Return to the incident list: Incident List Powerplant/Equipment Malfunction PPG Type: Type of Injury:
Pilot Details
Age: 30 Weight: 210 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:
Gear Details
Wing Brand: Model: Pro-Design Compact Size: Paramotor Frame: Paramotor FX2 on cart with
Incident Details
January 1, 2006 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:
This is a two part, first by Nick Scholtes then by the Pilot by Nick Scholtes (posted on yahoo group):
One of my students was prepared to take his second-ever flight last night. He elected to use a trike (I prefer the term “cart” so that it doesn’t get confused with a HG trike) to help him launch. We both preflighted the machine. He asked me if it looked ok. I said, “Yep, I think that’s a pretty thorough preflight, but nothing’s perfect.” Hmmmmmm……
Anyway, He performed a very nice cart launch, and began his climbout. I was on the radio with him. He made a right turn, flew a downwind leg, informed me that he was doing well and feeling fine and that he’d fly a pattern over the runway and then head out. He turned base, and then turned to fly down the runway. He started to throttle back, well short of the runway. “Keep your power up”, I said. His power reduced more. “keep your power up, you’re getting too low!” The power continued to reduce. Then, a loud backfire informed me that the power reduction was complete. He performed a very nice landing, short of the runway, in the 12″ high cornfield.
Upon inspection of the machine, I saw that the plastic fuel filter was completely melted, and the fuel line was also melted. There was fuel all over the back of the harness.
“Hmmm, this is weird, it must have touched the cylinder or the header something. But I didn’t think it could get that close to the motor. Oh well, let’s replace it.”
So, we replaced the fuel line and attempted to start the motor. Heck, there were still a couple of good hours left before sunset.
One pull on the cord told us that there was more wrong. There was no compression. And you could hear the compression leaking out of the motor. What the heck is going on here?
That’s when we figured it out. Here’s what happened: The head gasket had ruptured, quite dramatically. A portion of it approximately 1/2″ long had ruptured and had slipped out from between the head and cylinder. Of course, it could have happened anywhere along the 360 degree perimeter of the cylinder, but it happened exactly where the escaping hot gases would blow DIRECTLY on the fuel filter and fuel line, completely melting them.
When I realized that these gases were hot enough to melt the fuel filter and line, I also realized that they were probably hot enough to ignite the fuel inside, the fuel that had splashed all over the back of the harness.
At that moment, I realized how close he had come to being a Molotov Cocktail. It was a terrible thought! We found that improper bolts had been used and the aluminum head was stripped in several places.
Student Narrative:
I am quite grateful that I did not become a flying molotov cocktail, and that we hadn’t started a cross country to PJs! It was enough of a pain trying to lift the PPG “cart” over the fence!
To add to the story from the air, here’s some additional detail as to what I experienced. On my base leg (wind was out of the north, so I was south of Wil-Kay flying a right hand pattern), I heard the rpm drop slightly. I didn’t think this was normal, but being a new pilot I didn’t freak out right away – I thought well there must be a logical explanation for this. I looked to see if the brake toggle had some how got caught under the throttle, but nope, nothing there.
Then I notice I’m starting a slight decent and I see the power lines ahead of me, so I decide its time to turn final. As I’m turning on final the rpm reduced more. Then I thought maybe the throttle cable has come loose, so I start to reach across with my left hand to give it a “manual” tug. Before I even got there the engine died. (This whole time I’m listening to Nick tell me to not reduce power :).
So I start descending towards the field in hopes that I’ll have enough glide ratio to make it there. Right away I saw that I was risking hitting the fence, and at the same time Nick informed me of the same thing. So I turned right and landed it in the corn.
Flight Window: Wind Speed: Type: Phase of Flight: Type of Injury: Collateral Damage: Analysis of the incident (additional input by the incident investigation team): Photos (if available):
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