757 inflight instrument problem
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: Sunshine Coast
Beetlemania
I am brand new to PPRuNe tonight, a real oldie, and I just read your tale of the pitot and beetle.
In a DC3 full of pax (I said I was an oldie), descending IFR in cloud through 6000ft at night, all - and I mean all - flight instruments on both sides suddenly went ape or just froze, iced up, with me at the pole. Pitot heat didn't hack it.
I can understand your feelings: it is a most horrifying experience. We broke out at 1000 feet in a total sweat, still with no flight instruments. On the ground the engineer reported a beetle jammed in the mouth of the pitot and the drain holes blocked!
For those who scoff at such tales, you want to hope you never get the chance to have it happen to you. You'll wonder how your uniform trousers suddenly changed color.
In a DC3 full of pax (I said I was an oldie), descending IFR in cloud through 6000ft at night, all - and I mean all - flight instruments on both sides suddenly went ape or just froze, iced up, with me at the pole. Pitot heat didn't hack it.
I can understand your feelings: it is a most horrifying experience. We broke out at 1000 feet in a total sweat, still with no flight instruments. On the ground the engineer reported a beetle jammed in the mouth of the pitot and the drain holes blocked!
For those who scoff at such tales, you want to hope you never get the chance to have it happen to you. You'll wonder how your uniform trousers suddenly changed color.
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 8,571
Likes: 3
From: Arizona USA
...but GPS can give you an altitude readout free of errors.
Shock, horror...whatever will we do?
You'll wonder how your uniform trousers suddenly changed color.
