Mentone engine outs.....

[GyroRon]

Saw no mention of it, but there were 5 emergency landings made at Mentone this year.... thought some of you might like to know.

First one I am uncertain on the details, but I believe it was a Sportcopter with a HKS engine. Had to make a landing on a dirt road near the airport on Tuesday due to a loss of power I believe. I think it turned out to be a bad electrical connection

2nd, 3rd and 4th was on Saturday....

2nd one was the medivac helicopter that was visiting. Upon it's takeoff, it's rotorwash blew up a hidden garbage bag that was laying in the corn alongside the runway. The bag blew up over the helicopter and then got sucked down into the rotors. It sounded like the bag got stuck on a rotor as they flew away..... but the helicopter returned quickly and landed, and from what I was told, the bag came out of the main rotor and got caught up in the tail rotor. They landed fine in " chopper town " and a mechanic came out to check for damage and a few hours later they flew away.

3rd one was a KB3 with MZ 202 engine. It went out for a circut around the pattern and on baseleg it lost the engine and went down in the middle of a cornfield. He made a uneventful picture perfect landing, with minimal damage to the crop and no damage to the gyro. Turns out a spark plug blew out of one of the cylinders, taking the threads and all. Was a bit of a challenge getting the gyro out, but they got her out of there with minimal impact on the corn crop.

4th one was a Butterfly Monarch with a Rotax Rick's 670. Not sure of all the details on this one other than the engine siezed up and shut off and a uneventfull landing was made in a soybean field. It was retrieved just before the thunderstorms hit us saturday evening. Not sure exactly what went wrong with the engine, but there was a large hole in the bottom of the crankcase under the PTO side of the engine where the connecting rod connects to the crank. There was brass or copper like debris, all crushed beyond belief deposited on the engine mount under this hole..... My guess is the bearing on the big end of the connecting rod failed.

5th one was a powered parachute with a rotax 80 hp 912. The engine never quit but lost power while in cruise flight so the pilot set it down in a field. No idea exactly why it lost power, as no water was found in the fuel, and it seemed to run great before and after the loss of power. Possible carb ice?

I didn't get a accurate gyro / heli count at this event, but we easily had over 50 gyros and 5 or more helicopters. Most of them flew, the pattern was full nearly the entire time, so 5 incidents doesn't seem to bad

[Resasi]

Sounds like an excellent meet. Five incidents with happy endings.

Guess they do happen but nice to hear that these all worked out so well. Good training really does pay.

[Ron Iaconis]

Originally Posted by Resasi

Sounds like an excellent meet. Five incidents with happy endings.

Guess they do happen but nice to hear that these all worked out so well. Good training really does pay.

Ron,
Great report,,,,
I thought only three machines went down,,,,,
Was good to see you
and watch you fly,,,,,
Ron Iaconis

[WaspAir]

Originally Posted by GyroRon

I didn't get a accurate gyro / heli count at this event, but we easily had over 50 gyros and 5 or more helicopters. Most of them flew, the pattern was full nearly the entire time, so 5 incidents doesn't seem to bad

As one who flies with certified engines, it sounds very high to me.

Any idea how this rate would scale up for an event the size of Oshkosh, and what their actual rate is?