Engine failures and other emercengies

[Piper_EEWL]

Hi guys,

So yesterday I had my first "real" in flight emergency with the Stratocruiser. I was performing a flight from Keflavik in Iceland to JFK Internatinal. My first real long haul also.

About 5h into the flight at FL250 I suddenly started loosing power on engine no 1 accompanied by a shaking of the airframe. The flight engineer reported that we have serious engine trouble. So I went over all the engine instruments but I couldn't find anything wrong with the indications except that the power was low and the oil pressure started dropping slowly. So I decided to shut the engine down before anything worse would happen.

After the in flight engine failure checklist was complete I tried to assess the situation. I was about 700nm away from New York and I new that I wouldn't be able to keep my altitude on three engines. So I started a slow decent at about 100-150ft/min which kept the Strat at 160kias with the remaining three engines at 40" and 2100rpm. So I did a quick calculation with the resulting ground speed and remaining flight distance and altitude and saw that I might just make New York but that diverting to Boston Logan Intl. would be the safer bet since that shaved of about 160nm.

So after a long and agonizing decent I reached Boston at about 7000ft. I did some circles to loose the altitude and landed safely (ok ok with a small bounce ) on runway 15R. After everything was shut down and the passengers had de-boarded the ship I check the hangar and it said "This engine has suffered a rare and sudden failure". Mhh. To bad I really would have like to know what failed exactly. But I guess we'll know more when something like this happens in the Connie.

The crew also didn't seem super impressed since they didn't really comment on the events!? The captain only apologize to the passengers for the inconvenience via the PA. Should they have said more?

Anyways the airline concluded it wasn't my failure so I'm of the hook. Puh The failed engine got replaced and the B377 is ready to go back into service.

I hope I get around to post the captains log later. Just wanted to share this with you.

Happy flying

[FAC257]

Nice work.

It's always rewarding when you get a "less-than 4 engine" 377 safely back down on the ground.

[Piper_EEWL]

Well thank you sir! And yes it is very satisfying when you get it right. At first I was annoyed that I had a failure. but then I thought hey this is what Accusim is about so I dealt with it and had a great sense of accomplishment afterwards. Great fun.

[Piper_EEWL]

Hi guys,

today I was trying to do my second long haul from KSFO to PHNL and what can I say. They don't seem to work for me.

This time I blew engine no 3 on climbout at about 15k ft. I already had reduced the power to 46" and 2500rpm. Everything in the green when suddenly Larry yelled: "We have to reduce power immediatly. The engines cannot take much more". I was a bit surprised and sure enough. Same story as before. So I shut the engine down and turned back to KSFO. After dumping fuel and about a 1h flight I landed safely back at San Francisco. With a bump I have to admit. After I shut everything down I deboarded the passengers and checked the hangar and guess what: "This engine has suffered a rare and sudden failure" Again? Before takeoff it showed the condition as excellent. That really surprises me I have to admit. I didn't push them to hard I kept the temperatures in the green. Is this normal? I mean the engine had about 70h when it failed. Is this to be expected?

Happy flying

[Jacques]

The note indicates that it was a random failure and not something you did wrong.

I tried a flight from Honolulu to Manila three times with a turbo failure on each attempt. Two happened on the initial climb, so I returned to Honolulu for repairs. The third occurred a few hundred miles away so I just completed the flight with one less turbo.

You could always opt to continue the flight and challenge yourself with managing a three-engined flight!

[Piper_EEWL]

Yes the airline agrees with you Jacques They don't consider it to be my fault. That's good for a start. So at least my career is t ruined! Especially after I just greased my first two landing getting some applause

I briefly considered carrying on the flight but it's a 2000nm journey and I was only in 100nm so the smart thing to do was turn around. Especially since I wasn't able to hold altitude on three engines due to the heavy fuel load. I'll just give it another try when the mechanics have replaced no3 engine.

[Lewis - A2A]

Good job getting her down and great to read through your thought process during the event.

cheers,
Lewis

[Piper_EEWL]

Thanks Lewis. I have to say that's what I enjoy most about the Accusim planes. They keep you on your toes. You have to make difficult decisions during the flight when it doesn't go as planned. And it is so rewarding if it turns out good.

I hope to come up with the time to have another go at the flight to Hawaii soon.

Happy flying

[Lewis - A2A]

Oh nice, where'd you fly from?

thanks,
Lewis

[Piper_EEWL]

I'm currently inbound Honolulu from San Francisco. As I'm typing I'm about 180nm out. It was a long flight so far 7h 45min. With about 45min to go. Had some strong headwinds of 80kts which reduce the cruise to a painful 190kts. But that's what it is. As of now she's running very smooth! Lovely plane.

Originally the trip started out in Germany. I just keep going west via Dublin, Keflavik, Boston, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and now Honolulu. I'm looking for suggestions on where to go next. Preferably not over 8h which might be challenging from Hawaii.

Maybe this will be my round the world trip!? You never know

Sebastian

[Piper_EEWL]

So I made it. Just landed after 8h 24min and 2084nm. Hawaii is a nice and toasty 28C but I had a thunderstorm in landing. Still greased it though. The passengers were applauding which is nice

I really start to enjoy those long haul flights!

[Piper_EEWL]

Hi guys,

I'm seriously in love with the COTS simulation on the B377. Since I got it at the sale I've put more than 100hours on it. It just is so rewarding to fly with a crew and passengers.

Yesterday I had to divert on my way from Brisbane to Darwin because I had some injured passengers on board after I accidentally flew into some heavy turbulence. You immediately have to make decision if something does not go as planned. So after I got the news from Heidi I diverted to Townsville and got the passengers down safely.

Today I am on my way from Townsville to Singapore and am currently 700nm out. About 200nm ago I had a turbo failure on engine number two. I used the turbo cutout for engine number two and throttled the engine fully up. So it now is producing about 97psi of torque at 27 inches MAP. I'm at FL250. The aircraft only lost about 8kias so I decided to continue to Singapore. About 2.5h to go.

Those "incidents" are exactly what I enjoy so much about the B377 and it is exactly the reason why the Constellation will be a day one purchase.

Thank you A2A for the great plane.

[n421nj]

I believe they dont make a big deal about the engine failures because with the b377 they were very common. In real life the b377 had a mediocre maintenance record at best and things were always breaking. I believe A2A tried to duplicate that in their product which is why it is so realistic.