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This was Steve's write-up... He did a heck of a job!:
"IT WAS A DAY LIKE ANY OTHER DAY, EXCEPT; “I WAS THERE.”
My apologizes to Walter Cronkite for the title, but this is a little story of what can
happen and how best to prepare for it if in fact is does occur.
Saturday March 28th, 2009 Jason Somes in the F6f Hellcat, Ken Gottchell in the
A6M-3 Zero and me, your trusty storey teller in the F8f Bearcat had just finished
our final formation fly-by at the close of the Riverside, California Air Show and
turned west for home, Camarillo, California.
Ken being chosen as lead in the Zero had dialed up So Ca Approach. We were assigned our squawk code, and requested
a climb to 6500 feet. Our selected route of flight would take us northwest until over the 210 freeway, then
almost due west, direct to Camarillo Airport. Our formation was somewhat spread-out in trail after our final pass
as we all settled down and were selecting climb power, cowl flap positions, oil-cooler door positions, temps and
pressures. Once these items were satisfactory, it was time to level our in cruise. With Ken handling the radios and
squawk codes, Jason and I were free to look around and enjoy the ride. We were cruising in loose formation with
me in the Bearcat as #3 on the left and in trail of #2.
A few minutes after our turn westbound, I felt that the engine was not “feeling” right. What do I mean by not
“feeling right?” I can only tell you that I sensed a decrease in horsepower. I scanned all of the gauges and all
readings appeared normal. Oil pressure, oil temperature, manifold pressure, R.P.M.’s. I was about to key my mic
and ask my wingmen if they noticed anything, Before I could do so, Ken called me to say, “Bearcat, you are really
putting out black smoke!” My first thought was that the AMC on the carburetor had failed and gone full rich
which might explain the black smoke. I’ve had this happen on other round motors and you can help it by manually
leaning way back on the mixture control. I tried this and nothing changed, either in the smoke volume, as
verified by Ken and Jason, nor in a perceived increase in engine power by me.
We were coming up on The Rose Bowl at about this time and Ken had called So Ca Approach to tell them one of
our flight was having a problem and at the same time he had come close to me and to check underneath to see if he
could possibly tell me anything about what was happening to the Bearcat. As he was telling me what he was seeing
(very heavy black smoke) my engine really started unwinding. Ken said it looked as if I went into reverse as he
went way in front and under me. So Ca Approach wanted to know my intentions, I said land at Burbank now!
They asked me “what runway I wanted?” I replied, “what are the winds?” They came back that they were out of
the south. I said “I’ll take 15.” They replied that I was cleared to land on any runway. Now all I had to do was
make it.
I should add that while all this was going on, I had begun a shallow climb while the engine was still making some
power. If I remember correctly I got to just a little over 7000’ when the engine quit making any noticeable power
and down I came.
So Ca approach called to give me a squawk code which I entered on my transponder as up to then I was on
standby on the transponder as Ken was Lead and squawking for the flight. I remember at the time feeling
irritated that I had to change my focus of making the airport to enter a code on the transponder. Funny how
you remember things at this time of high stress.
When the engine began loosing major power, the smell of hot oil permeated the cockpit, and I was ready to start
hitting the fire bottles that Ken Krammer and crew had installed in the Bearcat utilizing 3 separate Halon bottles.
Engine fire is a big problem in the F8f due to the fact there is no real firewall and the aileron control rods
are directly behind the engine and would be the first to fail in event of a major fire. Ken Gottchell then called to
tell me that the engine was now putting out white smoke in large amounts. Shortly thereafter the smell of hot oil
was replaced by the smell of hot metal. Now I’m thinking, great, if I bend this airplane Ken Krammer, my
brother Gary, Joe Peppito, and the rest of the Wing will kill me if I survive!
Best rate of glide speed in the Bearcat is 140 knots clean, that is
gear and flaps up. Now I’ll tell you this, it is amazing how fast that
Bearcat can descend with a slowly turning propeller, and the short
wing span of this aircraft. I was turning downwind for runway 15
and my altitude was about 3000’. I selected gear down as I was
afraid of the engine seizing and then having to do a manual extension
with little time to do so. Boy, did this increase the rate of descent!
