That sinking feeling

[Good old number 29 158]

A bit close, but got safely back on the ground. This one falls in the category of lots of little things that added up to a few tense moments. First, was the need to go somewhere. I have a cabin arranged for a couple days after my upcoming wedding. This cabin is accessible only by boat or aircraft. I loaded up the plane to haul the a few things ahead of time, since it would be crowded and heavy to try to squeeze the stuff in there with my bride. I wasn’t ditching the wedding to go hunting. It was just to haul stuff. Since I’m still waiting for new Powerfin blades, I have the old fixed GSC prop on the plane. It was relatively warm out, this evening, when the wind was letting down and the tide was right. I wanted to have plenty of fuel, since the forecast was for a headwind both ways, so I had an extra seven gallons more than what I might have needed. I took off from a good grass strip with tall trees at the end. I never have trouble with that strip, so I eased on the power as it rolled along, no flaps, with a wing low in the crosswind. I was halfway down the strip when I eased it off the ground. Climbing slowly above treetop level, I pushed the throttle all the way in, only to hear one cylinder cut out and see the EGT on number one cylinder dip to 700. That sinking feeling. At that point, it looked very unlikely to get the plane back on the runway before the trees. Pulling the power back a bit, the engine picked back up and I safely cleared the treetops. Playing with the throttle revealed that I could safely run partial power, but it bogged out at full throttle. It was climbing so slowly.  I gained altitude to turn back toward the strip. Then came the smoke. That made the turn back a little more urgent. I opened the door, to get some clean air, and turned it around pretty quickly, landing downwind. I landed, thanking God it all ended well. Nothing obviously wrong, initially. A little fiddling revealed that the problem was a sunken carb float. Those were new a couple years ago, when I got the plane going. It seems that I threw out the old floats, which were the older style, probably thinking that it would be better not to try to reuse them. Thoroughly disgusted with the Bing/Rotax famous sinking floats, I ordered a set of the Marvel-Schebler floats. The fast shipping was more than the pricey floats, themselves, ought to be. While I could complain about all that, it’s a pretty good deal when I consider the alternatives. I do hope they arrive in time. I recommend changing your floats, given the well-documented history of these floats failing and sinking, and the risk of power failure or fire when they do sink. Thank God it worked out. All the little things made it a closer call than it should have been. Extra fuel, lesser prop, bigger tires, more drag from the big can of bear spray and electric fence stakes on the jury struts, the overflowing fuel hitting the exhaust, the warm weather, slow takeoff with a crosswind. Don’t take chances with carb floats that are known to fail regularly. I got about 250 hours in 2.5 years, with these ones, but it’s probably better just to not trust them at all, and find a good alternative. 

[1avidflyer 1983]

Glad it worked out for you!   JImChuk

[Allen Sutphin 705]

Never have figured out when a company makes a defective part and its discovered, we still end up paying to replace it. 

[nlappos 413]

Sounds like some really nice flying, staying out of stall/spin territory while milking out a turn, and while figuring out the throttle combo that allowed you to get back. Good Job!