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From: "Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
References: <list-1316195@logan.com>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Joe Hull's OSH Trip - Part 1
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 07:51:02 -0400
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Boy, Joe.  Sure glad you paid attention to those "disturbances of the force" 
and landed safely before the situation "developed".  You develop a sense of 
when the engine is running right and even small differences in sound, tone, 
engine instruments is enough to get your attention - as it did yours.  Good 
decision!!!

Sounds like the weight of the muffler  and vibration (caused by your 
encounter with air turbulence)  was too much for the header pipes.  It also 
makes a case for keeping (when possible) critical items like fuel lines and 
ignition lines as far away from the exhaust system as possible.

I must admit,  I feel for you.  I thought that southwest Louisiana was a 
rotary no-mans land, but Wyoming has got to be a bit worst.  Local shop 
should be able to cut and weld you a workable exhaust using the remains of 
yours as a pattern. You don't really have to have a muffler to get home. 
There should be a spark plug wire set from a local auto store that  can be 
made to work.  Hope you are able to get on your way quickly.

Ed

Ed Anderson
Rv-6A N494BW Rotary Powered
Matthews, NC
eanderson@carolina.rr.com
http://members.cox.net/rogersda/rotary/configs.htm#N494BW


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Hull" <joeh@pilgrimtech.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 12:05 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Joe Hull's OSH Trip - Part 1


> My trip to Oshkosh, summer of 2006.
>
> On Saturday, July 22 at about 8:30AM, I took off from Arlington, 
> Washington,
> where my Cozy airplane is hangared - ultimate destination OSHKOSH. I 
> stopped
> in Bozeman, Montana for fuel and then went south to Cheyenne, Wyoming to 
> see
> my two sister's. Aside from getting the snot beat out of me by turbulence
> over the mountains of southern Montana and northern Wyoming, the trip was
> great. The plane performed as well as expected.
>
> The next morning I fueled up and took off about 8:45AM heading east toward
> Mecca - Oh no, I mean Oshkosh.
>
> The plane flew great, just like the day before, and the air was calm and
> smooth unlike the day before! Then, about an hour or so out of Cheyenne -
> about 160 miles - I suddenly felt a small change in the vibration of the
> airplane - there was "a disturbance in the force" ;-)  I didn't really 
> know
> there was anything wrong - but the plane was vibrating just a little
> differently than it had for the previous 8 hours of flight. All the
> instruments said everything was normal - oil and water temps were OK, oil
> pressure OK, airspeed the same - just that "disturbance in the force" that
> said something might be amiss.
>
> I changed power settings and the engine responded fine but I did notice 
> that
> when I slowed down I thought I started to smell something - ever so faint.
> Now for you non-Cozy airplane people, you have to remember - my engine is 
> in
> the rear of the airplane - so I can't see it let alone smell it. So my 
> first
> thought was FIRE!!! Not a good thing for "plastic airplanes"! I did a 
> quick
> 90 degree turn and looked back at my track to see if there was a trail of
> smoke. No smoke - whew! But I really shouldn't be smelling anything -
> however faint that smell might be.
>
> So I decided to get on the ground and take a look around. There was a 
> little
> airport directly ahead about 5 miles and since it was the closest thing
> within 60 miles that had a runway even close to long enough, that was the
> place to go. I landed and walked around the airplane and nothing was loose
> and everything I could see through the openings in the engine cowling 
> looked
> OK. So I hopped back in and started the engine - it ran really rough. I
> throttled up and it was missing a lot and then sputtered and died.  Now I
> was convinced - there was definitely something wrong.
>
> I pulled out my meager set of tools that I had brought along - just in 
> case
> - and started to take the cowling off. Even before I could do that I 
> noticed
> some blistering on the cowling - and one big burned spot. These weren't
> there when I walked around a few minutes ago. So I removed the cowl and
> voila - the whole exhaust system had cracked off the engine!
>
> There are two short runners that come out of the engine and attach to a
> large collection tube. Both runners were complete cracked off of the
> collection tube. It had blown the collection tube out an inch or so from 
> the
> engine and it was only being held in place by some safety wire I had 
> around
> it and the braces to the heat shield that surrounded it. The hot exhaust
> coming straight out of the rotors burned through the heat shield I had
> around the large collection tube and fried all the ignition wires above 
> the
> exhaust area where the fuel injectors are located. It just melted them
> together so they were all shorting one another.
>
> Needless to say, I'm glad I decided to land at an airport, however small 
> and
> remote, instead of being forced to find a country road or cow pasture.
>
> -- Continued in Joe Hull's OSH Trip - Part 2-
>
> Joe Hull
> Cozy Mk-IV N31CZ (65 hrs - Rotary 13B NA)
> Redmond (Seattle), Washington
>
>
> --
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