Spraying onions in the Mesilla Valley, I had an engine failure coming out of a run. I pulled up, made a steep energy management turn, and landed on a road. Same deal to the Rio Grande levee, same to an irrigation dike, etc. All but a couple the same six second deal with a pull up, turn to the only logical place, and full flaps and full slip in the turn to slow down. What has been your' experience?

Hi Contact,

While far less experienced at forced landings, mine have echo'd yours in execution... pitched up pretty much like I was exiting a field to turn, and then landed on the field road. Not counting the blown cylinder, the grand total on damage was a half dozen nozzles brushed off by the ditchbank.

It is my opinion that with todays aging fleet or cylinders, it is highly unlikely a person will get away with flying behind a straight shaft R1340 for more than a couple seasons without experiencing a cylinder failure. I don't know why they are more prone to failure than the 985, but the difference in reliability is night and day. I also don't know why it is, but I have seen an R985 bring a guy home with most of a cylinder completely missing, while personal experience has been that an R1340 may not make it completely around the patch with just a cracked cylinder.... and forcing it to do so will likely lead in total catastrophic failure. I think with any amount of years under their belt the average ag pilot is probably going to fare reasonably well under an engine-out, with reasonable terrain under them...

My spookiest failure mode was not an engine out, but a prop failure. The prop was a counterweighted prop with ag100 blades and one of the pins that runs through the counterweights sheared. The failure occurred after take off at about 75' AGL and rendered that blade feathered. Initially I thought I cracked a cylinder, but the vibration quickly became so violent that I began to think it must be much worse...It was the only load of the day that I departed towards town . At this point there was no energy to exchange for altitude, and not enough altitude to make it across the valley the town sat in. It was also too much altitude to get rid of the load and get back on the ground in the narrow strip that lied between the end of the airfield and the valley...

This cat wasn't equipped with a Transland gate to ease a little load off, but that really wouldn't have helped... Vibration was so severe that visibility was almost nil. There was enough gap between the strip and town to put the load in, and the 'drop gate' pretty much emptied it instantaneously , giving me a very welcome elevator ride to about 250' AGL. Anyone too intrenched in 'always land straight ahead' would have made the 5 o'clock news in a very unfavorable way, because it was still not producing power, and not high enough to clear town. Most anyone that has flown an empty 'Cat will concur that 250' is more than enough to do what ever you want with it, running or not. I was too spooked to touch the prop, throttle, or mixture, for fear of aggravating the vibration even more, and by this point I wasn't really convinced the engine was going to stay with the airframe all the way to the ground. Bent the airplane around, hit the strip, eased the power back, and it purred like a kitten Apparently the blade must have fallen in trail once the wind load was off of it. Had no idea what was wrong until I shut it down and the blade spun around...

I'd take a dozen more engine failures before I want to mess with another prop failure...

Take care, Rob

Rob,
I didn't fly round engines much, but my mechanic said the 985 was so good because it was a loose engine. Slow turning and low compression. Props are like God; they work in mysterious ways. I did my best to stick with the simple fixed pitch ones.
Jim

Are you guys OK? I miss reading your discussions!

I'm retired and these young guys are working now. Seasonal. Feel free to ask questions. I'm a little senile and sometimes need to have a memory shook loose. Murphy and I were real close so most things that can happen have happened to me.

After a couple fairly busy months I've had off work the last week. However, 55Wagon is spraying roundup on sunflowers right now so the farmers can harvest them. I'm not insured for herbicide work yet, so can't help with that. There was some rust issues on the sunflowers this year so rumor is that some of the flowers may not get sprayed as the foliage was damaged enough by the rust that its falling off on its own. Rust issues aside, its supposed to be a really good sunflower harvest this year. Almost all the sunflowers are surrounded by a really nice grain crop. For those that don't know if you get roundup (herbicide) on the grain, or anything else for that matter, it will kill the crop and there would be an insurance claim against our company for damages to the crop, which can be really big $$$ depending on how bad the drift was.

Enjoying the stories guys thanks for posting

A season or two ago, Kiman sprayed an eighty of what he thought was Roundup ready soybeans with Roundup. They were a generic type of beans requiring that companies generic roundup. Killed the whole field. Drift insurance comes in handy at times.

No more stories?

I was just down in Ron's stomping grounds when I was heading west. We had kent show us around.

Tom,

They are busy. I haven't run out of stories, but I had to read back through to make sure I didn't repeat myself. My second season, we had a bug run on alfalfa weevil. That weevil is always a problem, but this year the fields were turning silver in a few days and were eaten to the ground in a week. This meant not just lost of a cutting, it meant loss of the crop necessitating replanting in another crop. You can't replant alfalfa.

