It was the first time I'd faced a potential problem with the airplane. It seems that with the StingSports, they have a tendency to exhibit low fuel pressure during full power climbs...
So, a few years ago, at Gillespie Field in El Cajon, CA...
It was a nice Saturday. A little hazy. After deciding to bypass the Sport Pilot Certificate (lisence), I was about to start the rest of the training required for my Private Pilot cert.
But not yet. The family was otherwise occupied, and I had access to a plane. I had only two goals: To fly for the pure joy of it, and to nail my 200th logged landing.
I LOVE touch and gos. Being kind of a "defining moment" junky, they are perfect for my personality. They take you through the two most dangerous (takeoff) and difficult (landing) maneuvers in the book, over and over again.
After three landings, I asked for a downwind departure and headed for Alpine to see my old stomping grounds from the air. My first house, the properties of friends and families... Correlating the ground images I had of the roads and terrain to what I saw in the air was a valuable learning experience in itself...
Then back for the final four landings. Did the first one on 27Right, the big one that the jets use... Decided to start out high and simulate a power off landing.
When I knew I knew I was WAY too high, I chopped the throttle and slipped the plane a bit, dropping like a stone.
Then out of the slip and full flaps, power still at idle. I was going to overshoot the numbers by about 500 feet. Good.
Down I went, and back up in the air in 2000 feet of runway.
On the sixth, I was taking off for the last landing of the day. My 200th overall. At about 100 feet above the runway, I checked the engine. Fuel pressure was in the red. Looking at the numbers, it was 2.1... 2.0... 1.9... 2.1...
It was supposed to be 4.5.
At full power, the engine needed lots of gas. At half pressure or less, it was possible that it could lean out and die. At 100 Feet up, that meant landing somewhere other than the airport.
When an engine quits, the airplane can glide quite nicely. How far depends on how high you are above ground. My airplane has a forgiving 12-1 glide ratio... If you are flying straight. Turning takes tons of altitude out of the equation. A 180 degree turn would take at least 500' of altitude. That’s if you’re good, and I’m not that good.
The danger of even attempting it is that, with no power and under the stress of an emergency, it's easy to stall the airplane, and spin it in to the ground. 90% of the time, landing on a freeway or field is far less risky than trying to get back to the airport.
But, for the moment, my engine WAS running. One of my two fuel pumps had probably died.
I had two choices. One was to throttle back and nurse the plane along at below pattern altitude to land and have it checked out. This might prevent a lean cutoff situation.
The second was to stay at full power, go to best angle of climb speed (50 knots) and get all the altitude I can while I can. Hopefully, if the engine cuts out I will then have enough precious altitude to make a leasurely glide to a soft touchdown on a runway. Or use the rocket-thrown recovery chute! (no way in hell...).
I stayed in the throttle, and at 50 knots, the Sting Sport climbs like a homesick angel.
I decided to turn around. I clicked the mic.
"Tower, six-tango-lima. I'm losing fuel pressure, and will come around smartly and land on two-seven-right"
In a situation that involves safety of flight, a pilot can tell Air Traffic Control what they are going to do, and they HAVE to clear the way. On the other hand, the pilot becomes responsible for all repercussions...
I started my turn, while at max angle of climb speed. That's a potential problem that I got away with... All of the speeds listed in the book assume that you are traveling straight. Turns cause g-factor loads (load factor), and the stall speed goes up exactly the square root of the load factor. Fortunately it was a gentle turn, and I didn't learn of my mistake until I had more time to think about it (on the ground).
That said, I was only 5 knots from stalling the airplane at an altitude that would have killed me. I did not.
I made it 180 degrees to the downwind leg of the pattern. The tower said nothing... Not sure if they had heard me. I repeated my call.
He repeated with something I didn't catch, but heard "Five One Bravo Going around" and saw an archer climbing to give me room to land. I turned base leg over highway 67, and it hadn't registered JUST how much altitude I had managed to gain. Should have waited to turn.
When I started to turn final on the runway I chose (because it's huge, and If you can't land a light-sport plane on a mile long runway, you REALLY suck!), I saw just how high I was. I pulled the power to idle. The fuel pressure went to 4.4!
I had heard (on my first checkride) that 90% of all emergency landings overshoot, I realized why. Falling short of the runway is more frightening (but no less dangerous) than ending up in the weeds at the end. Or in the fence, or a tree. I'd just proved the point. It looked like I was landing the space shuttle!
I tugged back on the throttle again, but it was already at idle. I considered killing the ignition, for more drag... That was a stupid idea.
There was plenty of runway. At worse, I'd go off the end at 20Mph. so what. The Sting settled down and sunk like a rock. The landing was fine, and I stopped before the last taxiway.
The engine purred like a kitten, with the engine instruments normal.
Cleared the runways, contacted ground control and parked the plane.
We'll see if the FAA will ask for a report for deviating from procedure...
Next step, long distance flying and Night flying!
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