You are right when it comes to abuse in the training fleet. The most
frequently replaced parts on these planes is the gear-box and clutch. Must
be the result of all that yanking of the throttle for all those practice
engine-outs. Then it's rebuilding those carbs.... seems like they are always
fiddling with those. Luckily with liquid-cooled heads shock cooling is not
an issue. I'm always concerned that other renters may exceed the max rpm for
5 minutes spec (the Katana has a constant speed prop). Who knows what that
does to the innards.
I'll post more when/if I get it...
Cheers,
Pete
-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: info: Katana landed out with 912 engine
failure....
Please do post any info; your accident investigating web site seems
incomplete, unless I don't know where to look. Was this 912 eight
years old and how many hours? And if engines had emotions, training
duty is their private hell, and rental is purgatory (not your flying
of course; always the other guys).
A friend has a fleet of banner towing planes, with the otherwise
rugged Lycoming O-320. But in many years of "draggin' rags," he has a
collection of metallic chunks poured from removed cylinders (and
soiled shorts) that'll shiver yer timbers. Of course, doesn't have
those items that littered the countryside.
Regards,
Fred F., A063
Peter Zutrauen wrote:
> Here in Ottawa, one of the Katana's I rented had it's 912 quit on another
> renter on Thursday, requiring the instructor in the plane to land in a
local
> field. No injuries, and only moderate damage to the plane. First real
engine
> failure for this FBO in 8 years of running a fleet of 5 Katana's for
> training (the only other one was caused by an oil-line chaffing blowout).
>
> I'm posting this here only because I know this outfit run's a very well
> maintained commercial fleet, and the engine in question failed
> catastrophically with a thrown rod (as per a phone conversation with the
> FBO). The plane is being looked out now in detail and I'll try an post a
> more detailed failure analysis when/if it's available.
>
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