Salty's Crash Speculation Thread

Half Fast said:
Yours is the only Mooney I've flown in; do they all have the selector in the same location?

Mine's on the floor also, but between the seats. That's the main reason I installed the inertia reel shoulder belts. With the original fixed belts I couldn't reach the selector.
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Oh man, I wouldn't like that. I've been in some planes, and cars, where those inertia reel things get kinda jammed sometimes. The worst was the Cessna seat inertial reel thing that they made available for free to all Cessna owners. Probably not all, but to the earlier ones that had the seat lock thing come loose and go all the way back sometimes.
 
luvflyin said:
Oh man, I wouldn't like that. I've been in some planes, and cars, where those inertia reel things get kinda jammed sometimes. The worst was the Cessna seat inertial reel thing that they made available for free to all Cessna owners. Probably not all, but to the earlier ones that had the seat lock thing come loose and go all the way back sometimes.
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It's not really any worse than reaching the Johnson bar for the flaps. I'm vertically challenged so I have to sit on a cushion to have good vision over the cowl, and with that extra seat height it's difficult to reach the flaps bar or the fuel selector with a tight shoulder harness. I haven't had any problems with the inertia reel so far, but if I did it's pretty easy to unhook the shoulder strap from the lap belt.
 
Salty said:
You miss the point. neither tank was fullest according to the gauges. But if I had more time, I would have certainly switched when the engine shut off, in case the tank pickup was clogged, or the gauge on that tank was wrong.
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There is that, but if you're doing everything right you shouldn't have to change at low altitude like that. I suspect the number of people who have had to switch tanks in the pattern due to a malfunction is small indeed. I still think you unported. I don't mean to be so negative, honestly I could have easily done the same thing. Indeed reading about this I'm going to do a. bit of fuel management differently. Have you ever seen your tanks with only 4 gallons left? You can't even see the gas at the wing root.
 
steingar said:
Have you ever seen your tanks with only 4 gallons left? You can't even see the gas at the wing root.
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On the J anything less than 10 gallons per tank and I can't see the fuel. I know (or more rightly, strongly suspect) the gas is down at the wing root, but it's disconcerting none the less.
 
I rent, so I'm a little different from an owner I guess, but I refuse to take a plane on the first take off unless it is full or at/slightly below the tabs. The totalizer in the planes I rent are super accurate, but still prone to human error if someone forgets to, or updates them incorrectly. Subsequent flights I'll rely on the totalizer, but I don't let the tanks get below 1/4 (23 gallons) planned at landing. Putting gas in is cheap insurance, saving a buck or two a gallon by flying on low tanks is not worth it IMO. The airport I fly out of is like $8 a gallon, I'm sure the people I rent from get a discount, but there are much cheaper places for gas that I fly to. In these cases, if it is not inconvenient, I'll gas up so the airplane doesn't need to fueled when I get back so the rental place/airplane owner saves some money.
 
Well, 4+ years later I have an update. The engine from my plane was installed on another Mooney earlier this year. They immediately began having trouble with it idling properly. Upon further research it was discovered that the carb float was cracked and not floating. Not definitive proof, but certainly good circumstantial evidence. The carb was overhauled 400 hours prior at the same time as the engine - and paperwork claims the float was replaced.

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Thank you for the update.
Salty said:
The engine from my plane was installed on another Mooney earlier this year.
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Now, installing an engine from a plane that crashed because of an unknown engine issue doesn't sound too smart to me.
Salty said:
immediately began having trouble with it idling properly. Upon further research it was discovered that the carb float was cracked and not floating.
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Interesting... did you notice any abnormal fuel consuption prior to the accident?
 
Doc Holliday said:
Given the engine came out of a wreck the cracked carb float could have been a result of the crash and not the cause.
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I bet you’re right.

A different unexplained failure occurred causing an accident which then cracked the float that completely coincidentally resulted in the engine having the same symptoms of the previous unexplained failure.

:rolleyes:

You need a shave. I’ve got an occam’s razor you can borrow.
 
Salty said:
I bet you’re right.

A different unexplained failure occurred causing an accident which then cracked the float that completely coincidentally resulted in the engine having the same symptoms of the previous unexplained failure.

:rolleyes:

You need a shave. I’ve got an occam’s razor you can borrow.
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Last time I checked an engine will not run without fuel. :rolleyes:
 
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