Posted: 8/25/2016 8:20:27 PM EDT
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1 year, 18 days since my last one. Actually, the same engine that broke the crank on me last year just blew up again today. It went back to Tulsa and came a 0 time SMOH engine. Made it not quite 500hrs and set me down in a pasture today.
I was about 50' AGL ferrying back to the strip to get another load of fertilizer, writing on a note pad I keep in the cockpit, when I heard the loud BANG and it went to knockin' and shakin' like Hell and down we went. I expected deep mud and to flip the airplane, but I made the nicest power-off 3-point landing nobody ever saw. 
Called the boss to come get me and naturally got the truck stuck and had to wait for an hour for a tractor. We moved the plane over to the edge of the pasture and pulled the engine. I'm going to fly it out of there in a couple days when we get the other engine on it. 
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Man, I love the sound of radial engines.
I grew up in crop duster country and would hear them all summer. That a 600hp? Used to see a lot of those. I worked at an FBO one summer that did a lot of ag work. Had one 1200hp Thrush with a three blade prop. Love to watch it take off in the morning and see the condensation trails from the prop tips. Seems like everything is turboprop around there now. |
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Cool story. I mean it too. As someone who is fascinated by planes but doesn't have a lot of knowledge about the physics that make them work, I would suspect dead engine = non recoverable. Makes me more interested in learning about them knowing that you landed it safely and walked away. |
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My best friend flew ag for many years but he doesn't fly at all anymore, regretfully Although he isn't a member here I always send him links to stories like this I here and he loves to see them, and your story reminds me of many of his.
All of my radial engine time was on the R2800, and although I still love the sound of those things I don't miss hearing that "bang" and having to figure out what happened. I've got some good stories from my short time flying radials, and those stores are the ones that people want me to tell again and again. Fly safe brother and remember any landing you can still use the airplane again is a good landing! |
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Quoted:
Cool story. I mean it too. As someone who is fascinated by planes but doesn't have a lot of knowledge about the physics that make them work, I would suspect dead engine = non recoverable. Makes me more interested in learning about them knowing that you landed it safely and walked away. Glider with extra drag. |
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Quoted:
Yes sir. 600hp R1340. Those Bull Thrushes were cool with the 1820. A guy I know had one when I was a kid. The engine didn't last very long and the airframe was lucky to last as long as the engine with all that power and vibration. Did it at least make it to 500 hours? Nice save. |
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Quoted:
Did it at least make it to 500 hours? Nice save. Quoted:
Quoted:
Yes sir. 600hp R1340. Those Bull Thrushes were cool with the 1820. A guy I know had one when I was a kid. The engine didn't last very long and the airframe was lucky to last as long as the engine with all that power and vibration. Did it at least make it to 500 hours? Nice save. Nope. Just a little over 400. |
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Assume you will need a new seat cushion too. I was at 50' AGL when it popped. I was probably standing on the ground 20 seconds later. I had flown that route 10 times that morning and have flown over that pasture more times than I can remember, so I knew exactly where I was. I honestly was not nervous about it, just didn't want to put the airplane on it's back. |