SO thankful (understatement) that the
outcome was so inconsequential.
One thing that it may point to is giving
attention to panel layout, not just the ergonomics of convenience, but also of
safety. Weird stuff happens.
The other is the weird imbalance in news
coverage. Just a glance of the CHP reports show at least 30 traffic accidents in CA yesterday; and
about 8 with serious injuries; and only a few made even the local news. One
plane lands on a street with no damage or injuries, and it’s national
news.
Al
-----Original Message-----
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of David Leonard
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 6:55
AM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re:
[SoCAL-RVlist] Re: Off Field Landing
Ok, sounds like I have some fessing up to do...
I took my mom up for a flight on her birthday and we
went to overfly the area we are going to be doing a memorial pass
today. I was entering a user waypoint in my hand held GPS and my hand
must have accidentally hit the 'cold start' switch. That switch doubles
the injector duration and is used for starting in extremely cold
temperatures. But it was too much fuel for the engine to keep me aloft
(just an occasional sputter). I was only at about 1100 AGL at the time so
my emergency procedures only got as far as: turn toward
airport, switch fuel tank, aux fuel pump, verify fuel pressure, primary
switches turned on... shit, time to find a place to land this thing... call
mayday, choose best spot, fly under traffic signal and onto road.
Mom was cool and collected the whole time. We
were very lucky to find a gap in traffic, the cars were waiting for the
light I flew under. Also really glad to have a plane as nimble as an
RV. I don't think I could have done it in a Bonanza. (course a Bonanza
doesn't have a 'cold start switch' either)
It was not until after all the commotion on my
drive back to OKB that I finally had a few minutes to think about what could
have been the cause... then I really felt stupid. If only my
emergency procedures went one more step and I would have tried tweaking the
mixture I could have saved myself a lot of embarrassment.. But when it is
time to fly/land the plane, that is what you have to do.
Sure enough, upon return to the plane I discovered the
cold start switch flipped. I checked out everything else, ran fine.
Later in the afternoon I flew it home to OKB from Palomar. I am so very
grateful that extreme embarrassment is all I suffer. Thanks for all the
support from the GA community.