皇冠体育app

Piper PA-32RT-300T Turbo Cherokee Lance II, G-LUNA

Summary:

皇冠体育app pilot reported that the aircraft was refuelled to full tanks before departure from Lydd. Having levelled at 2,000 ft, and seven miles from Lydd, he switched the fuel pump on and changed the fuel selector from the left to right tank. Ten or fifteen seconds later, the manifold pressure dropped and the RPM decayed. 皇冠体育app pilot immediately selected the mixture to fully rich, and re-selected the left tank. 皇冠体育app engine continued to run, but at low power and with sounds of mis-firing. 皇冠体育app pilot selected the alternate air source, but the engine did not recover, and then stopped. He made a mayday call and selected 7700 on his transponder, whilst making several unsuccessful attempts to re-start the engine.

皇冠体育app pilot flew towards a ship, opened the cabin door, selected the landing gear manual override, and prepared to ditch. 皇冠体育app ditching was carried out with full flap and with the aircraft fully stalled, onto the top of the five metre swell (the wind was approximately 210/9 kt and the ditching was carried out on a heading of 240掳). 皇冠体育app aircraft touched down tail first, and bounced. On the subsequent impact, the fuselage briefly submerged before it floated. 皇冠体育app pilot, uninjured, put on his lifejacket and exited the aircraft onto the wing. He waved to the ship but it continued its passage; its crew had seen the ditching and contacted another ship behind them by radio with instructions to rescue the pilot. After approximately two minutes, the aircraft pitched 45掳 nose down, and sank. 皇冠体育app pilot was rescued by the second ship, transferred to a lifeboat, and then airlifted to hospital by helicopter; he had been in the water for 20 minutes and was treated for mild hypothermia. 皇冠体育app aircraft was not recovered, and no technical investigation into the engine failure was possible.

皇冠体育app pilot commented that he thought the engine failure might have been caused by debris in the fuel injectors, a faulty fuel selector, or contaminated fuel. No other aircraft which refuelled at Lydd reported problems. He added that he intended in future to wear his lifejacket for flight over water.

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