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Message
Sorry I didn't make
to Bill Eslick's for the Rotorfest, I missed by about one hour. About 30 miles
north of San Angelo TX the RPM suddenly dropped and I could not restore it with
any of my emergency procedures. GPS told me nearest airport was Robert Lee about
15 miles away. I headed there and landed without incident.
Turning the prop by
hand shows almost zero compression in one rotor, indicating bad/broken apex
seals, quite similar to my engine-out experience 2 1/2 years ago which caused a
forced landing near the Grand Canyon. This time the vibration was not quite as
bad, and the RPM dropped to around 4300 which was still not enough to maintain
altitude. I called my friend with a Glasair and he cam got me and took me
home. I will have to find some time to build another motor and drive 12 hours
back there and swap motors. Or I might drive there, remove the wings and trailer
it back, have not decided yet.
My good
friend/mentor/flight instructor is trying to talk me into going back to a
Lycosaurus, and I have to think of some good reasons not to. Until I get the
motor back and torn apart, I wont know what caused the failure, but I will
post anything that I find.
Regards
Chuck
Dunlap
RV-6 13B 535
hours
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