Engine failure...What?!

[quadraspleen 7]

So, I'm ferrying oen of those sniffling, wheezing, coughing people on a 240NM hike..Tootling along at 4000; weather set to Low and Threatening..Got a 22kt tailwind...Flying for about an hour, the plane is trimmed great; I've got enough fuel to get there and an alternate, should the need arise (*real weather wish*)

 

All of a sudden, my engine dies.

 

Nurse: Why has the engine stopped; is this an emergency? (she actually noticed it before I did as my engine sounds are quite low)

 

Me: No, mam, this is Microsoft Flight; it doesn't do emergencies. Please return to your seat.

 

Patient: cries and sniffles a bit more

 

Me: scanning my instruments, tries to transfer fuel, but fuel available anyway; tries to restart engine..Got manifold pressure, and the prop is still spinning; feathers the prop, slows the descent..No engine...Repeat.

 

Me: Umm..Why has the engine stopped; is this an emergency?

 

Plane: splash.

 

Have I missed something? Does FLIGHT have random failures? I fly with all aids turned off, but I didn't think it did flight emergencies, but the nurse noticed it and commented..To be fair, they didn't say a word as we continued our descent to the briny..just continued sniffling and whining softly..

 

Any ideas? I did not run out of fuel.

 

Thanks

 

j

 

EDIT: note to self: the Maule is not ETOPS certified. Do island hopping next time, instead of a long water cross..duh

[RamonB 449]

That one is a first for me, I haven’t seen or heard of a system failure and have been playing since early beta. I’m pretty sure there are no failures yet in Flight.

 

You had enought fuel and tried fuel transfer so Jake, I don't know what happened but I would love to see a system failure in Flight.

 

Only thing I can think of is the Fuel selector valve. Was set to Both no?

[jandjfrench 3]

Hi,

 

Sorry, but I don't even have a guess as to what the problem was. I am curious as to how you knew you had a 22 kt tailwind when you had all the aids turned off. Probably our definition of aids differs and you were using the HUD. I'd like to know if it's something else.

 

Jim F.

[kentoo 0]

If the mixture somehow was set too lean the engine would not start no matter how much fuel was on board.

[andyjohnston.net 617]

If you look at the checklists, you do have the option for emergency procedures, so maybe there's something after all. :Thinking:

[RoboRay 126]

Got to be a switchology issue... Mixture pulled back, ignition to off, fuel-select valve to off, fuel in an aux tank but none in the mains, something like that.

 

Oh, wait... How much fuel did you have left? There's like 3 gals of unusable fuel in the Maule. I learned that the hard way and came up about 2 miles short of the field once.

[basys 4]

Hi Folks

 

Jake -

Been there and died several times before realising. :Confused:

 

 

 

I'm pretty certain

that your remaining fuel was only in the AUX tanks,

as the Nurse message you'd quoted

specifically belongs to the group of FuelEmptyEnroute dialogs.

 

i.e. You'd emptied your MAIN tanks.

 

 

 

Maule has two pairs of main & aux tanks, (respectively 21.5G & 21.0G)

EDIT -

Just checked.

On optimal engine settings,

full MAIN tanks should have given you approx 340 Nm.

Even more if it was a tail wind.

 

 

 

Had you set for cruise ?

Other non-optimal settings would consume fuel at a higher rate.

 

 

 

 

Long haul you need to turn on fuel transfer pump/?pumps?.

Not sure how fast fuel can be transfered,

or if one only would provide sufficient rate.

 

 

 

HTH

ATB

Paul

Edited May 7, 2012 by basys

[Heimi 91]

Got to be a switchology issue... Mixture pulled back, ignition to off, fuel-select valve to off, fuel in an aux tank but none in the mains, something like that.

 

Oh, wait... How much fuel did you have left? There's like 3 gals of unusable fuel in the Maule. I learned that the hard way and came up about 2 miles short of the field once.

 

 

Long haul you need to turn on fuel transfer pump/?pumps?.

Not sure how fast fuel can be transfered,

or if one only would provide sufficient rate.

 

 

You can use every drop of fuel as long as your main fuel pumps are on.

 

The transfer pump for the auxiliary tanks are workinh very well, but you have to switch them on manually.

 

Others: I had an issue where my engine was cut because i adjusted the volume via my Microsoft Reclusa keyboard. Somehow it is linked to some keys!?

[dburne 2]

My first guess would be somehow the mixture accidently got leaned out?

[Gibbage 199]

Ya. Im sure the fuel that was left was in AUX and your engine cant feed from aux. You need to turn your pumps on before the mains runs out. The pumps will only transfer fuel into the mains slightly faster then you can use it, so if you use the main, it will take a bit of time before the pumps can transfer enough fuel into the mains. If your going on a long haul, try to use the mains on takeoff and climb, then switch the pumps on and drain the aux first. This way, even if you run the AUX dry, it will still feed off the mains. I think this is proper procedure for the Maule anyways, as thats why the pumps are so slow.

[jcomm 5,939]

I had that problem too, on my Logitech keyboard, while using the keys to control volume (???)

 

Others: I had an issue where my engine was cut because i adjusted the volume via my Microsoft Reclusa keyboard. Somehow it is linked to some keys!?

[EastCoastGuy 0]

(Deleted what I said earlier in this post)

 

Apparently the auxiliary fuel pumps actually do work on the Maule in-game.

[garwig3 0]

I would suggest flying at higher altitudes as well. When flying over water you want to be high enough to be able to glide to the nearest land if possible. Sometimes you just can't do that, but the higher you are the better chance of gliding to land. I would suggest 8000' might be better in this scenario.

 

- Gary Letona

[Voics 0]

I'm betting that you bumped the B key and accidentally killed your engine.

This action also resets your fuel mixture etc, so if it happens you will have a fun and frantic time starting back up before you splash down.

 

On my Logitech headset the +volume button on the earpiece also replicates the B action. I discovered this feature midway between Kauai and Oahu.

[quadraspleen 7]

I am curious as to how you knew you had a 22 kt tailwind when you had all the aids turned off. Probably our definition of aids differs and you were using the HUD

 

Because I use the HUD to check the wind periodically in long flights (not that it ever really changes much within a theme) and then turn it off..A bit like a Wx check with ATIS..Not really an aid, more a necessity, surely?..Speaking of which, MS Devs: any chance of a quick on-off button for the HUD so we don't have to go into the menu for it?

 

It was the fuel transfer tanks. never had to use it before...Duh..Go back to school Jake LOL

 

Thanks for all the ideas guys