Second ditching in two years...

[snowman]

Stingray my man, you cannot spell.
Nice info though..
snowman

 

[FracCapt]

Anybody with any 402 and Navajo experience care to comment on the ability to hold altitude with "low manifold pressure", and only one person on board? This smells bad to me on several levels.

Having flown both in the past, they will both fly fine single engine. Low mp on one engine but the other running fine would still be ok, as long as the mp doesn't drop below about 15" or so(this is a "zero thrust" estimate, it's been many many years since I've flown these types). Having one engine out, but still windmilling, will put you in a world of hurt on both these airplanes. Low mp could mean that an engine had failed(and the mp indication dropped to the ambient pressure), and he failed to recognize that fact and secure the engine. I've experienced this firsthand on the Chieftain when I lost an engine in cruise and took my time troubleshooting and securing it. It would not maintain 7,000ft with the prop windmilling(descending about 500-700fpm), but it would climb with that prop feathered(just myself and very light fuel, ground temps in the mid to upper 80's).

Then again...if he ran out of fuel..and both engines quite...they would both indicate roughly ambient pressure on the mp gauges.... It all smells fishy to me, but maybe it's just a case of a severely incompetent pilot.

 

[stingray]

my spelling was never any good

 

[vetteracer]

As mentioned either will fly OK on a SE. IF you get the offending engine feathered or have it produce at least partial power. Even with the critical engine out, and I take it low on fuel (last part of trip) you could hold altitude fine, say up to 6K feet. Go a step further and put 1000 lbs. of cargo on. You could probably fly the thing in ground effect off the water for quite a ways.

Some people loose all composure when it hit the fan. He probably panicked.

As mentioned, he probably did not recognize a dead windmilling engine vs. an engine that was producing partial power.

In any event, I still smell insurance scam here.



Mark

 

[PaulThomas]

I remember reading about this guy in the paper last year (seems like it was more than a year though).

I'm sure law enforcement is going to seriously look into it. If I remember right, he's commercially rated, which if pilot error is involved make it unacceptable. He should know the procedure as he had the same thing happen in a 402.

Stingray, I remember reading that you live in Naples, I do too.