Post Mortem -almost

Not strictly a post mortem....hopefully my plane isn't really dead....but I went back to Sutton Meadows today and unpacked my wing, which was in the wing-bag Dave Broom lent me. We'd done a very rushed pack last night and I didn't want to risk nasty creases and mildew, and wouldn't have been able to get back there for a week.

There was nobody else up there as it was a miserable day with 20mph+ winds and driving rain, and of course that meant an in-hangar rigging, which was incredibly tricky on space, but eventually I managed to get it on its wing-trolley and manoeuvred into its bay. The rigging itself was straight-forward. I am getting a bit of a dab hand at it. Camming-over at the wing-tips used to feel nigh on impossible, and I despaired of being able to tension at the keel.....but now it is just easy.

I didn't have time to start the engine, though I did give it a look-over but couldn't find anything obvious. I refitted the fuel tank and the re-charged battery, the seat bucket ....and the padding I forgot to take up yesterday.

Next week I will suss out what was wrong with the engine. It'll be nice not having to worry about weather; I will have a good reason to go whatever it is doing.

On the way back I got a puncture, most likely caused by hitting a hole in that bloody awful track from Sutton to Chatteris (as the washes have flooded the Sutton road) and ended up having to change the wheel by the roadside. There is a moral here too: make sure the spare is full of air! Mine wasn't and I had to limp it to a garage, where the unlit pump had one of those tiny windows clouded with condensation. Consequently I over-filled it. When I found a more modern pump, I found I had put 36psi in a 29psi tyre!!! That was yet another drama waiting to happen.

My first emergency landing!

Photos by Simon, using Cat's phone

I had to do an emergency landing today when my engine stopped at 600'. I hadn't climbed beyond about 900', after emerging from beneath the controlled airspace stub over Ely, because of low and ominous cloud above, and I'd descended when I experienced a lot of buffeting higher up.

It had been glorious flying around Ely and I was elated and on the home stretch, but for a detour north to avoid rain which I could see coming toward me from the West, at that time dropping on the airfield. I hoped to skirt around it and come back to Sutton Meadows from Chatteris, but as I hit the Washes, the engine cut out and I immediately turned left to find a good field heading into wind (190 deg). I quickly found a likely candidate, did a couple of beats and turns and did a textbook power-off landing in a newly planted and boggy field.

After securing my wing I found a track and walked towards the nearest farm buildings, where I was greeted by a lovely family, about whom a lot more later. But for now, a huge thanks to Cat and Simon and Cat's mum, Linda, for being so welcoming and supportive, to Cat for guiding my rescuers, Dave Garrison and Dave Broom, to the field and for lending me her mobile, and to Simon for coming and getting completely drenched with me as we dragged the plane from the boggy field and de-rigged the wing.

You are not wrong. The seat is missing.
In the rush this morning, I forgot to pack it,
so ended up scavenging this bit of carpet underlay to make a seat

I feel bad about putting the Daves out. They were brilliant; I am enormously grateful, Chaps!

Something like this does your heart good; and frankly I needed something to do my heart good this weekend, following a very difficult week. The landing actually felt very soft indeed, but I felt my back jar as I man-handled the plane on the ground. Linda is right though, I may simply not have been aware during the landing of the impact it had on my back, as I was too pre-occupied and running on adrenaline. I expect I will feel it tomorrow. But I have no regrets...it was bloody exciting....and gratifying too, as I am now an engine-failure veteran.

I "partialled" on engine failures, and they do say that what you have to be re-tested on you will do especially well later. I heard something on Radio 4 recently about some study which shows that the safest drivers (and those who are most considerate or have fewest accidents) failed their first driving test.

When the engine stopped on me I just thought, "So this is what we worked so hard at. Great, this should be interesting." And if anything, it was really rather an anti-climax. Let's hope the next one is just as anti-climactic. Yes, next time; rare though they are, they do happen. The Daves have each been rescued from fields, more than once. There are two kinds of pilot, those who have had an engine failure and those who are going to have one.

Steve is right, I need a hobby; something productive to do when it is not flyable. So I am going back to my badly neglected Austin 101 restoration. Seeing the cab emerge from under a clutter of tools, when I tidied the workshop this afternoon, tugged at my J-Type heart strings. It has been at least 18 months since I did anything on her, and it it ate years of time before that (I have had to teach myself everything as I have gone along - mechanics, metalwork, welding, etc), but I have started, so I'll finish.

And when the weather is good, I will drop everything and go flying.


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Damn

The report was made 4 minutes ago, at 14:49 UTC Wind 7 mph from west/northwest Temperature 4°C Humidity 93% Pressure 990 hPa Visibility greater than 10 km Overcast at a height of 1400 ft light rain taken from allmetsat

Damn!
I really must try to trust my own judgements. I said things would improve. That rain is getting lighter, viz is improving, wind is dropping and the TAFs for Birmingham and for Cambridge look great...

....and I am at home.


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"You really should keep it simple and watch the BBC weather, both local and national. I had planned to fly today several days ago and it was lovely, absolutely freezing, but lovely. As far as I could see tomorrow was always a non-starter."

Damn you, Wilson!

Typical

Rather than put life on hold, Lizzie and I went to the seaside and browsed in a second hand bookshop, where I bought several flying books. Meanwhile, Lakenheath is showing cloud at 3,500', wind 6mph and 10km visibility.

Bugger!

It seems that Saturday decided to swap its weather with Sunday!


:)

storage compartment on Dragonfly

One thing the Dragonfly lacks is storage space. I liked Steve Wilson's compartment but it only works if you don't have retracting wheels. (That said, I still have it in mind to have something similar below the fuel tank in the dead space between the side panels).

My Dragonfly does not have a parachute, so I thought I would pull out the bubblewrap occupying its space at the top of the seat and the foot of the monopole and create a stowing area...large enough for a fuel filter, spare oil, a toolroll, logbook, lunch, marsbars, wallet etc.

The cubby hole will also solve another problem presented by not having a chute, which is that as the bag is not rigid, the velro which holds it to the head restraint panel does not line up very well and the bag tends to sag.

What I made today solves all these problems. Weight is added (800g) but that is a fraction of the weight of a chute and it adds lots of functionality. I used very thin steel sheet and it is held together with duct tape. There is some finishing off to do, but it is essentially done.

Here you can see my flying journal sitting in the compartment
...and there is loads more space.

Now that the bag is rigid, closing it will be a lot easier than it has been too.

One other job I did today is just visible in the pic above. There is a small panel which is secured at the top of the head restraint panel, just in front of the monopole. Mine has been slightly too long, so that it hasn't quite fitted, and has tended to jut forward by about 2mm. So today I filed it down and refitted it.

I am thoroughly pleased with today's progress and am looking forward to seeing how well it works in practice.