Anyway, I was young and aggressive and this was the chance to make some money and get to know all the ranchers and dairymen in the area. I was using a sixty acre field with four inch grass in the Clever, Missouri area. I was angling across this field to get off with 120 gallon loads and over the woven wire fence in the 3/8th mile available

After loading 120 gallons for a sixty acre field (I was talking to this farmer,) two other farmers drove up and it began to rain lightly. After getting field information from the other two farmers, I hopped in and considered the extra runway I would use due to the rain. I was too cheap, green, and embarrassed to dump a bit of my load before takeoff. I got the tail up slower than I would have liked, got the mains off slower than I would have liked, and considered dumping. I caught the two barbed wires over the woven wire. The wire cutters on the gear got them pretty quickly, but they hung on long enough to yaw me into a dozer pile of stumps left of my normal takeoff path. Remember, I was angling across the field to get a longer takeoff run. I hit the dozer pile with my left wing and really messed up my Pawnee.

No insurance. Had to lease junk from my mechanic after that. Flew behind the same engine, however, a good one. Mechanic beat my prop out with a plastic hammer. He was an ex-Alaska guy and was really god at this kind of stuff. That prop ran as true as any I have ever flown behind. That engine ran 2400 (2500 is max on a 235 hp Lycoming) at La Plata near Durango a couple of summers later. It was mid-time by then.

Best regards,

Jim

Finally back to work, I had off for the last 4 weeks. Had a fun flight up to OK n back couple of days ago, it sure is pretty country in the southern area we were flyin. Spraying cotton today for weevils and lygus bugs




Headed south this AM

Theres a few bugs out there, sure wish my windshield squirter worked...

The Cobra had small bleed air ports under the windscreen to blow rain off. We couldn't use it except in very heavy rain. It would melt the windscreen.

I don't see many bleed air heater/air conditioners on spray planes. They worked flawlessly on the T-53 series Lycoming engines. No maintenance. It was just a funny shaped pipe in a lower compartment behind the transmission.

I'm not a scientist, but heat exchange is an amazing thing. A Cobra air conditioner will spit ice or burn you out and the diurnal rate in the desert and mountains commonly produces three thousand feet per minute up and down drafts in the afternoon.

Sesame Roundup work

On to boweevils, these fields have had a lot of em in the traps.

I'm intrigued by the winglets. I've only seen them used for high altitude stability before like on jets. At least that's what I recall the explanation being for their use. What purpose do they serve on your spray planes? Love all the pics and stories by the way!

CW

It's that time of year again.. I think as I hurriedly load the Thrush. I'm loading in the dark, which is nothing new, but this morning the load is just a bag of clothes, and a few tool boxes of spares. I just get everything opened up and the rain starts.... gonna be one of those mornings

Left home early enough this morning to be taxiing out to the pad by 02:30... Damn, I'm late...

It was driven home when I saw the dim pair of obstruction lights coming over Telegraph pass. Dog gone it, Dan was coming over the hill for our rendezvous / departure time to put us at Gallup at sunup.

The goal was to be in Central Iowa this evening, and battling the afternoon build up in the big rocks of Colorado is just no longer fun to either of us.

Pulling on the pad I scramble out of the Thrush and drag out the fuel hose. rats... Someone left the valve on, and the pump has lost it's prime. I stuff the hose into the left wing, wedge the handle open with the gas cap and start jumping on the hose. The first jump goes swell, but no joy... the second rolls my ankle, and I start cussing at it, on the third the hose hick up's, belches and farts all at once as my petroleum resuscitation kicks in to gear! Success ! Ahhh shit... The hose jumps as it loads up with jet A and the nozzle slides out of the wing WFO...spraying the wing with jet A.... Nice... Guess the first leg of the morning's gonna be a smelly one when are we going to get the single point back on line I stammer... Filled up on the left side I slip under the nose and hop up on the right wheel and start in on the right tank.... I hate early morning limbo routines...

Now the pad is all lit up, and I look up to see Dan taunting me with a turn light as he orbits .... with max legs planned he is not going to be amused with the hold up...

Fueled up, pump off, fuel valve OFF, I scramble around the plane one last time. In the plane, a quick look around the cockpit, and everything looks good. Oh jeeez... I can't remember the key sequence to get the FM over to talkabout... We're NORDO and talkabout allows the FM to come off the repeater so we can communicate the whole way there. Almost on que, as soon as I get the radio sorted out, Dan comes on line "Any time you're ready Slick!"... Really? Ok..I deserved it... But really? It's flipping 02:40 for Petes sake...

