Jabiru Aticle in AOPA March 2016

[sonex1374]

This article appeared in the Mar 25, 2016 AOPA "ePilot". It discusses the crash of a Jabiru 3300 powered Zenith that was attributed to incorrect mag gap timing. It's interesting analysis that shows how a "little thing" can come back to have serious consequences.

http://www.aopa.org/Pilot-Resources/Saf ... c_sect=sap

Jeff

[LarryEWaiex121]

Jeff,

Very good article and it never hurts to bring everyone back to reality. Sometimes its an important reminder; you don't know what you don't know and its important to find out the correct answer in any matter that involves your engine maintenance.
Whole parts of airframes can disappear in the wind and the plane will still fly. Very few engine parts can be wrong and have the same outcome.

Larry
Waiex12YX

[vwglenn]

I agree that you have to pay close attention to what you're doing when you're messing around with maintenance. These things can certainly come back to bite you.

However, engine failure doesn't explain why he spiraled the thing into the ground. The main thing I've taken away from articles, flight training, TV shows, accident synopsis, and the FAA accident investigation course is to FLY THE PLANE. Fly it into the side of a hill. Fly it into a lake. Fly it into trees. Just make sure you don't panic and stall the thing out.

[LarryEWaiex121]

Agreed Glenn,

The young kid that cratered the Mooney onto the golf course with him and his girlfriend walking with just black eyes was a prime example. He fell back to his recent training when the engine quit.
They will probably find the engine quit do to pilot error (just guessing) but nevertheless, he did the right thing and lives to fly again.
Probably the Mooney will fly again based on the photo I saw.

Larry

[ihab]

The NTSB concluded that the pilot had stalled the airplane, allowing it to enter a spin, after the combination of the broken right distributor cap and the in-flight failure of the left coil stopped the engine.

A fatal stall/spin In a Zenith 601XL due to an engine failure. With the engine stopped, the airplane simply became a perfectly good glider! I am very sorry to hear of yet another instance of this in our community, and continue to hope that we can come up with a solution.

Ihab

[daleandee]

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