Picked the Meyers up at a BEAUTIFUL grass strip (9C2) in MI late

afternoon on Sat. 9/1 and repositioned it to a more convenient airport

(KOEB) for departure on 9/2, first stop on 9/2 was the Meyers factory at

Tecumseh MI (3TE) then S24/AKR/BPT with an RON at AOO. After morning fog

burn-off we departed AOO for Lost Acres (Chambersburg PA) then headed to

to Grimes for a short visit before heading to the owners field west of

Millville NJ. Just after crossing the Susquehanna with no good options

the normal radial engine "marking of territory" with oil became a

concern as droplets began to coat the windshield, goggles, helmet, and

on close inspection I could see droplets streaming off the RH

wraparound, no good options...............................down the river

to CXY with the river or city as the only choices for a landing, and

equidistant to Carlisle or one of the fields east. Just prior to

Grantville I confirmed a 10 psi drop in oil pressure and deviated a bit

further south of a direct route to Grimes to provide more landing

options and began looking for the now closed Sky Classics having earlier

decided to land at Farmers Pride rather then Grimes. Almost immediately

after beginning a climb to increase options the cylinder departed with a

loud BANG at that point I was over the southwest edge of a easily

reachable (but fenced, think arrested landing) horse farm. When the

cylinder blew I just saw a flash in my RH peripheral vision and

instinctively knew I had blown a jug, not sure if the flash was the

cylinder in motion or the burning fuel/air mixture from inside the

cylinder and now open exhaust collector, or a combination of both. My

feeling is that the engine quit briefly at that time, but continued to

windmill,  and then caught again after brief period recovering from the

gapping hole in the induction system, at this point I confirmed that I

had a good chance to make a much better undulating field just south of

the horse farm that was headed into the wind and picked a strip of that

field that had a low crop (6" Alfalfa) planted. I arrived over the

midfield for a 225 degree overhead approach and made an continuous turn

to a  dogleg final, thinking I was a bit high I pulled the power off,

then second guessing myself due to increased drag from the damaged

prop/engine I moved the throttle forward, not expecting anything I was

surprised to hear the engine accelerate after an initial dead period. In

the final diagnosis I think I would have been fine without the

additional power since I landed comfortably inside the threshold during

the inaugural landing at the new Lindley Murray Road Airport. Google

shows the horse farm as 1500' (with fences)  the Lindley Murray Road

field as a 2100' dogleg of which I used about 1200' between float and

rollout. BEST landing of my career, smooth, and as always a

three-pointer, the field is so good that I wouldn't hesitate to land the

Citabria there tomorrow. Landed 1.5 miles SW of Sky Classics, 10 miles

west of Farmers Pride, 19 miles west of Grimes. The entire right side to

the tail, underside of the center section, wings out a few feet, and my

helmet, were well oiled, the oil sparkled with aluminum flakes from the

rod pounding against the case, very glad I hadn't departed Lost Acres

with only the goggles as I had considered doing.

 

*_Lessons Learned_*

 

Would it have continued to run long enough to land normally if I hadn't

added climb power, if I had reduced power???????????? My feeling is that

it was very close to departing, that in the end it was better to have

departed when it did rather then while dragging it into a short field

landing given the outcome, not to mention the hours from central OH to

the Cumberland Valley with "few"

options....................................hindsight is always 20/20,

doubtful that I've ever had any guidance on the signs of imminent

cylinder loss even though it was a frequent topic of conversation when I

began flying Beech 18's in the late 60's. Had I known then what I know I

wouldn't have attempted the climb but have just landed at Sky Classics,

this was no time to attempt arrival at a field of my choosing, BUT

that's 20/20 hindsight and while I knew there was a problem I had no

idea of it's immediacy.  While the engine/prop was seriously compromised

it may have been able to drag me to Sky Classics had I not had a good

field available, the operative word here is

"may".................................................it was running

rough at reduced RPM's, and with a damaged prop that could have failed

and was not very efficient, so we have no idea how long it would have

continued to produce any power.

 

The engine was overhauled in 1991 by one of the two recognized Kinner

experts and was in storage until 3 years ago while this project changed

hands. I was much surprised to see the blue silicon sealant on the

cylinder base immediately suspecting that as the cause because it

quickly gets extruded out allowing the cylinder to move imperceptibly

which shock loads the cylinder base studs leading to failure. It had

been my understanding that said expert does not use the blue stuff, it

now turns out that he did use it in the distant past thereby making

older overhauls suspect, this could be a case of failure due to

inappropriate use of modern technology rather then then the old

technology engine. An additional factor is that in the past the

overhauler used Kinner studs with cut threads but has changed to

stronger P&W studs with rolled threads in recent years.

 

I've been asked how rough it was, how noisy, could I read the engine

instruments, how much power was it producing, oil pressure after the

cylinder loss...........................I haven't the fainest idea my

sole focus was on the nose and field, I never looked inside the cockpit,

never surveyed the damage in flight, it was flying, the engine was

producing some power so I kept it

running.............................................we landed. The prop

photo is of the most seriously damaged blade the other one was missing

about half as much wood, given that it was wood the out-of-balance

condition was much less then if metal, however my feeling is the

combination of damaged prop and seriously out of balance engine resulted

in greater then normal windmilling drag at idle..................use for

planning if faced with a similar

situation.............................and no doubt there was a

significant loss in prop efficiency. No evidence that missing parts

impacted the airframe heading aft, however there is evidence of fresh

impact damage to cooling fins on most of the cylinders so pieces went

forward and hit the prop before being slung aft, the piston must have

departed almost immediately given the fact that there is no significant

damage to the crankcase opening, I suspect the piston caused the major

prop damage.

 

To put this in perspective I must note that this is my first

catastrophic failure of any type in 18000 hours of which 10000 is behind

all variety of current and vintage air cooled engines except

rotaries............................and the BEST landing I've made in 43

years......................................it truly was a very smooth

three-pointer.

 

_*Remember*_

 

It's always better to land in short Alfalfa then to crap in tall

Clover...................................................and NEVER wear

light colors when eating at Mexican or Italian restaurants, OR when

flying open cockpit aircraft..........................

 

Tom-

 

 

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