Just as I passed the runway touchdown zone I turned base.
Still high I thought, I selected 20 degrees flaps. What I noticed was
how with the gear down, flaps at 20 degrees, and the propeller barely turning the trajectory was that of a
greased crow bar. As I remember it the biggest problem I was having was maintaining 100 knots once the gear
was extended.
While I was concentrating on arriving at the airport safely, Approach called me several times to contact the
tower. Now folks, the last thing I was going to do was take my eyes off of my landing area, distract myself with
any non-essential items, so I did not answer them. Again, going through my mind was “boy, I’ll bet the tower or
approach will be pissed at me!” I had by this time cranked in full nose up trim and the stick was still nose
heavy. In very quick order, I pulled back to round out the landing, the airplane arrived solidly on the runway
in a three-point attitude. At the same instant the Bearcat touched down, the propeller seized. I turned off the
mags, mixture to idle cut-off, master switch off while I was rolling out on the runway. I knew they had closed
the airport to other traffic for my landing, and my intent was to clear the runway if able on the roll-out. As I
made a right turn off of the active a fire truck was entering right where I wanted to clear the active beyond the
hold short line. The fire truck saw there was no fire, guessed what I was trying to do, and put his truck in reverse,
however by this time I had begun braking seeing him coming at me. Long story short, I didn’t make it
totally clear of the active runway.
I rechecked the switches, un-strapped, unplugged and jumped out. The fire trucks were checking the aircraft
over and found no fire, and waited around for 20 minutes just to be sure.
A few more items I’d like to relate to the readers of this narrative; my wingmen did all the right things. First,
they alerted me to my aircraft smoking. Secondly, they coordinated with approach and relieved me of most of
the radio work. Third they followed me down all the way to my touchdown incase I needed any help. And
lastly, they landed after I was safely on the ground to check on me and the aircraft.
Things I could have done better; if you are flying formation, fly forward enough so that lead can just look out to
see your position, and give you a heads up if he sees anything wrong. I was too far back at first trying to figure
out if I had a problem. Secondly, as I was down to 1600 R.P.M.’s I didn’t try to pull the propeller back anymore
than where I had it set. As this was an Aeroproducts propeller, oil was not necessary to govern R.P.M.’s as long
as the engine was still turning and therefore I might have picked up a little better glide
ratio. Lastly, Jason tells me I didn’t land on the center line of the runway. Picky, picky.
Make sure your plane is fully serviced! I had 17.5 gallons of oil on departure
from Riverside and once the problem started to landing, all of the oil was
gone! This occurred in a time of less than 7 minutes! Just imagine what could
have happened if I had flown with minimum oil. Failure could have occurred
much sooner without the landing option I had. Oil pressure and temperatures
were all in the normal range until the last 3 minutes.
Kudos to So Ca Approach for a very professional job. Ditto to the fire department
at Burbank airport and to all of the airport personal in the friendly and
professional way that they dealt with me. And lastly to Millionaire Aviation
who assisted us with towing the aircraft to a safe parking area. Speaking of the tower (remember approach telling
me to contact them) airport manager asked that I call them as they wanted to talk to me. He gave me the
number and as I dialed my phone I thought “here comes my ass chewing.” When the tower chief answered he
asked if I was the pilot, I said yes, he said “great job sir! We’re glad you are alright.” Talk about class, my
thanks to all for a wonderful assist.
When I teach transition into high performance fighters (for that matter any aircraft) I harp at the students,
speed and altitude are your friends! You can be low to the airport environment, but you either need to have the
runway made or be going at the speed of stink. You can be slow, but you better be high if you need to translate
that altitude to speed. Nothing gets me harping on pilots more than a long drawn out final with gear and flaps
down. You have no chance if the worst happens. Speed is life, and in our high performance aircraft, you can
take that to the bank!"
_________________
Taylor Stevenson
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