Mar 22, about 1115, takeoff to about 200ft, one blade departs. Pilot gets plane back on ground, puts out oil fire. Starter and alt broke off case. One motor mount left. Look at the pic close and can see prop hub.

Didn't get pilots name. Very lucky.

[img][/i[IMG]http://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj563/owyhee/0322121157.jpg[/img]mg]

wow.

I see pic didn't make it to post. I can email to someone more knowledgeable and add to post.

Looks like he was one motor mount away from becoming a really tail-heavy glider/lawn dart.

What could cause a catastrophic failure like this? Would one blade departing be enough to imbalance the hub/crank and somehow torque the motor off the mounts?

Glad he was able to keep it together and get it on the ground.

am I the only one who occasionally has the thought of this sort of failure??? never am much concerned about an engine out but this prop failure thing spooks me at times......

I've also wondered if the loss of a blade would wrench the engine out of its mounts before it could be shut down, and if so, then what? On a related note, I used to fly an Aero Commander 500 with the props set behind the cockpit - wondered what would happen if one of those babies let go and headed my way. Same thing with the rear engine in the O-2. Would a loose prop saw through a tail boom?

Maybe a three or four bladed prop is a better bet - the vibration should be somewhat less severe if one lets go.

Best,
O-2

I know I don't want to find out through personal experiance.

This kind of thing isn't unheard of in the experimental a/c crowd. Many of them buy a prop that will bolt to their engine, but they fail to check the engine/prop harmonics to make sure it won't come apart in flight.
Seeing that this was a glastar, it likely has a o-360, and probably has a prop off some other engine that was cut down to the length he wanted. This happens quite often, especially with o-360, and the high compression 320's.

OscarDeuce wrote:I've also wondered if the loss of a blade would wrench the engine out of its mounts before it could be shut down, and if so, then what? On a related note, I used to fly an Aero Commander 500 with the props set behind the cockpit - wondered what would happen if one of those babies let go and headed my way. Same thing with the rear engine in the O-2. Would a loose prop saw through a tail boom?

Maybe a three or four bladed prop is a better bet - the vibration should be somewhat less severe if one lets go.

Best,
O-2

This guy was DAMN lucky... Usually when a prop sheds an entire blade, the imbalance will yank the motor out of the airframe faster then one can pull back on the throttle.. ...

At a fly-in I was at a couple years ago we were popping helium balloons. I had noticed that they seemed to be better quality balloons than the ones I keep in my plane for prop popping. I had popped a couple of them and even noticed that they felt different when I would hit them with my prop. About the third one I hit didn't break, it just wrapped around the blade! It was was incredibly violent, like it would shake off the engine in a matter of seconds. Fortunately it came off the blade in 1 or 2 seconds.

I'm surprised his engine didn't instantly depart his airplane with a blade missing. I know this guy a little, his first name is Gordon and he is a really good guy.

Steve

A buddy of mine had been a helicopter mechanic in the army, and waiting for him to finish his airplane preflight inspection was like sitting at the dentist's office. It truly seemed to take forever.

One of his many procedures was to always rap each prop blade near the tip with his knuckles like he was knocking on a door and listen to the sound. One time we were renting a plane in Seattle, and after his usual obsessive-compulsive knocking on the prop, he looked over at me and said we were going to have to get another plane, because the prop was cracked. I was highly skeptical, so he had me rap each end, and sure enough, you could hear the difference. One blade had a ringing sound to it, and the other had a clunking sound with no ring. The local mechanic took off the spinner, scrubbed the prop near the hub with some dye and a brush, and eventually spotted a fatigue crack that was just getting started.

That was about fifteen years ago, and I have rapped my prop on every single preflight since then!

Edit

Can anyone figure out what kind of prop it was ???????

That was about fifteen years ago, and I have rapped my prop on every single preflight since then!

There is (was?) a older gal that used to go around talking flying safety, and she would hand out (free) round 14" by 1/3" (approx) dowel for this purpose. 'Rap the prop on each blade and make sure it rings the same" she said, "it can save your life". It also had graduated lines on it for checking fuel level. She signed each stick and named it after herself. Seemed like a neat gal. Sorry, at the moment, I can't think of her name (Willey stick-or something like that?). Someone here will come up with it, or I'll see if the stick in my Cub is still readable and post it later as an edit.

lc

There is an older thread on this topic that makes some good points........

Edit: Layin' in bed it came to me.... A Wally stick.

http://www.ninety-nines.org/index.cfm/wally_funk3.htm

Friend of mine had the same thing happpen to his Cessna Ag-Truck. 1 of 4 engine mounts remained intact. He made an immediate landing in the potato field below him. Dang Lucky!

The marked and signed dowel was know hereabouts as a "Wally-wand". After Wally (yes a female who used to give EXCELLENT safety presentations). Seems to me I last saw her at Taos or Questa....

I've got a clone in my personal flying kit. We should all be so smart as to figure out something so "seemingly" low-tech, with such good results.

Thanks. cubscout

Good job, cubscout. I see you came up with it, too.

This site has a lot more safety tips than just the Wally stick. Check it out.

http://www.ninety-nines.org/index.cfm/wally_funk3.htm

Wally funk was a very gracious lady that gave an excellent safety seminar, and passed out the Wally sticks for free to all who attended her seminars. I saw her at Puyallup at the Aviation Conference back when it was free (no admission-WA state paid the tab) to pilots.

Addition: Here is a very BAD video of Wally checking the prop and the control weights (important).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKuuJh48a5c

Does anyone here know if there is a geneological link from Wally Funk back to the Funk Aircraft?

Stol wrote:Can anyone figure out what kind of prop it was ???????

I just read somewhere on the internet this morning that it was a "Vesta" prop. Never heard of them, but the little I found by googling makes me think this wasn't the first failure.

side slip wrote:This kind of thing isn't unheard of in the experimental a/c crowd. Many of them buy a prop that will bolt to their engine, but they fail to check the engine/prop harmonics to make sure it won't come apart in flight.
Seeing that this was a glastar, it likely has a o-360, and probably has a prop off some other engine that was cut down to the length he wanted. This happens quite often, especially with o-360, and the high compression 320's.

I disagree. This sort of thing may have been common back in the day, but today's homebuilders don't seem to be on the tight budget like the old-timers were.. About all of the homebuilders I know run brand new, high-dollar props from MT or Whirlwind, or more mainstream brands like Hartzell & Sensenich. The only guy I know of that runs a cut-down "second" has it on a Pacer.