1. Flew my Mitchell Wing B-10 to Oshkosh- 600 miles round trip- on the last leg, 20 miles from home, the muffler on my Rotax 277 came loose. Landed in a field, tightened the bolts, took off, flew home. At Oshkosh, a good friend, Dan Grunloh, had inspected my aircraft and suggested I add a strap to hold the muffler in case it came loose. I improvised with some safety wire. When I got home, changed the bolts to ones that could be safetied and added a proper strap.
2. Was flying my B-10 with our Heart of Illinois Ultralight Club- about 10 ULs- to a fly-in breakfast. On the way back, my 4 belt reduction drive lost tension, so engine ran fine, just couldn’t get power to the prop. Landed in a field, a couple of guys driving by in a pickup stopped and just happened to have the huge wrench that fit the tightening nut. Unfortunately, I damaged my wood prop trying to take off in tall weeds. Fortunately, a good friend and fellow Mitchell Winger had made a carrier for his that fit on his car. We hauled it home, and bought a new prop.
3. Bought a Tierra ll. On one of my first flights, took off with less than a full tank of gas. Just out for a fun flight to get used to it. Finally dawned on me that a 503 sucks gas a lot faster than a 277, especially pushing that flying truck instead of a sleek B-10. Got back to within a mile of the field, when the engine got quiet. Had 3 fields available. Picked the one without any cows. Landed, hitched a ride back to the field from a friendly farmer- “I was watching you fly over when your engine just quit!”. Got a can of gas, fueled up, fired up and flew home. Embarrassing, but lesson learned.
4. Passenger in a T-Bird equipped with the then brand new Rotax 912 piloted by the T-Bird factory owner. We took off, were flying on the downwind leg when the engine quit. He simply turned and landed on the runway. Easy-Peasy. Plugged fuel filter.
5. At Oshkosh, on the Ultralight strip, getting a demo flight in a Thundergull powered by an HKS engine that had just flown all the way from California. On takeoff run, became obvious that the engine wasn’t delivering full power. The pilot, designer of the aircraft, shut down and managed to get stopped before we ran out of runway. Him-“Thought I better abort, something’s not right.” Me-“I totally agree!”- Carbs needed adjusted.
6. Bought a Challenger ll Clipwing in NW Iowa about 400 miles out.On the flight home, 50 miles to go,the engine lost power, only running on one cylinder. Became a glide extender. Could see an airport about 5 miles away, but couldn’t make it. There was a small town 2 miles to my left, so steered towards it to reduce my hiking distance. Landed in a field on the edge of town, just as the engine died. It refused to start. I had just flown over my sister’s house about 15 minutes earlier, taken pictures, etc. so called her and a couple of good friends from the flying club. My brother-in- law picked me up, took me home and I rented a Penske truck. The 4 of us with the truck and a flatbed trailer took the wings off and hauled it home. Turned out the “freshly overhauled” engine had a bad seal and required another proper overhaul to restore it to good health.
Lessons learned- things break, mistakes happen, ignorance needs to be reduced, don’t fly where you can’t land. I have been very fortunate that my problems were not too severe and with help of good friends were overcome. I have lost 16 good friends to aircraft accidents over the years, so am appreciative of how lucky I am.
I don't have 16 good friends period! You seem nice, but I hope we never meet.....
