nice day to fly

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jesse

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jesse
Flew to Kansas City this afternoon so that Danielle could catch a Southwest flight back to New Orleans. Strong tailwind out of the north on the way down. Tucked in a bit closer to the on the way back. If you see your breath in the airplane in cruise you know winter has arrived.

I've yet to have an engine driven fuel pump fail but was able to watch it happen. Normal pressure is about 5psi. It dropped to about 4 PSI for awhile and then the pressure started to fluctuate slightly. A few minutes later and it was fluctuating heavily between about 2 psi to 5psi. It then settled in at 2psi or less and the engine quit briefly. Electric pump worked perfectly and raised the pressure back to the normal 5 psi.

The indication immediately before the engine paused:
fuelpumpdie.jpg


I'm always a happy camper when I notice a problem before it becomes a real problem. Much less "exciting" that way :)
 
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Bet that got the heart beating. Piper Cherokee, right? Now if the electric one fails in addition to the engine driven one...
 
Arbiter419 said:
Bet that got the heart beating. Piper Cherokee, right? Now if the electric one fails in addition to the engine driven one...
Click to expand...

Yeah, but if you have two and you react properly and don't just bore holes in the sky inviting trouble, your probability is pretty good of making it back.

Good deal, Jesse. Glad you spotted the problem before it actually caused issues. My Aztec's right side engine-driven pump needed to be replaced in May. I was able to watch the failure because at high fuel-flow settings the needle would bounce around a lot. Acted fine in cruise mostly, but every now and then would stumble without needle fluctuation. We changed it quickly. I will admit, it's nice having four pumps total and the assurance that any one pump is supposed to be able to power both engines.
 
Silence is never good aloft (unless you're a glider or balloon).

How many hours on that pump? Has it been running low for a while?

Hmmm.. makes me think the High vs Low wing debate was settled... :ihih:
 
Arbiter419 said:
Bet that got the heart beating. Piper Cherokee, right? Now if the electric one fails in addition to the engine driven one...
Click to expand...
No - it was nothing worth getting excited over. The silence was expected, just as expected as it is if you run a tank dry. I was waiting for it with my finger on the electric pump switch.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I will admit, it's nice having four pumps total and the assurance that any one pump is supposed to be able to power both engines.
Click to expand...

Hey Ted,

How's that work? I didn't know that. I assume you have to be on crossfeed for the left pump(s) to power the right engine?
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Hey Ted,

How's that work? I didn't know that. I assume you have to be on crossfeed for the left pump(s) to power the right engine?
Click to expand...

That's basically how the POH explains it. I need to pull it out to get the specifics, let me see if I can find it.
 
jesse said:
The indication immediately before the engine paused:
Click to expand...

So the failure indication was that the gauge got all fuzzy? It is still in the green, after all. :wink2::wink2:

FWIW, I ran an Archer fuel tank dry last summer (on purpose!) and the gauge was just about the same distance above zero as your fuel pressure gauge is.

Nice catch, Jesse!

-Skip
 
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