dit is n verskriklike ding en my innige simpatie aan die naasbestaandes.Dit is vir my amper ondenkbaar dat n Gyro jou lewe in gevaar kan stel in die lug,stupidity uitgesluit.Solank die woer woer draai draai is jy veilig.Hou ons asb.op hoogte en weereens veels geluk.
franns
Proud Sycamore owner
ZU-CCN
Rhino

FO Gyro wrote:Glad it worked out well. Well done Len. In future I must include that alternator failure light in my scan when in the cruise, to try and identify this problem before the engine quits.

Although the Rotax 4 strokes are extremely reliable, this is a serious weak point in the Rotax if the alternator fails. You would have thought they would have a mechanical pump. Silly really.

Well done Len

Interesting, did not realize the 914's do not have a mechanical pump, strange, the 912's all have mechanical pumps!

Fly safe,
Rudi

Good morning, I was asked to share some of our experiences on this subject.
Firstly, well done and thanks for sharing the experience with the rest so that we can debate, learn and improve safety for everyone.

- The mechanical fuel pump as installed on 912 cannot be used on the 914 because the 914 needs 0.9 - 0.95 bar of fuel pressure at full power.
- For our commercial operations we had to re-evaluate virtually all the systems and instrumentation on the gyros and the fuel system was one which received particular attention
Charge failures on the 912 and 914 is unfortunately not so un-common and is usually caused by the regulator rather than any mechanical or "charge coil" related failures.
We ran lots of tests to determine the risk involved with a "charge failure" Firstly in most of the cases it was not easy to actually identify a charge failure, the charge light was identified as a "not so prominent" indication and during simulations where we actually introduces "failures" ( like charge or TCU ) it passed unnoticed.

One of the tests was to run the engine with fully charged battery, but no charge. ( typical 18Ah battery ) The results were roughly as follows:
- two fuel pumps and landing and nav lighths : 15 - 20 minutes to the point where the Voltage is too low to supply enough fuel pressure for full power.
- two pumps and only radio and instrumentation : 30 - 40 minutes.
- one fuel pump and basic instrumentation only ( pilot picked up the failure and reacted ) 1.5 hours.

It is obvious that the condition of the battery is critical, but the scary part is that unless you are made aware of the condition very quickly you can get into a problem within a very short time.

If I may ask, what was the first indications that you received?

During our tests we concluded that the "early warning signs" was as follows :
- Intercom volume decreasing.
- Instrumentation like oil temp, water temp and particular oil pressure starting to drop.
- in ELA the rotor rpm indication started dropping noticably when the Voltage became lower than 11 V
- In a Magni the Flydat switches off at about 11.5 V. ( still plenty power left for fuel pumps at that point )
- Radio switched off around 9-10 V

Interesting, a MGL Enigma or Stratomaster can actually keep on going with voltage as low as 7-8 V.....
The fuel pumps we tested ( standard ROTAX pumps with 700 - 900 hours ) could still supply required fuel pressure at 9 V, the pump wil still run at 7 V but the pressure is just enough for about 4600 rpm.

Regards
Johan von Ludwig

Hi All

Len, well done although I must point out that you are an instructor. I can imagine all your present and past students grinning and thinking "Physician, heal thyself".

Wagtail, what you say is very interesting. Am I correct then in assuming that in a Magni, once the flydat goes, the pilot had better start thinking about a precautionary landing immediately? You don't say how long it will be before the pumps in a Magni fail to deliver the required fuel pressure after the flydat goes but I think that it would be better to get down as soon as possible if it does.

Hi Len,

Glad to hear you and wife are ok!!

Thanks for sharing, always important to learn!

How was the traffic on the N1

Although most of the gyro's have an alternator failure light, I think that because of this weakness, all gyro's fitted with a 914 should have a an accurate digital voltermeter fitted.

Think I need to have one fitted asap. What would be nice is one with some type of alarm if the value goes below eg. 11 volts. Any ideas anyone?

FO Gyro wrote:Think I need to have one fitted asap. What would be nice is one with some type of alarm if the value goes below eg. 11 volts. Any ideas anyone?

MGL Oddyssey!

I posted the little clip my wife took at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsTTCUwGclw

In answer to some of the questions, the first indication I had was that my GPS popped up with [POWER LOST switching off in 30 seconds]
Then I looked at the volt meter and it showed nil charge. I knew I had very little time (students have been known to switch both pumps off on me in the past and YES - ALL 5 of you know who you are!)

I wasn't entirely sure but suspected that both pumps run off the battery in my machine. Although I could hear the radio, my transmissions were heard only as clicks.

While I was considering my options the engine coughed and spluttered... and died.
Man it goes quiet I tell you.

My sincere thanks and appreciation to Dave Lehr who I could immediately hear say "Guys, I think Len has an emergency, he has broken formation and appears to be going for the road" -- nice fuzzy feeling to know your mates are there, looking out for you, should something go horribly wrong! I owe you Dave. Also my sincere thanks to the rest of the gaggle for immediately landing at the nearest airfield and offering to stay with me.

Yes, a mechanical pump would be first prize on the 914 I agree!