Almost declared an emergency

Nick6485

Well-Known Member
Was on my way out of Oakland today climbing through 5,000 when the governor for the prop gave out. The prop started to over speed. I reduced power and tried pulling the prop back to see if maybe it would reduce the RPM but nothing. I immediately called nor cal requesting a turn back to the airport because of mechanical issues. I got a vector back to the airport and they asked if I wanted to declare an emergency. At this point I had the situation under control because I had reduced power to about 20" bringing the RPM down to 2500. So I told them not yet. They set me up for a straight in on 27R. Landed the plane and taxied to the ramp. What gets me is during my run-up I cycled the prop three times and each time it did what it was supposed to do. Its also not like I slam the throttle in when I take off. I slowly bring the power in so stuff like this doesn't happen.

I'm glad I was trained the way I was. Especially because I had two passengers with me. Its never a good thing when you have passengers on board and something like this happens. To be honest I don't know how I kept my cool during the whole situation. Nothing like this has ever happened. What made it harder was knowing I was responsible for the safety of my two passengers. One of them was freaking out during the whole thing. Wish I had an isolate button because I would have used it! I'm just glad I got them on the ground safely. Sorry about the length, and any fragmented sentences...its late (or early...however you wanna look at it), and its been a really long day.
 
Just wondering, at what point did you notice or realize something was wrong? What was your first indication?

Good job at keeping a cool head and taking care of business, now you have a cool story when you get asked at interviews.;)
 
I'm guessing his first indication was that the prop speed went bat crap crazy :)

This kinda stuff happens, good job keeping your cool. It's not the end of the world, though, as you found out. The system is designed to take you home if it all goes to pot. I.E. In a single engine aircraft, if your governor fails your prop will go to the high speed stops, which slow you down but allows you to continue to fly. In a twin, manufactures will set the system up backwards from that, forcing the prop to feather, and thus, allowing you to bring the aircraft back on one engine (the only thing that stops the prop from feathering on shutdown, at least in the Seminole and Chieftain, are low RPM locks that are dropped in at X RPM).
 
I was just wondering what it was like in your particular case, although I doubt they vary a whole lot, I was just hoping to get an insight into your thought procesees(sp?)

In the Aztec the pins dropped in around 800 RPM.

BTW, why don't they just make the singles feather the same as the twins? Wouldn't that make learning a lot easier between the two types?:D:D:D
 
That's a really good question. At this point everything still seems like a blur. I'm sure I noticed right away because during the takeoff and initial climb out everything was perfect.
 
Speaking of, did the thing actually go over the redline or did it bump over it for a second and come back down to it?
 
It went over and didn't want to come come down. I had to manage it with the throttle. 20' brought it down to about 2500 RPM.
 
You've now learned the valuable lesson that the only thing we're "checking" on a run-up is that everything works..........during the run-up.

G'job bringin' her back, sir. That's one for the "There I was..." files. :)

-mini
 
It went over and didn't want to come come down. I had to manage it with the throttle. 20' brought it down to about 2500 RPM.

Word, not much more you can do. As minitour said, there's a reason you check that governor on run up, but sometimes we all end up with some bad luck.

Just be glad it didn't happen on a PT6, there's nearly no coming back from that if you get an actual overspeed because it means that something like four redundant systems have failed.
 
What gets me is during my run-up I cycled the prop three times and each time it did what it was supposed to do. Its also not like I slam the throttle in when I take off. I slowly bring the power in so stuff like this doesn't happen.

What you just experienced was a little something called "Murphy's Law".:p
 
Word, not much more you can do. As minitour said, there's a reason you check that governor on run up, but sometimes we all end up with some bad luck.

Just be glad it didn't happen on a PT6, there's nearly no coming back from that if you get an actual overspeed because it means that something like four redundant systems have failed.

That would have been bad. I think at that point I would try to glide to Hayward.
 
What you just experienced was a little something called "Murphy's Law".:p

You have no idea. Last night was a mess. First this, tried to rent a car for a one-way, that turned into a nightmare, spent the night on a couch in an FBO, and now I'm flying soutwest home. I need a vacation!
 
Word, not much more you can do. As minitour said, there's a reason you check that governor on run up, but sometimes we all end up with some bad luck.

Just be glad it didn't happen on a PT6, there's nearly no coming back from that if you get an actual overspeed because it means that something like four redundant systems have failed.

Isn't it the general governor, overspeed governor and finally the fuel topping governor? That's some bad juju if you can get all 3 to come in to play.
 
Sometimes things break on airplanes...and usually at bad times...regardless of if you checked them right before takeoff.

Declaring an emergency isn't a bad thing, by the way. Since you have no way of knowing if things are going to get worse, it may be smart to get the trucks rolling and the other traffic out of the way just in case.
 
Reluctance to declare is very common, and usually wrong.

BTW, glad everything worked out for ya!

But lets consider for a moment some other avenues this could take. When you declare, for all intents, a protective cocoon is erected around your airplane. Lets say in your haste you land on the wrong runway, or land hard and blow a tire and go off the side. Or worse. If you declared, you are protected from violations to a higher degree.

Also, governor failure (even more so on turbine equipment) can be a very serious thing. The governor may have physically failed, and is now pumping oil out, sometimes at a fairly high rate. Or, it may be sending chunks of metal downline, and can cause a scavenge pump to fail. It really is a serious emergency, with the potential for an engine fail not far behind it.
 
Just be glad it didn't happen on a PT6, there's nearly no coming back from that if you get an actual overspeed because it means that something like four redundant systems have failed.

No, the other governors have not failed (in your supposition) The other governors are there as back up. You would never know the primary governor failed if there were no changes. But like I said in my other post of this thread, you may not have long, depending on the type of failure. Oil loss works every time. The over speed governor is set at a small percentage over normal red line, but well within critical speed of the system.
 
Declaring an emergency isn't a bad thing, by the way. Since you have no way of knowing if things are going to get worse, it may be smart to get the trucks rolling and the other traffic out of the way just in case.

Reluctance to declare is very common, and usually wrong....But lets consider for a moment some other avenues this could take. When you declare, for all intents, a protective cocoon is erected around your airplane. Lets say in your haste you land on the wrong runway, or land hard and blow a tire and go off the side. Or worse. If you declared, you are protected from violations to a higher degree..

Not much to add to what these guys have said. If you have a problem, declare an emergency. It doesn't cost you anything. No one is going to question your masculinity.

The classic case is the Avianca crash in NYC. They wouldn't even declare "minimum fuel" and flamed out, killing 70 something people. If you have a problem, don't hesitate.
 
Not much to add to what these guys have said. If you have a problem, declare an emergency. It doesn't cost you anything. No one is going to question your masculinity.

The classic case is the Avianca crash in NYC. They wouldn't even declare "minimum fuel" and flamed out, killing 70 something people. If you have a problem, don't hesitate.

Looking back on it now, declaring would have been the better decision. I appreciate the input from everyone. Trust me, it keeps replaying in my mind, and I think how could I have done this better?
 
Looking back on it now, declaring would have been the better decision. I appreciate the input from everyone. Trust me, it keeps replaying in my mind, and I think how could I have done this better?

Once you put it down on the ground you can ALWAYS think of things you could have done better. Just don't dwell too much, just consider some things you did correctly, and some you did not and then store it away for "things to think of next time something like this happens" and move on.
 
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