Saratoga forced landing - Florida

The more dramatic you make it the better to sell papers.papers usually play on peoples fear and perceptions.I thought reporters where supposed to reserarch the info they write.
 
frfly172 said:
I thought reporters where supposed to reserarch the info they write.
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That was before the internet destroyed the economics of the publishing world. I remember when newspapers were a very high margin business (~30%) and could throw staff at anything they chose to. Those days are long gone. There's no time for research, fact checking or proofreading. I find 50 errors a day in the Jacksonville newspaper.
 
I sure hope the journalist got some information wrong. Landing a plane on a side of a highway loaded with fuel, passengers, is reckless, when your only problem is a low voltage light.
 
Ken Ibold said:
That was before the internet destroyed the economics of the publishing world. I remember when newspapers were a very high margin business (~30%) and could throw staff at anything they chose to. Those days are long gone. There's no time for research, fact checking or proofreading. I find 50 errors a day in the Jacksonville newspaper.
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Papers were rife with errors long before the public Internet even existed. There's no denying that the Internet has had an impact on print media, and print publishers were way behind in embracing electronic content delivery, but there is no excuse for sloppy "journalism." Today's "journalists" think it's their job to affect some type of social change in the world, or make a shameless attempt to advance their own careers at the readers' expense, and they are willing to do it by distorting reality and promoting lies of omission. Journalism has become less credible, so it's no surprise that folks really aren't interested in paying for it.


JKG
 
Im not sure what was more amazing - a forced landing on a road with fuel still onboard, or that a low voltage light brought down the airplane.
 
Here's a question... Can a fuel injected engine work after full electrical failure? Maybe that was a reason for a landing?
 
Meanee said:
Here's a question... Can a fuel injected engine work after full electrical failure? Maybe that was a reason for a landing?
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Can't say about the Saratoga specifically, but the fuel pump is typically mechanicaly driven and the ignition is of course magneto driven so no, a loss of an alternator shouldn't force a landing. I actually experienced a dead alternator on my very first XC with my instructor, wasn't more than 15 mins from our home field when the 'LOW VOLT' light came on, sure enough the voltage indicator went into a draw and we knew it was a goner, followed up by a very uneventful landing and swapping out of planes for the day.
 
VTC_WS6 said:
Can't say about the Saratoga specifically, but the fuel pump is typically mechanicaly driven and the ignition is of course magneto driven so no, a loss of an alternator shouldn't force a landing. I actually experienced a dead alternator on my very first XC with my instructor, wasn't more than 15 mins from our home field when the 'LOW VOLT' light came on, sure enough the voltage indicator went into a draw and we knew it was a goner, followed up by a very uneventful landing and swapping out of planes for the day.
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I understand about fuel pump being mechanically driven. But question was about fuel injectors. They are electronically fired. I doubt that they run off a magneto, but I do not know. So, in event of full electrical system failure, fuel injectors MAY stop firing.

Anyone with fuel injector experience can chime in?
 
Ken Ibold said:
That was before the internet destroyed the economics of the publishing world. I remember when newspapers were a very high margin business (~30%) and could throw staff at anything they chose to. Those days are long gone. There's no time for research, fact checking or proofreading. I find 50 errors a day in the Jacksonville newspaper.
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Ever wonder why more and more of these types of articles come from UK papers vs. US papers? Do they have more reporters?
 
Meanee said:
But question was about fuel injectors. They are electronically fired.
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Say what? Injectors "electronically fired"? Sir, please. Camshaft turns the spider, spider directs the pressure to injector, injector injects. It's no more electronic than a folding chair.
 
Meanee said:
They are electronically fired.

Anyone with fuel injector experience can chime in?
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No they're not, and the vast majority of piston aircraft will run just fine with a dead electrical system.
 
zaitcev said:
Say what? Injectors "electronically fired"? Sir, please. Spider directs the pressure to injector, injector injects. It's no more electronic than a folding chair.
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In his defense, he/she is probably equating the term fuel injection with the automotive application of the 20th century. You know, the stuff we've all taken for granted in our uber fancy ground vehicles: EFI or electronic fuel injection.

He/she of course doesn't realize we're talking about flying model-T Fords here and that Wilbur and Orville did in fact fly such a thing as mechanical fuel injection.

--break break---

Barring a failure of the mechanical high pressure pump and/or the boost pump, the injectors would have not been compromised and the engine can and would indeed keep on turning. If the system was indeed EFI, then yes, a complete depletion of electrical power would have rendered the injectors inop. But we're talking certified spam cans here... No EFI or 21st century technology to be found Firewall forward. :rofl:
 
hindsight2020 said:
In his defense, he/she is probably equating the term fuel injection with the automotive application of the 20th century. You know, the stuff we've all taken for granted in our uber fancy ground vehicles: EFI or electronic fuel injection.

He/she of course doesn't realize we're talking about flying model-T Fords here and that Wilbur and Orville did in fact fly such a thing as mechanical fuel injection.

--break break---

Barring a failure of the mechanical high pressure pump and/or the boost pump, the injectors would have not been compromised and the engine can and would indeed keep on turning. If the system was indeed EFI, then yes, a complete depletion of electrical power would have rendered the injectors inop.
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LOL yep, that's what I assumed. I thought that fuel injectors are similar to automotive ones, but I wanted to get clarification. Thanks for explaining.
 
Meanee said:
I understand about fuel pump being mechanically driven. But question was about fuel injectors. They are electronically fired. I doubt that they run off a magneto, but I do not know. So, in event of full electrical system failure, fuel injectors MAY stop firing.

Anyone with fuel injector experience can chime in?
Click to expand...

Fuel injectors in cars are electronic. A computer being fed data from various sensors calculates the optimal air/fuel mixture and opens and closes an electromechanical valve on the injector at a certain rate that provides the desired mixture.

Fuel injectors on planes are mechanical. The injectors spray a steady stream of fuel and the throttle controls both the fuel and air flow mechanically. The mixture control adjusts the fuel flow in relation to the air flow. There are no electronics involved.
 
I read another article yesterday that he lost oil pressure. If he was at 4000' and 5 nm from the departure airport, why not just declare an emergency and return to land? At least nobody was hurt. Those road sign post don't budge do they.
 
RV10flyer said:
I read another article yesterday that he lost oil pressure. If he was at 4000' and 5 nm from the departure airport, why not just declare an emergency and return to land? At least nobody was hurt. Those road sign post don't budge do they.
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Perhaps he knew he couldn't make it?
Perhaps the enroute terrain was inhospitable?
Perhaps he was task saturated and unable to get his head back in the game?
 
zaitcev said:
Say what? Injectors "electronically fired"? Sir, please. Camshaft turns the spider, spider directs the pressure to injector, injector injects. It's no more electronic than a folding chair.
Click to expand...

Not even that complicated, all aviation injectors are is a hole
 
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