Pilots and Parachutes. (Merged)
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: The 'Bat Cave' @ HLP in the Big Durian Indo
Age: 61
Posts: 781
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Jump or Land
It's nearly 15 years ago now but I was flying a Cessna 182 jump plane (and wearing a back pack chute) when on descent from 10,000ft when the prop went from 2,200rpm to redline , I pushed the pitch in and wound the pitch out again to reset for 2,200 rpm where it stayed for a few seconds then redline again ! Then I checked the oil pressure and it was fluctuating from zero to normal from second to second.
I was at 7,000ft right above the airfield so I decided to pull the mixture to idle cut off to try and save the engine and glide it in (hard decision in a single engine to do it for real) What surprised me is the prop stopped dead instead of windmilling !
I spoke with the engineer afterwards and he said if I hadn't killed the engine and tried to land still using power it probably would have split the crankcase so I could have had a lot of oil and smoke and maybe a fire. In that situation with 2,000 or 3,000 ft of altitude or if there was a loss of flying controls I would use the parachute but if the aircraft is still flyable I would prefer to fly the aircraft to a forced landing , safer for me and those on the ground.
I got myself and the plane down without further incident.
I was at 7,000ft right above the airfield so I decided to pull the mixture to idle cut off to try and save the engine and glide it in (hard decision in a single engine to do it for real) What surprised me is the prop stopped dead instead of windmilling !
I spoke with the engineer afterwards and he said if I hadn't killed the engine and tried to land still using power it probably would have split the crankcase so I could have had a lot of oil and smoke and maybe a fire. In that situation with 2,000 or 3,000 ft of altitude or if there was a loss of flying controls I would use the parachute but if the aircraft is still flyable I would prefer to fly the aircraft to a forced landing , safer for me and those on the ground.
I got myself and the plane down without further incident.
