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nfivesl(at)yahoo.com
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 Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:34 am Post subject: 601 Flying Story |
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Hi Guys:
A while back I located a builder in Atlanta on a business trip and visited his project in his basement. It was Ron DeWees. I was amazed at his building skills and how clever he was. Ron is a great guy and took the time to show me his project along with plenty of tips and tricks.
I've been following Ron's flying adventures on the Yahoo 601 list and it's always fun to hear his stories. This morning I read a good one from Ron and decided to share it with the Matronics group. I'm glad to hear Ron is OK and landed safely. I posted some pictures of Ron's plane and a video of his first flight on my website at:
http://www.cooknwithgas.com/RonDeWees/Ron.html
Enjoy the story below,
Scott Laughlin
Omaha, Nebraska
www.cooknwithgas.com
_____________________________________
It's getting easier to tell the story since it occured almost 2 weeks
ago now. I guess all's well that ends well and you are hearing this
from me and not an FAA accident report so you know it came out ok.
A couple of Thursday's ago I flew my little 601HDS up to eat lunch
with a friend of mine in Cornelia, Ga. The day was beautiful and the
flight up was uneventful. When I got back in the plane to come back
to Lenora International I decided it might be fun to fly over my cabin
which is just across the state line in NC. I flew NW from Habersham
airport toward NC.
I was about 20 miles from anywhere, but over the highest mountains
in Georgia when I saw what I thought might be a drop of oil on the
windshield. I went into denial mode and didn't believe it till I saw
a couple more drops
of oil. I was at 6500 feet and the the mountains were only 1000 feet
below me. I punched the GPS for nearest airport and it gave vectors
for Blairsville but it was over 15 miles away. There was NO place to
land. I have never seen such desolation and heavily treed terrain. I
kept seeing the droplets appear and then saw the oil pressure gauge
start to unwind. I called Atl Center on 121.5 to let them know I was
having a problem and didn't know if I would make it to Blairsville. I
thought it might make the search for the crash site a bit easier. I
lost ATL at 4000 feet and went off their radar because of the
mountains so it was sort of lonely on the way down to Blairsville at
1900 feet elevation. Oil pressure was creeping below the yellow area
on the gauge at this point but I did make a straight in landing on 26
at Blairsville. Center had called Blairsville airport on the
telephone as well as 911 so there was a small audience standing around
when I made a decent landing. I tried to gather my witts a little
before getting out but saw people pointing at the plane as I rolled
off the active runway. I did get out ok and saw that oil was smeared
from the front of the cowl to the tail and everywhere in between. The
little Jabiru motor just hold 2- 2 1/2 quarts of oil but it looked
like a hand grenade had exploded under the cowl and ruptured an major
pipeline. Long story short--Mike gave me a ride back on two weekends
before we identified the problem as a cracked oil pump housing that
had ruptured and spilled the oil.
Jabiru says it's never happened before in 1100 engines, but it
happened to me. After a false start with the wrong part I got the
replacement oil cover, drove up and installed it last Friday. Mike
flew me back up on Saturday in his faithful Skychicken 172. I felt
like a crippled B29 getting escorted back to Lenora but was sure good
to look out and see the Skychicken ahead of me. I changed oil filters
and oil while I was replacing the fractured cap. I split the oil
filter and there wasn't any metal in the screen so it doesn't look
like there is any permanent damage to the motor. I have talked to the
dealers and manufacturer of the motor and they say it's a one in a
million occurance. That is a lot better odds than you might think if
it happens to you over the mountains.
By the way folks, you couldn't have a better friend than Mike
Stewart if you have a problem. He flew me up twice and helped with
the repairs and analysis of the problem. Great guy! Glad to be alive!
I will post a pix of the oil cover plate
shakey Ron DeWees and oily N601TD/Jab 3300
Online degrees - find the right program to advance your career.
www.nextag.com
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Tim Juhl
Joined: 21 Mar 2006
Posts: 488
Location: "Thumb" of Michigan
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| Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 9:04 am Post subject: Re: 601 Flying Story |
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Nothing happens without a reason and I take scant comfort in the fact that a Jabiru oil pump housing has only cracked once. I would hope that a determination of what caused the part to fail might be made to help other Jab owners to avoid a similar problem.
I've had the misfortune to be flying a plane that was pumping it's oil overboard and I have no desire to repeat the experience.
Tim
Do not archive
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CFII
Champ L16A flying
Zodiac XL - Jabiru 3300A
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