----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 12:35
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: gauges
Kevin,
in regards to John Danver's crash - there was more than 1 thing wrong
a) with the plane
b) with his airman ship for this specific flight
a) It is no secret that the tank selector "control access"
was awkward AND rusted (obviously there was a Vis-Grip on it to be able
to move it at all)
Though it was the selector the plans are calling for, there was
probably never any maintenance done to it.
The location of the selector is of no concern ( ... other than
preferred location for different reasons), but the location of the selector
CONTROL is very important.
As mentioned before: torque tube, push/pull cable, bowden-cables
whatever makes it move. Certainly keeping it MOVABLE is another part of the
game.
Not to critize John Denver's airmanship in general - he was obviously
an accomplished aviator - BUT for this specific flight and leading up to it,
he showed less then perfection, rather negligence:
a) If you get into a new aircraft (as in never been in that specific
airframe), first thing is to get familiar with at least the essential
functions - fuel shut off being one.
b) IF certain functions are different than in same type/model airframes
you try them out - move them fro from your PIC position - if he would have
done that he would have found out that something doesn't work there.
c) I understand John was asked if he needed fuel on 2 previous stops
and he declined, thinking he can "make it" with the remaining fuel.
John of all had no reason to scrounge - so WHY not put in as much fuel
as you can carry at every occasion possible??
Again, nothing personal against John, he seemed to be a very nice and
likeable guy, but I think it is a wrong conclusion to blame a certain
airframe/installation/etc. for what is basically a gross pilot error.
As a side note: We have a similar thing around my work area at this
time:
A good ol' boy (actually a really nice guy!) crashed and died, because
he was constantly flying with the low fuel light on!!
Short flights (2-3 nm), wanted to maximize External Load capacity and
was flying the MD-500 on TIME rather than fuel indication!! ( no more than
20 min of fuel on take-off....)
Cynical thing was that he had two 55-gallon drums with fuel
hanging underneath when he ran out of fuel!
Now he was made into a martyr and semi-hero! Wrong move!
TJ
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2006
12:25 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: gauges
I find it interesting that in
regards to fuel in the cockpit that the general consensus seems to be the
opposite of what all RVs use, i.e.. low and high pressure lines in the
cockpit. I would guess that Van gave his design a bit of a thought,
considering the millions of dollars he risks in lawsuits, and has his
proof with thousands of planes flying without problems. it is my
understanding that john Denver had a supposedly safe "no fuel in the
cockpit" system which ignored the practical aspect of being easy to
use. I do recognize that it would be difficult in an RV to get fuel
from the wings to the engine without going thru the cockpit, but with,
what, 4000+ planes flying, is this a perceived problem, or a real
one? some guys squeezed fuel pumps between the wing and the fuse,
but you still have to get thru the firewall. what scared me was the
T-craft, with that tank up there behind the panel.. my trainer plane
leaked a bit, too.
I feel the same way about oil
pressure gauges. typically you've got a line to the sender or the
gauge.(I mostly see them mounted on the firewall, not the engine
block) people think "plastic" is no good, but I don't see mine
fatiguing. some guys have "plastic" brake lines, some use AL, and
some only use s/s lines. my only experience so far with failure has
been an electrical failure (alt shut down after hour of peak demands and
battery had dropped to 8 volts) in which case I had no tach (had switched
it to elec after drive shaft probs), fuel gauges, oil temp, but I did have
oil pressure and fuel pressure, altimeter, A/S etc..... I was also
glad that I had listened to Jeff rose and kept one magneto (I was over
crater lake in the cascade mtns. at the time). so if you decide
to go all electric, many do, remember it also needs electric to
run. same with EFIS, no CPU, no display.
kevin
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006
8:31 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re:
gauges
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006
9:17 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re:
gauges
Some DAR's require that you have a valve and
can reach it with your seat belt on. I assume an electric one,
as Ed mentioned would also do.
JohnD
The control valve could be outside the cockpit and operated by a
dash mounted pointer with a long aluminum tube shaft through the
firewall to the valve.
LYnn E. Hanover
Speaking of fuel valves, the original Cozy
plans call for a manual selector valve mounted between the
pilot and co-pilot with lines up to the seat-back and then to the
engine. This setup has several connections in the cockpit that can
leak.
As far as a fuel shut off valve, I don't plan
on using one, just turn off the fuel pumps. For maintenance I plan on
ball valves out of the tank (ahead of the sump tank) and these could
be remotely operated.
Thanks to all for the responses on the gauges
questions. I found some sources for the VDO units and will look
at the suggested ones also.
Any suggestions on water pressure gauge
senders? Can't find any yet.
Wendell