Skymaster Arctic Circle Ditching.

[Diamond Service]

Hello Ernie.
The forward engine was factory new in 2000 and the rear overhauled in 1996.
FWD 462 TSN
REAR 900 TSO

I had the props,governors and all mags overhauled at the same time the avionics was done.

Troels.

[Diamond Service]

It was some busy minutes during the glide towards the cold below. Survival suit completely prepared and life vest put on and ready. Oliver sitting with life raft and some other equipment in his lap. I attempted to restart engines but of course without success. I drained the batttery trying to start engines so instrument lights were very weak. At about 3000 feet we decided to put the plane on the water just beside the ice. It was fairly easy to see the edge of the ice in the moonlight. Close to the water I selected full flaps and we hit the water with apprx 70 MPH. The nose went under and big chunks of ice crushed both windshields and the left side window. I put my right hand on the glareshield to brace myself. The aircraft stopped very rapidly and the water was up to our chest. Within seconds the cabin was completely under water. Oliver had the door open prior to impact but was now struggling to get it open. I got out through the left side window.Once out I pulled the inflate handle on my life vest and I was on the surface instantly. The left wingtip was resting on the ice and I used the wing to push myself up onto the ice. I looked back and saw Oliver in the water trying to get up on the wing. I was extremely worryed that the ice would carry our weight because it was moving and flexing a lot. Oliver boarded the ice crawling on the left wing. We talked about if we suffered any injuries and realized that the raft and other equipment was still in the aircraft. I started to crawl on the wing but the aircraft nosed down and went under. I got back on the ice and watched my company logo on the tailfin disappear into the dark water.

Last part of story to follow.

Troels.

[gwengler]

Wow! You guys are amazing! The fact that both of you made it out of there alive and almost unhurt is a total success story! I've been flying my Skylane to Iqaluit four times in the last three years, on two occasions going to/coming from Europe. Another crossing is planned for next year. I will take every word you wrote into serious consideration, as far as survival goes. When my wife who was with me on all of the above flights, heard your interview on CBC Radio, she cried because she knew from first hand experience how it is to fly in the Arctic and what a feel of relief it is to reach dry ground after a long water crossing.
I used to own a Skymaster myself, so our thoughts are now to find out if you are able to share with us your ideas on what went wrong with the engines. I think we all understand that you must have some concerns to share some information that could be used by various agencies; however, we all want to be able to avoid what you went through.
All the best, go flying soon,
Gerd

[Ernie Martin]

Good post from Gmas, and the arguments for partial refueling with jet fuel sound persuasive. One point I want to make is that in a standard Skymaster, without after-market engine monitoring instruments, the EGT guage isn't very informative. If you look, you will notice that there is no scale; it says 25 deg/div, so you can use it lo lean in cruise, but it doesn't tell you actual EGT. And although you might remember where it typically is, a lower reading can easily be attributed to the lower outside temperature.

Ernie

[Skymaster337B]

I put diesel fuel in a regular cars once. It only ran for about 5 mins. So I wonder how the airplane was able to fly 3+ hours on Jet A?

[Diamond Service]

We refueled in CYQB saturday late afternoon. All four tanks were refueled at that point.I dont recall the quantity but close to 200 liters. On Sunday we flew to CYWK without using fuel from the AUX tanks. The flight was 2 hrs 30 minutes. The MAIN tanks were refueled in wabush with 174 liters. I was up on a latter and checked that the AUX tanks were full. This means that if they refueled the MAINS with jet fuel the mixture in the mains would be about 50/50. About 1 hour 30 minutes into our last flight I selected AUX tanks on both engines simultaneously and flew for 1 hour before selecting back to MAINS. I noticed a slightly lower EGT on this last leg than on the previous legs. All magnetos were overhauled during the time the aircraft was in the shop for avionic work. I never heard any misfiring and the mag checks were always good. Starting performance was also very good both hot and cold engine.

Troels

[Paul462]

The classic JetA mis-fueling scenario is: take-off, and then the engine(s) quit at about 200 feet AGL.

Is it possible to run 1.5 hours on one set of tanks, then 1 hour on another set of tanks, and then after all that time have a mis-fueling engine failure?