Holy crap, I lost my engine last night...

[dhc8fo]

I was lucky! Pulled the power off to land my Cherokee and the prop just stopped! I have always taken for granted that my Cherokee never seemed to need the carb heat much, and although I had used it occasionally on the flight, when I came in to land it was 40F (but the humidity was up there).

Just a friendly reminder that you might need your carb heat even when you can't believe possibly that you could....

 

[joe_pilot]

Talk about pucker factor! Good lesson, though.

Glad it worked out.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

below 2000 RPM I teach to use the carb heat. piper or cessna

 

[mcjohn]

I did all my instrument training in a Warrior and my instructor told me that I'd never have to use carb heat in that airplane.
My question:
Then why's it there??!

Could someone please explain why he would said that and why we never used it and were fine?

 

[Dr Pokenhiemer]

The bottom of the green arc is lower in the Piper than in the Cessna, but isn't it the same engine? I have heard several people say that Pipers are more prone to carb ice. Glad everything turned out ok for you. Welcome to the "lost my engine" club.

 

[aucfi]

There was a post about carb heat usage in Cessna 172's and Warriors. If I remember correctly, it has something to do with the induction systems. Long story short; the 172 has a very short path for the air to travel whereas the Warrior has a greater distance for the air to travel before entering the engine. The design of the Warrior's intake warms the air before entering the carb.

Why is it there? Nothing is perfect and you will have carb ice if the conditions are right.

Good thing you kept your pattern close.

http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/182189-1.html

 

[mcjohn]

Thanks, and BTW, I hope I'm never invited to join that prestigious club.

 

[avbug]

Engine failure is never a matter of if, but when.

Any other viewpoint is suicide.

Plan accordingly.

 

[mtrv]

http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/182189-1.html

This article surprises me,

I'm willing to bet, that there are many high altitude airport, Lycoming users, who would not dream of applying carb heat for takeoff!

As has been mentioned, the Lycoming carbs in Piper Warriors/Archers are bolted to the warm oil sump. Older Cessnas with Continentals have the carb mounted to the intake pipes, with no engine heat transferred to the carb through the sump.

Since carb heat should be all or nothing, there is just too much power loss at a high altitude airport, to be screwing with available performance.

It's already a known fact, that numerous crashes have occured, because the pilot left the carb heat on during a go-around, and had insufficient power to climb at high altitude airports.

Piper makes carb heat recommendations for their aircraft for a reason. It all depends on the engine, cowling & induction system. I DO NOT subscribe to the always use carb heat idea, just because!

And yes, I do have a carbed Lycoming, know the induction system well, fly out of high altitude airports, and don't use carb heat as part of the landing proceedure.

And BTW, this subject gets argued to death on the experimental aircraft forums. Much seems to depend on whether you flew carbed Pipers or Cessnas during training. Or just had an instructor that didn't really know why.

IMO, this article fits right in, with the writer, that thought crosswind landings with a side load on the gear was okay, and preferred his method, instead of aligning the fusalage with the runway, for small GA.

 

[urflyingme?!]

I wonder if in that article he had the carb heat on before takeoff?

There was at least one west coast crash this summer banner towing that involved carb heat, even at full power....