Golden Butterfly Engine out landing

[GyroRon]

Someone tell us what happened? Maybe some good info to learn from in this story?

[REDHORSE556CES]

Originally Posted by GyroRon

Someone tell us what happened? Maybe some good info to learn from in this story?

It was on a demo flight. I was in the back seat. We were on approach for landing and the throttle was retarded, not closed, and the engine stopped. I don't know if the Subie is one prone to icing in the intake but it was fairly cool that morning (I was wishing that I had worn something besides my windbreaker) and I have no idea what the humidity was. I didn't have time to get scared, but I did notice our descent to the runway seemed a bit steep when we were about 10 feet up. As I said in another post, the G-Force gear did it's job remarkably well when we touched down. Only remark from the pilot was, "Sorry 'bout that, engine quit."

I don't fault the pilot, the engine...like the old saying goes, "S**t happens!"


If Butterfly needs anyone to swear to the superior design, I'm their man!

[GyroRon]

I know it quit, I want to know why? The machine I saw at Bensen Days had Fuel injection I think and those aren't supposed to have icing problems.

[MattPearson]

It wasn't carb ice. That particular engine has never idled well, and the owner just needs a knowledgable Subby person to adjust it. That is not the first time the engine has quit. If you pull the power all the way out, it will die almost every time. You have to "stroke" the throttle to keep it happy at idle.

[Low'nSlow]

Originally Posted by MattPearson

It wasn't carb ice. That particular engine has never idled well, and the owner just needs a knowledgable Subby person to adjust it. That is not the first time the engine has quit. If you pull the power all the way out, it will die almost every time. You have to "stroke" the throttle to keep it happy at idle.

I don't know if this is the same one I took my intro flight in at Benson Days, but at some point on final it quit and had to be restarted on the runway. The steep approach sure impressed me.

[KenSandyEggo]

Mine used to do the same until I finally adjusted the idle-mixture a bit. Of course this was after I ordered a new Bendix fuel distributor and spent hours checking the injectors and everything else.

[jos]

Had the same problem long ago. Flew it for a summer every aproach it stopped, got used to it.
Finnaly fixed it because it nobody wanted to fly it.

JOS

[ventana7]

At Sun n Fun Larry Neal put on an amazing display one day - 1st with some fantastic flying manuvers then he shut the engine down at about 300' stopped the prop came down to 25' did a full flare and brought the machine to a complete stop in the air at 20'. From there it fell directly to the grass below. The gear absorbed the total drop and there was no rebound at all. It just settled in and stopped. Larry was not even bounced around in the seat.
Very Impressive.

Rob