Harvard 78 Emergency at Ardmore

[Bruce]

I note from Facebook that Andrew Hope (Citabria) had a bit of an emergency flying Harvard 78 from Ardmore this afternoon. According to his report there was a loss of power shortly after takeoff from runway 03 and with skillful flying he got it back safely on Grass 25. It appears as though a pitch change link on the prop had let go, so although the engine was still present and correct, the prop was coarser than coarse. Superb work and a good example of why it pays to practice engine failure after takeoff. Good to hear everyone walked away unharmed. An appropriate beverage, well earned!

[Dave Homewood]

Well done Andrew - I am glad to hear you got down safely.

[flyjoe180]

Nice work Andrew.

[Citabria]

Thanks Guys... yes it was VERY close... Here are some details from a leanings perspective... Pardon the spelling and grammar... English is my third language after maths and science!.. ;D

Attachments:

[Citabria]

Oh and I listened to my MAYDAY call today.. very interesting.. I had over transmitted on my first one all I got out was MAYDAY MAYDAY HARVARD FORCED LANDING, so it was lucky that I did the second one on short finals as no one knew what was happening.. except poor Mike in the front seat!

[Bruce]

that's a very useful report Andrew - always good to see the lessons in such a situation. The only things you forgot to put in were "Plummet" "Passengers screaming" and "We were all going to die"
Well done mate!

[JamesStokes]

Glad to hear man and machine are okay!!

[ngatimozart]

Very pleased to hear both you and aircraft are safe. A very informative read and very well done.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks for posting that account of the incident Andrew. Wow, that really does sound scary, but it's great to see your professionalism and preparedness won out. Well done.

[baz62]

Yes well done and from the rear seat.....not the greatest view forward.

[flyjoe180]

Thanks for sharing your experience Andrew, it was very interesting reading indeed. I couldn't help thinking of the CT4 years back, similar situation except that pilot continued and ended up near that race track. Did you notice the power lines getting closer?

[craig]

Nice job. In hind sight given the late gear down selection (which was prob a positive factor enabling you to maintain / gain height) and dubious hydraulic pressure. Would you still select flaps down as well on short finals. I know nothing about Harvards or their systems, just interested if not selecting flaps would have made gear down more rapid and assured. Or would nil flap have increased your likelyhood of over run?

[Citabria]

Hi Craig,

It was a real tricky call, the gear is not held down by Hyd Pressure, more a mechanical lock so it would make no difference, but putting the gear down dumps the pressure and speeds up the process, but I would not like to select flaps before the gear. The whole thing was "on short finals" I had not real idea if the gear was down and in the flare was prepared for a belly landing if it collapsed and knew that the flap extension would be a close thing.

I hope this answers your question. One of the reasons I posted it hear is to prompt thinking about what happened, what would you do if it happened to you and to see if with all the collective wisdom if there was something better that I could/should have done.

And Joe, the powerlines were close, my plan was if I couldn't maintain my height then I would hang a hard left go under the lines onto the track.

I have just been for my first Harvard flight with Mike in 92, it was a very odd feeling making that first power reduction!

Cheers

Andrew

[flyjoe180]

Sounds like you had it sorted either way Andrew, cheers.