I love flying an empty Thrush, and an empty Thrush at 3am is even better
Pouring the coals on I point it east and let her run. With the ceiling and rain there's no point in climbing for a while...
Dan comes on over the FM and asks what the plan is? This is cursory small talk really, as Dan has more trans continentals in Ag a/c from flying fires than most anyone I know... but I humor him none the less... "well, I figure straight shot to Poco Dinero ranch where we oughta be able to see Phoenix, if it's good by then we'll go to 11.5 and let Deer Valley slide under the right wing followed by Payson, and Holbrook under the left, Kit Carson for more Go juice oughta get us enough to get there in three legs..."


Thrush looking lost at eleven five

Dan : "Kinda long on the last leg don't ya think?"

Bonehead rob : " We'll be legal... Besides no sense in showing up to spray their stuff full of our gas"

Landing Gallup proves to be a mess, FBO's all tore up, remodeling or some such. Fortunately Wiseman has taken over, because we're late... A lesser crew would have gone back home and made us pay a second call out fee.


Gallup gas and go

Leavin Gallup I point us straight for Chama, which again takes no navigational wizardry, and is also conducive to my vhf radio habits... Or lack thereof... The same heading at 11.5 slides you right through La Veta Pass with ease...

The wind gods are either truly pleased, or more likely just really pissed at someone else and have forgotten us, because we are now clocking a buck seventy across the ground and the mid day build up on the eastern slope is not even going to stand a chance at messin with us... Burlington, here we come

Open mouth insert sock... The wind sock that is.... How does this happen? The flipping wind at Burlington is 90 degrees off the runway and blowing 20+... Whatever... Don't they know this ain't Kansas ?At least we know we don't have to be on the look out for the local aggie...


Kit Carson hot fuel

The last leg is overcast and has us VFR over the top for longer than I'd like, something about a polar express or some jibberish... but the wind difference below the clouds and above them was astonishing. Since fuel is tight on this one I elect to fly the better wind, I hate the choice, mostly because I've lost that gamble before, but this time the bet paid off. Twenty five out it turns blue bird and five miles short of the strip the fuel lights hit Bingo... Perfect timing, perfect Wx and a good 8+/- hr run out. I'll take it as a good omen for our season. Marty?

Pulling in to my standard 1/4 mile final it occurs to me that this place must have four seasons.... But to us that come for a few short weeks every year it seems to be locked in time, never changing... A green sea of corn and soybeans. Good Lord this place is a sleeper of a Supercub play ground.... someday I say... for the mean time it'll be sun up till sundown running... yeaahh baby the vampires finally get some daylight work

Take care, Rob

CW,

The Ag tips are to cut down the vortices. Drift is the bane of all spray pilots, and 'fines' in the vortices are uncontrollable. The difference is substantial. Keeping the vortex at bay also reportedly helps with lift, but my experience was that, this had less of an impact than the help it lent the pattern on critical herbicide work. I do miss mine, as the spray used to just roll out the rear like I was rolling out a white sheet. But at the rebuild we were really concerned with how heavy the empty weight was starting to get to, so we left them off.

For a night flyer the biggest benefit IMHO is the fact that the strobes reflect up the length of them. This is annoying for the first night or two, after you get used to them you the, realize you now truly 'know' where your windtip is. Much more confidence when trimming net to wires, trees etc...

Take care, Rob

Unbelievably nice day here in Iowa huh Rob? Not too hot and the wind is calm. Don't get many like this. Was just walking through my corn and some will tassel in a day or so and is way taller than me and where the wet areas are, who knows as it is just shoulder high or a little less. Probably not as wet down where you are.

Hi Marty,

It's been absolutely amazing here! I don't recall ever seeing 40º night temps in July, but coming from 100 & teens, I'll take it
Corn looks great down here, not quite tassled out, flying is just starting to trickle in. I suspect with the cold winter temps you guys had the aphid numbers will be down in the beans this year.

Take care, Rob

My beans are soooo little and yellow that it looks like it's going to be a crop insurance year. Plus not sure the aphids will even want to go to mine because there are some better looking beans not far away on better drained soils.

Great story Rob!

Sprayin roundup on Sesame again today, with 55Wagon gone for the month all the farmers have been out watching the rookie (me) like hawks

500 acre block, these fields are gravy

This is grain that got Roundup on Monday, which was my first herbicide work, pretty cool to be able to see the results looked good