Flight Training - January 2014 - 29

REAL-LIFE ENGINE-OUT
Senior Editor Dave Hirschman was
ferrying the Commemorative Air
Force's SBD Dauntless from Deland,
Florida, to its home near Atlanta,
Georgia, in 2004 when the airplane's Wright 1820 engine started
coming apart.
It started with a few loud knocks
and a noticeable loss of power, but
the engine kept running and gauges
were reading normally. Hirschman
initially suspected a blown cylinder
and turned back toward Deland, 25
miles to the south, intending to land
and diagnose the problem there. In
fact, a connecting rod had broken,
and a piston was disintegrating.
Six miles from the airport, the situation deteriorated. As Hirschman
relates in an article originally
published on AOPA Online:
"Black smoke spilled from the
exhaust stacks, and the oil pressure
needle was flickering and falling.
Engine power was set at 30 inches
of manifold pressure, but the engine
was clearly in agony and indicated
airspeed dropped from about 150
knots to 120 knots.

"A straight-in approach would
mean flying directly over the town
of Deland, and I was trying to
decide whether to do it when
the engine made the decision for
me. It lost power all at once, and
we were too far away to glide to
the airport.
"Fortunately, there was a grass
strip, Lee Airport, a sleepy place
mostly used by gliders, just off our
left wing. The wind was blowing
about 20 knots out of the southeast,
and I maneuvered sharply to enter a
right downwind and base turn.
"I lowered the landing gear
handle and the two main gear
free-fell into position. Even though
this was a grass runway, it was a
runway, and I saw no reason to
make a gear-up landing.
"ATC asked if I wanted emergency
equipment sent to Lee Airport and I
nearly shouted, 'Send it!'
"During a close-in right base
turn, the airplane felt like it was trying to stall and spin to the right. It
took nearly full left rudder and left
aileron to prevent the airplane from

DAVE HIRSCHMAN (above on left and below) and Charles Burcher with the
Dauntless after the emergency landing.

ATC ASKED IF I
WANTED
EMERGENCY
EQUIPMENT
SENT TO LEE
AIRPORT AND
I NEARLY
SHOUTED,
"SEND IT!"

overbanking. I later learned that the
turning moment was caused when
the engine seized and the spinning
prop abruptly stopped, twisting the
crankshaft like a Tootsie Roll.
"Fighting off the turn ate up
energy, and on short final, the
airplane appeared too low. I was
sure the wheels would hit a group
of greenhouses at the approach end
of the runway, but that was better
than making the fatal error of trying
to stretch a glide and stalling. To
my astonishment and great relief,
however, the wheels cleared the
obstacles. I hauled the stick full aft
over the runway, and the airplane
touched down firmly-very firmly-
about 100 feet from the threshold,
then rolled to a stop in about 1,200
feet. It was my first and only no-flap
SBD landing."
Fellow CAF volunteer Charles
Burcher, who was in the Dauntless with Hirschman, ran to the
front of the airplane with a fire
extinguisher as soon as they were
stopped. Twenty gallons of oil were
sprayed on the sides and belly of
the Dauntless.

PLUS Hear Senior Editor
Dave Hirschman's
Mayday broadcast
during his engine failure.

JANUARY 2014 FLIGHT TRAINING

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Flight Training - January 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - January 2014
