Trip To Alaska Page  29 

At the end of the week # who knows?

Chena Marina RV Park

The Yellow Plane Can Really Fly

Actual visual proof that "The Yellow Plane" can really fly.

An ongoing project up here this summer has been working on the above pictured "Yellow Plane". It has been a source of much anguish and pain for about 10 years. Basically the engine ran so fuel rich that it would quit usually just when you needed it most. It has been in and out of every hanger in Fairbanks trying to get it to "run right".

You name it and it had been replaced, usually about 3-5 times, all to no avail. It was a classic example of "you can't see the forest for the trees". In a nutshell the aircraft was converted about 10 years ago to a high powered engine. One single engine sense line was plumbed incorrectly but that simple fact escaped everybody who worked on it. Yes, that does includes me...

For the technocrats reading this page take a look see at TCM SID97-3 Rev 3, page 36 of 38, Figure 13. The "upper deck reference air" line was plumbed DOWNSTREAM of the throttle butterfly thereby sensing intake manifold pressure. As Figure 13 shows it should be plumbed UPSTREAM of the throttle butterfly sensing turbocharger pressure. Relocating the line took care of 10 years of problems...

Jim at Northstar Aero along with a few of his buddies hit upon the problem. Of course no one can believe it, but it was so...

Click here to continue on with the story.