Day 35-36 Runway Refugees

It was always going to be a very special day. I knew it would encompass me turning 100 hour old as pilot in command of a Trike and ironically we would go through the 113th hour of the aircraft. I am always a little superstitious when it comes to flying and hoped it would go unnoticed. Ironically it didn't. After a nice morning flight where we flew as high as 7000ft we touched down in South Carolina for an afternoon break and to refuel. Flying out that high always makes me a little nervous, as the traffic up that high can be very fast and it is a long long way down. What doesn't help is my little navigator in the back wriggling her legs. It gets really cold at height and she starts to wriggle to keep warm .The whole trike riddles as she does that and at 7000ft without a parachute, it's a little scary.

After a break and a trip to town for lunch we took off in the late afternoon to take advantage of the strong tail winds and smooth conditions. Without many open fields to follow, we were stuck tracing roads always keeping an eye on somewhere to land in case of engine failure. As it turned out, the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) were reading slightly higher than normal for no particular reason about 45 minutes into this flight. 15 minutes later we got our first sign the engine was in trouble. A slight drop in revs alerted me to a potential situation. We started scanning the places to land. One minute later the engine lost power momentarily and was clearly becoming fuel starved.

Anna-Klara as the navigator was straight on to the situation, and had found the closest airstrip only 4 nm away. We were at 2000 feet above the ground at this stage. The engine cut out and almost stopped before regaining most of its power. At this stage I was ready for the engine to stop and to land in a field. With not much to lose and suspecting fuel starvation, I used the choke to get more fuel into the engine. It seemed to work as the engine did not stop and kept on going at lower revs.

Anna-Klara at this stage had spotted the tiny private airstrip where we were to make our emergency landing. We were now in glide range and if the engine quit we could make a tail wind landing. To make things safer with limited power I managed to crawl around to land up wind with the engine still running. Phew we thought, it was time to consider just what the truck had happened.

As we parked the trike to the side of the runway of this private airport community the locals began to appear. As most aviation people are, they were extremely friendly. What happened at this point, is why I have grown to love aviation so much.
The local pilots instantly help us out with tool and theories on fuel starvation problems. The airport manager Alan, a really switched on guy, found a loose fuel hose fitting that screws into the fuel tap. He pulled the fuel tap apart, resealed it and refitted it in about 10 minutes flat. I then ran the engine on the ground for several minutes without any issues before taking off and climbing out over the airport. All seemed fine with the EGT's back to normal again. Something to keep a close eye on for the next few hours.

That night the community took us in, providing the "runway rufugees" (as they called us) a really nice place to stay and even took us out for dinner that night at the local Italian restaurant. We had landed in paradise again !!!
With several offers of accommodation we decided to stay with John as he had a huge house to himself which he had built himself. John's house was a labour of love as was his hangar. Anna-Klara and myself instantly hit it off with John and felt really comfortable staying there. John said we could stay as long as we wanted so we opted to stay another night in paradise with home cooked dinner that Anna-Klara and Morgan cooked for their men.

Boys and their toys



John, being a good man, let us keep Mr P in this home made hangar with his Bi-PLANE and stolen Cessna ! Just joking John !! Check the workmanship of the roof. The hangar is situation about 100 ft from the strip and 50 ft from the main house. Lifestyles of a flying neighbourhood !!
John's Porsche Project. (possible stolen) John just joking again !!
Large wheel to the left off a Boeing 737. The front wheel dropped into a local farmer's field local and the FAA came to inspect it. After they confirmed it was from the 737 that reported losing it a couple of month prior they just left it in the field. John took it home for a laugh, after th efarmer called him !

On the right is Johns new version of a golf cart to out-do his neighbours !
Only in America !!







Low wing light aircraft have always been an issue in hangars as you need to be a midget and still duck to get under the wing. Unless you come up with a solution such as Allan's.