You flew an F16, LeSving?
No, I used to maintain them, when I was young and in the Air Force a long time ago. Truly fascinating machines.
When I talk about the few instances that I met more or less severe icing I am talking about accumulating more than a 1cm of ice thickness on the windscreen in less than a minute.
As for the ferry tank, I had one installed and linked to the fuel line in the Piper I flew through Africa last year. There was a valve and electric fuel pump and I would switch fuel to the left-wing tank, then refill the right wing tank from the ferry tank. You would see the fuel indicator in the aircraft go up and the ferry tank pumped the fuel into the right wing tank.
We would not wait until the left and right-hand fuel tanks were almost empty to start using the ferry tank. We would start out using fuel from the right-hand wing tank, then switch to the left-wing tank and start pumping fuel from the ferry tank back into the right wing tank. That way we were sure we would not end up in trouble with the ferry tank or its electrical pump too far into the flight.
Does anyone know why the likes of Therawing are not more widely used? I see from their website they have an STC for the Columbia and SR22 is “in the pipeline”? Amazes me that something more efficient than either boots or TKS, which could be retrofitted, has not surfaced yet? There was another some time ago, can’t remember the name, used a micro solenoid arrangement which looked, frankly, brilliant.
I thought the problems with ThermaWing were the need for a huge power source and the problem of melting water running back and refreezing. I also read that delamination of the leading edges was a problem due to the heating. My source is “the internet”, so…
According to a former employee of the long-bust Air Touring (a UK dealer for pre-Cessna-owned Lancair, the dealership getting terminated on the Cesna takeover ) the system kept burning the laminate underneath it. Lancair blamed Air Touring for having mis-wired it, and there were recriminations both ways, but nothing was concluded.
Yes it did need a big alternator – IIRC, 50A at about 50V so it would rob several HP which is not a lot.
P210 water ditching near Corsica
My direct hangar neighbor did extremely well in an accident with his P210. 20 minutes before Calvi, the engine suddenly stopped with a bang (prop kept windmilling). He and his wife emerged basically uninjured (he hit his head against the dashboard but it was minor). As they were already in the descent, they had about 12 minutes until impact. He’s been flying this route for like 30 years as he has property on the island, always direct and fuel planning can be ruled out as cause. The airplane was in meticulous condition, he would bring it to the shop for every little squawk. Engine/prop/etc. were still within both calendar and hour TBO. The aircraft had just moved from D-reg to G-reg due to Germany’s unreasonable position on Cessna’s SIDs.
He landed against the wind — meaning against the swell. The swell was about 1m and he told me that he was taught one should only land parallel if the waves are high, otherwise it is better to choose the wind direction. The aircraft lost its tail on the impact (it hit first as it should) and then they were stopped with massive force (when he hit his head, his wife put protective gear between dashboard and her head). Then the aircraft was floating and they left the it through the right side emergency opening which they had opened during the descent — that is not easy in a P210! When they left, there was no water inside the aircraft. They are both over 60 and not exactly members of the gymnastics team. His wife took the raft, they both had vests and once out, they inflated the raft. His wife managed to enter it (without using the aircraft wings, just from the water) and pulled him inside. He said that was the hardest bit. After a short while, the French SAR picked him up with a winch from a Sea King. The aircraft was was gone by then and now rests at Flight Level minus 40 (1500m depth). It will not be recovered.
I am very impressed by how he and his wife handled the situation. Makes me feel a bit uneasy about the risks of flying in well maintained SEPs but confident about water ditchings. I believe that not being alone in a ditching is an advantage. My guess on the cause is a broken camshaft or a broken crankcase.
German newspaper report:
http://www.schwaebische.de/region_artikel,-Flugzeug-aus-der-Region-stuerzt-vor-Korsika-ab-arid,10297189toid,7.html
Makes me feel a bit uneasy about the risks of flying in well maintained SEPs…
I guess he’s in the market now for one of those C340s. Very well handled emergency it seems.
No for him it’s the right moment to end his career… Two crashes survived.
I read that it took them 45 minutes to get picked up by the helicopter, which was described as “quick”. As I fly with life vests only, but no raft, this got me thinking. Of course, 45 min in the water is very survivable in the Mediterranean in the beginning of September, it may not be so for example in the channel in April.
Do you know if they had and activated a PLB? If not, would this have reduced the time to get located by the SAR helicopter?
Very good outcome. Let’s hope he had good insurance – everything else is unimportant.
