Caldwell (EUL) close call

[172heavy]

For what its worth, it seems to work on my McCauley 201 C/S, I would be real curious to see if it worked with the blade removed and suspended by a cord. I have never seen it fail.

[tempdoug]

Back in the mid eighties, a Navajo crew from Canada were making a night approach to Fort Yukon with a load of passengers. Loud bang, big vibration, then nothing. Right engine shut down due to failure. Crew assumed it was a simple engine failure. Airplane wouldn't maintain altitude. CoPilot looked out with flashlight, and right engine was GONE. Still couldn't figure out why the plane wouldn't maintain altitude on one.

They wound up belly landing on a gravel bar on the Porcupine River (middle of winter, so all frozen), did a really nice job. And, had called in an emergency.

Turns out the right engine had come off the mounts, but was being held suspended behind and below the wing by wiring, plumbing, etc. Lots of drag in that configuration.

The Native Corp went upriver and towed the thing down to FYU, but the entire airframe was pretty much junk as I recall, from the vibration.

I've had one prop tip depart a plane, and it was impressive when three inches of blade left suddenly. Power back and shut down, and fortunately a nice gravel bar to land on.....

Vibration from imbalance is amazing.

MTV

I couldnt imagine< mike, just losing a wheel weight on a car shakes.

[4Whitey]

MTV that is some story, here's to some great piloting by the Navajo crew that saved the day.

172heavy my A/P suspects the test is unreliable in a CS prop due to the way shims and bearings attach the prop to the hub. I sound tested the dull blade twice after ground running it and also after the prop assembly was off the plane and each time it had the exact same dull sound. I completely suspected a crack, but after eddy current and dye penetrent inspection by an experienced shop I gotta say no crack.

I contacted McCaulley and the engineer had never heard of this sound test. He said if you suspect a prop crack not only not to fly it, but don't even fire it up on the ground (which I did). No harm no foul.

[robertc]

When the Caravan was first produced it had a composite prop, and periodically for the pre flight you were to tap the prop blades with a coin and listen for dead spots. The dead spots meant hidden delamination. That was part of the ground school, but I don't know if problems were ever found before delamination occurred.

[z3skybolt]

When I was a stupid kid pilot 43 years ago....

....as opposed to being a stupid old pilot ....I let a 40 kt. tailwind put my Citabria on it's nose while on the ground. There was a terrible metalic sound as the prop chewed into the asphalt. I yanked back on the stick and the engine kept running.

Embarrassed I took off without inspecting the damage and flew 1 hour back to the home base. The prop vibrated a bit and cruise speed was down about 20 kts. When I landed and shut down ....the prop tips were bent back about four inches at a 90 degree angle.

The boss put on a new prop...no engine tear down or nothing. I flew that engine and new prop for several hundred more hours on pipeline patrol. I survived and the engine never developed a problem.

God looks after children, drunks and foolish young airmen....sometimes!

bob

[side slip]

When I was a stupid kid pilot 43 years ago....

....as opposed to being a stupid old pilot ....I let a 40 kt. tailwind put my Citabria on it's nose while on the ground. There was a terrible metalic sound as the prop chewed into the asphalt. I yanked back on the stick and the engine kept running.

Embarrassed I took off without inspecting the damage and flew 1 hour back to the home base. The prop vibrated a bit and cruise speed was down about 20 kts. When I landed and shut down ....the prop tips were bent back about four inches at a 90 degree angle.

The boss put on a new prop...no engine tear down or nothing. I flew that engine and new prop for several hundred more hours on pipeline patrol. I survived and the engine never developed a problem.

God looks after children, drunks and foolish young airmen....sometimes!

bob

Thats pretty wild.
I watched a guy smack his brand new RV6 so hard on landing that the prop got bent back to the point of almost hitting the cowl. He shut down and didn't even notice!! He was a bit suprised when I showed him, as he didn't think the landing was that bad I'm not sure how the gear survived. I don't even know how enough thrust was generated to taxi!!!

