Dont you just love it when .. .. ..

[Fuji Abound]

the engine gives that slight cough or misses than small beat, and then purrs away for the next few hundred hours. Of course you never find out why, was it a few drops of water in the fuel, a plug playing up, something else. It always gets the attention - doesnt it, even in a twin, but the more so in a single especially over the sea or being vectored onto the approach in unpleasant weather.

Happy days.

[englishal]

A buddy of mine, who as well as flying bizjets has 000's of hours in small aeroplanes, reckons that every one has a little quirk and does something like this from time to time for no apparent reason. If you fly the same aeroplane for lots of hours you get to know how it 'thinks' and so you become less concerned when you get a little hicup ! (although it invariably happens mid channel :ugh:) ;)

[S-Works]

Happened to my Friday night mid Channel to Guernsey. Airways, in the cruise for 1:20 and then it felt like it was fuel starved. Richened the mixture and it recovered. Did not miss a beat again for the rest of the leg nor the return.

No idea on the cause. Maybe water or crap being pulled through the injectors. Going richer probably enough of an increase to flush out.

I could have crushed coal to a diamond..... ;)

[welliewanger]

I've had it happen from a dodgy magneto in a 152 on a trial flight. Fortunately we were on the way back anyway so I just made sure we took the route with lots of fields and didn't tell anyone until I'd got rid of the student.

The scariest one, though, I was unaware of until the next day. In a Warrior, ILS BKN050 2500m vis +RA. The aircraft purred. Next day we discovered two cracked cylinders!

Now I have two nice turbine engines and all the redundant systems in the world. But I'd kill to earn this salary on a light single / twin.

[Plasmech]

Did it happen at night or over water? Could be what's called Auto Rough.

[welliewanger]

Lol, whatever you do DON'T TELL THE AEROPLANE IT'S OVER WATER! Somehow they just seem to know. Especially when you made a point of bringing life jackets along and then left them in the club. :eek:

[Doodlebug]

''Now I have two nice turbine engines and all the redundant systems in the world. But I'd kill to earn this salary on a light single / twin.''

Hear, hear, Welliewanger! I remember a certain 210-trip... :ok:

[stuartforrest]

Happened to me in my Bonanza a few weeks ago. I was would you believe crossing water between Scotland and England. Managed to get myself 17 miles from the coast and 20 odd miles from the nearest airfield. It has runs smoothly for 650 hours over 6 years before that. Mixture full rich improved the situation but it was still doing it. My behind was twitching!

Took it in to have it sorted and they replaced plugs and cleaned the injectors and some other little bits and it now runs smoother than it has for four years. Must have been an underlying problem.

I had life jackets onboard but no raft. Guess what else I carry onboard now.

Strangely I have flown over water between Blackpool to Llandudno and Blackpool Scotland many many times over the years without a thought as it feels like you are near the shore but I would never make land if the big fan stopped. It has made me think a bit.

I few years ago I flew to Ireland at 2000ft with our new baby onboard. That fills me with dread since reading various ditching stories over the last few years.

I also considered my Bonanza turning into a Baron for a few days after the misfire but I have got over that for now.

[FlyingStone]

I've had two engine "hiccups" in the last year. The first one was a bit scary, during approach over the sea, without any suitable field for safe emergency landing. The second was in the vicinity of two airfields at full power low-level operation (in order to avoid delay), which really scared me, for the next 10 minutes I was only thinking how I f**** the engine. But in both cases, it seems that only a cylinder didn't fire, since no water was found before and after each "hiccup flight", engine has performed without any sign of problem during the rest of both flights and on every other occasion I've flown the aircraft.