mtuomi
En-Route
...planes, that is. Before they fail. You just got to listen. No real lessons to learn here, just an anecdote.
I know my plane(C150M) pretty well, I've flown 250ish hours in the past 5 months in it.
I did a quick trip from Atlanta to Houston and back via Memphis. In Houston I got my first ever failed mag check. It ran a bit rough on left mag. "Burnt off" some lead and it was fine.
In Memphis, same thing. Flying from Memphis to Atlanta, I noticed I needed just a little bit more throttle and richer mixture than I'm used to to get the same performance out of it.
Stopped near Atlanta for a fuel stop, and I noticed I had to add some oil and it did 6,1gph instead of my usual 5,8gph. Normally I need to add a quart every 18 hours, now I needed a quart after 16 hours.
After refueling, before takeoff I did a mag check, and the left mag was completely dead. Nada, nothing. Left mag was just like turning mags off completely.
Now today, got a new mag in there. The old mag was full of oil (like: full). A seal had failed and let oil in the mag, which obviously killed it. That's why it started running worse before dying completely, and that's where the oil went too.
Explains all the symptoms, and just an example that if you know your plane well enough, you can spot problems before they fail totally, if you just listen to your plane.
I know my plane(C150M) pretty well, I've flown 250ish hours in the past 5 months in it.
I did a quick trip from Atlanta to Houston and back via Memphis. In Houston I got my first ever failed mag check. It ran a bit rough on left mag. "Burnt off" some lead and it was fine.
In Memphis, same thing. Flying from Memphis to Atlanta, I noticed I needed just a little bit more throttle and richer mixture than I'm used to to get the same performance out of it.
Stopped near Atlanta for a fuel stop, and I noticed I had to add some oil and it did 6,1gph instead of my usual 5,8gph. Normally I need to add a quart every 18 hours, now I needed a quart after 16 hours.
After refueling, before takeoff I did a mag check, and the left mag was completely dead. Nada, nothing. Left mag was just like turning mags off completely.
Now today, got a new mag in there. The old mag was full of oil (like: full). A seal had failed and let oil in the mag, which obviously killed it. That's why it started running worse before dying completely, and that's where the oil went too.
Explains all the symptoms, and just an example that if you know your plane well enough, you can spot problems before they fail totally, if you just listen to your plane.