2 other "incidents" I remember years ago still bring a tear to my eye. One involved a bell 205, and one blade lost 18" in a fight with a large tree, very far from civilization. A call was made to Bell, and since the blades were both near the end of their life, the go-ahead was given to clean up the damaged blade with the available tool(hacksaw), and to match the other blade to it to fly it home. Seemed to fly just fine
The other involved an MU-2 that was spooling down (at another very remote airport)and one of the four blades got hit by an overzealous fueler's ladder. Since the cost to fly a replacement prop up would literally be in the 10's of thousands of dollars, approval was given to match cut all four blades the same.
Not sure they would allow that in todays liability paranoid world, but they did back then.

[RanchPilot]

I know of at least one Super Cub long ago that had one blade of the prop "trimmed" with a hacksaw to match the other blade which had been "trimmed" with a badly aimed shotgun blast. Not recommended, but adequate to get them home anyway.

I also saw a Cessna 421 one time that had all 3 blades on the left side bent to a 90. They were apparently out skimming the local reservoir when they initiated a slight left turn. Never noticed anything wrong until they pulled power in the pattern to land, at which point the plane tried to shake itself apart. The distance of that left wingtip from the water, and why the strike didn't suck them in, is enough to make a guy wonder.

[58Skylane]

Got this email last week. Just an FYI for any of you flying in or out next week.

Caldwell Industrial Airport Users:

You may have noticed that there is commercial construction activity on Skyway Street -- approximately 1/4 mile east of the Flying J complex -- a new 80,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility.

Next week (June 18-22) they will be setting various pieces and parts of the new building using a crane that will stand approximately 80 feet in the air. It will be a little over 1/3 of a mile off the extended runway centerline and well below our FAA safety surfaces. I expect that the crane will not be lighted at night, but will remain erect.

This message is provided to advise you of an activity going on in the vicinity of the airport that's somewhat out of the ordinary. The construction and crane should be of no impact to any of the normal aerial activities at our airport. [Valley Air @ Hubler Field has been given this same info]

Please contact Rob Oates if you have any questions about this announcement.



Rob Oates, Airport Manager
Caldwell Industrial Airport (KEUL)
City of Caldwell, Idaho
roates@ci.caldwell.id.us<mailto:roates@ci.caldwell.id.us>
208-459-9779
208-453-1370 (fax)

[courierguy]

I have taken out one blade on a three blade prop. I have done this twice. Kiev brand, on a 912 Rotax. Is this something to brag about?

BTW, the blades are individually replaceable. so there is a major economic incentive to be quick on shutting down when things don't go as planned

[goldfinch]

00 buck shot hitting the back of the metal prop blade, will make a bulge on the front of the blade that sticks out about 1/2" to 3/4", but didn't blow off the blade tip. It was reported to me by the pilot that the prop vibrated a lot, but he flew the plane about 50 miles back to Happy valley pipeline camp so he could have a new prop brought to him. Must not have vibrated too much. But it was winter and about 30 deg.below. You need two things to make aerial shooting work well, good pilot and good gunner. If I knew how to download an old slide, I have pictures of the prop.

[58Skylane]

00 buck shot hitting the back of the metal prop blade, will make a bulge on the front of the blade that sticks out about 1/2" to 3/4", but didn't blow off the blade tip. It was reported to me by the pilot that the prop vibrated a lot, but he flew the plane about 50 miles back to Happy valley pipeline camp so he could have a new prop brought to him. Must not have vibrated too much. But it was winter and about 30 deg.below. You need two things to make aerial shooting work well, good pilot and good gunner. If I knew how to download an old slide, I have pictures of the prop.

I'd be looking for a new gunner!!

[RanchPilot]

Left handers are particularly bad for that, although righties shoot them off too.

I second Courierguy's recommendation. I have it on very good info that you can shoot, and replace, one blade of a warp drive prop out in the field. Almost makes it worth carrying a spare blade or two.