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Many times an engine is shut down unnec-essarily causing unscheduled landings inless than favorable conditions. In a lot ofcases a little trouble-shooting would remedythe situation.

EXAMPLE

Prior to the time when sensitive al-timeters were obtainable precise altituderetention was wishful thinking when fly-ing through clouds without an airspeed in-dicator. The backup was the tachometer. Witha constant throttle setting and a fixed pitchprop a decrease in rpm meant a climb,whereas an increase meant a descent. Thebest of pilots got caught once in a while.Complacency is not new.

During the late thirties a number ofimprovements appeared on transport air-planes. One such machine had a panel of

lights to be used in place of a checklist.Before takeoff, for instance, you kept mov-ing things in the cockpit until each andevery light went out. That wasnt too baduntil a bulb burned out. So they went back tothe best, a checklist.

In 1939 chips liphts were installed on DC-3 engines. A whisker would barely illumi-nate whereas a chunk would make the bulbburn bright. Naturally most indications werereported dim, especially over Tucson inthe good old hot summertime. Mind you, thesame pilots had been flying DC-~S over thisroute for years without losing an engine,and now they realized how dangerous it hadbeen. So most of them would cuss and take thebulb out of its socket until they landed. Amechanic would check the magnetic sumpplug and remove the fuzz, in most cases. Sothey removed the troublesome chips lightand went back to the old way. Watch thegauges in flight and periodically check thesump plugs for lumps. Time changes every-thing.

Chips lights inP-3s

are controver-sial. I must have had a couple of hundred.Only once were there chips (a whole handfull) but we also noticed gear box oil pres-sure fluctuations. Secondary indicationsshould be monitored and locale and weatherconditions should be considered beforeblindly pulling the handle. C-l 30s do nothave chips lights.

Beta Lights are something to watch for and

talk about, but the best indicators are yourears and eyeballs on landing rollout. ,Whenyou come over the ramp toward ground idle,and you hear a noise change, and you con-tinue to go straight, you are in good shape.Several times both bulbs have burned outduring my career. The best preventative, ofcourse, is the light check prior to landing.

Well prior, and not on final.

Fuel filter lights were installed at therequest of Navy Engineering. Jet transportsuse the warning to detect failure of fuel lineheaters allowing ice to accumulate in thesystem at very high altitudes. This hasntbeen a problem in P-3s. The filters in thesystem are bypassed with any restriction.Twice P-3s have made unscheduled land-ings for a fuel filter light. One at a remotesight without a tower or runway lights inoperation, and with the engine shut down to

boot. The other was at Cubi at 114,000 poundsand approach flaps. Engines 2,3, and 4 boggeddown when Ground Idle was smoothly se-lected at 134 knots!

In both cases the sensor switches wereout of tolerance, being very sensitive toadjustment. The Blue Book says if the engineis running normally and there is no visiblefuel leak, keep going with a filter light.Heres a suggestion: Push the throttles onthe suspect engine and its opposite to 10 10. Ifthe power matches there is no filter clog. C-130s and Electras do not have fuel filterlights.

Engine anti-ice lights have been thecause of a number of hazardous unscheduledlandings, because the light did not go outwhen the system was turned off. There is avery lame excuse for this caused by poortraining. When flying along and the anti-ice light comes on without anti-ice beingselected there could be a problem. Open thevalves. If a horsepower drop occurs, theBook says to feather the prop. If no drop is

noticed it means the valves went to Fail-Safeopen due to electrical problems. Check theelectrical panel and keep going.

By using the following procedure youcan eliminate all doubt about the valves po-sitions. During flight the horsepowers shouldalways be even across the board. Not theproverbial TIT, such as 925. When selectinganti-ice open all four valves simultaneously- not one at a time - and note comparativehorsepower drop. If they all drop the same

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