| Author | Message | ||
     Terry Sack New member Username: Terrysack Post Number: 42 Registered: 11-2002 |
Mr name is Susan Sack, wife of the late Terry Sack who as many of you know, died in the Sun n Fun crash of his Express on April 16. I monitor this builder website frequently and would like to pose a question to all of you who have a Continental 550 engine in your plane. Terry experienced vapor lock (right tank) once in the past when landing and was able to restart the engine by switching to the left tank. He had plenty of altitude and recovered ok. However, the experience frightened him so much he never again landed on the right tank and he insulated the fuel lines running along the manifold. Regarding his accident, the NTSB investigator has already told me "he lost control of the plane and stalled" on his approach. Frankly, I believe there is more to the cause of the accident than that simple statement. The wind was strong (ntsb says is was only 11 knots, recorded in the tower immediately after he crashed. Balony! It was extremely windy that day according to friends and family who live in Florida. I believe several bad things occured simultaneously in his landing, high wind caught him and blew him past both runway approaches, and possibly he had vapor lock which would be interpreted as an engine stall. He did get the engine restarted before he crashed, but he was too low (he hit a tree as well) to recover. I've gone to the ntsb website and reviewed all Express and Cirrus (clone) accidents with engine out on landing and found 5 in the past 5 years. In all cases the ntsb ruled engine failure, unknown cause. Some of the cases were with Lycoming 540 engines as well as Continental 550. My question to you is: Have any of you ever experienced vapor lock at slow speed, especially on landing? Don't worry, I'm not going any further with this information other than to satisfy my curiosity as to what possibly happened. Thanks, Susan Sack | ||
| Phil & Margie Hodge New member Username: N410mp Post Number: 38 Registered: 01-2000 |
Susan - My Express with a Continental IO550 experienced 2 engine stoppages before it was destroyed. First was with me flying at slow speed on approach. Cause was my knee bumping the electric fuel boost pump switch to High and flooding the engine. Luckily I was high enough to glide in safely. No NTSB report Second was right after I sold her, and that was one of the 5 you mentioned. I can only guess as to the cause for that one, so that's of no help. She did, though, have a quirk in both right tanks. When I switched to either of those tanks for the first time in a flight I had to apply low fuel boost pressure to avoid killing the engine. Only briefly, only for the first switch, and only the right tanks. Never found a leak or any other way air could have been sucked in. And never worried about it because the preventative was so easy. But I suppose it could have been heat vaporization. Sorry again for your loss, and best of luck in your quest. Phil | ||
| James Butler New member Username: Jim_butler Post Number: 12 Registered: 09-2005 |
Hi Susan, First, I want to tell you that I am very sorry for your loss. I can't begin to imagine how your life has changed and truly pray for the best for you. I fly an Express with a Lycoming IO-540. I have never experienced anything remotely similar to a vapor lock. I flew into Sun-N-Fun on the Thursday after Terry's crash. I was told the winds that day were similar. The wind was pushing me towards the runway as I approached the airport and when I flew over the blue-roofed building, per the NOTAM, I was very close to the runway. Not wanting to bank too much and stall myself, and having a tailwind on baseleg, I too overshot the intended runway as well as the parallel runway. I stil banked hard and made it to the left hand runway and with no traffic, I went ahead and landed. If the situation that day was like my situation, it would have been very easy to be put in a very bad place. Again, please accept my best wishes. Jim | ||
| Mike Mc daniel New member Username: Mikemcdaniel Post Number: 1 Registered: 03-2008 |
Ms Sack, I may be able to assist you regarding some of your questions. My cell is (541)364-1155 or my home (541)563-6123 Regards, Mike Mc Daniel | ||
| Terry Sack New member Username: Terrysack Post Number: 44 Registered: 11-2002 |
Thank you all for your comments. The NTSB investigator told me early on (last April) he would rule 'Pilot error, loss of control of the airplane' I must accept this ruling because I have no choice. There is no way to know exactly what happened in the cockpit that day. Many of you have written me regarding fuel vapor evaporation and the need to control it in high performance planes. I greatly appreciate all of your information but truthfully I think at this point any further knowledge won't make any difference to Tim Monville. He told me last week the ruling will be forthcoming soon, probably the end of March or April at the latest. This too tells me he's done with it. Why he requested more information from me after nearly a year baffles me. The only thing reason I can think of is he wants material from me is to complete his files, not that he will even read it. After monitoring the NTSB website for the past year I noticed the investigations that stay open 2-3 years are usually the commercial crashes, not small private planes, let alone experimental planes. There is such a government bias against homebuilts it is inevitable they will rule quickly just to clear the docket. Thank you one and all for your help. It means a lot to me. Susan Sack |