Warbird Information Exchange

The Tiger Moth I've been flying, a DH-82A (all original, still with its tail skid and no electrics) suffered an engine failure on Saturday. We were fortunate. It happened at 1800' AGL (not just after take-off), and the Pilot, Bob M., was right on the money. He found a field and dead-sticked it properly. Zero damage. Zero injury. And his passenger, an 11 year-old kid, has something to talk about when school starts tomorrow.

He picked a bean field -- not that there were a lot of options. Here he is, Outstanding In His Field.



I asked him to describe the engine symptoms. He said it went rattle-rattle-Rattle, Bang-BANG-BANG - CLUNKKKK!!! And the prop stopped. (It's seized. Possibly a rod, or the crank failed.)

So then I asked him to describe what it was like to touch down in the beans. And he sprouted wings and pantomined the touchdown.



The big fat soft tires of the Moth didn't grab the beans, the lower wings kissed the tops and were cushioned, the tail sank in and started to grab (as I say, it's a skid), and it settled in 3-point and rolled about 200 ft. Very little damage to the beans, and the fabric under the wings is not even marked. (You can see his main wheel track marks, just, behind him.)

So, our guys at the hangar at Edenvale, Ontario, that day, drove over (about 3 miles by road) and pushed it over to the laneway. Then they staked it out for the night, apologized to the farmer (who was very good about it), offered a free ride in the airplane (strangely, he didn't appear excited by that), offered to pay the damages to the crop (graciously declined), and the gentleman even parked a tractor in the road access overnight to make sure no vandal could drive in and do something unfortunate.

Then we met next morning, with our police escort (very fine, helpful people), and hitched up.



The simplest option, since we weren't too far away, was to simply tow it using the dolly we normally employ to take the airplane out to the grass runway. And wiing-walk.



We negotiated the mailboxes and sign-posts. Occasionally broke off tree branches. Wiggled through some tight spots. and Boldy Taxied Where no Tiger had Ever Taxied Before.

The pilot, Bob M., walked one wing, and I walked the other. When it was clear, he jumped up on a gear leg and rode.



Eventually we had to pull out on the highway. This was a worry. I could just imagine some hot-tempered, go-fast, speed demon whizzing by and taking off a wing tip. But the police handled it perfectly. And the people pulled over very politely and let us by. We smiled and waved.

And wonder of wonders, we got it back into the hangar undamaged. (On the outside, at any rate.) Lots of curiosity, of course.



She's back in her corner now, all safe and sound. Tomorrow we start taking it apart to see what broke.



We're all very proud of Bob M. He's home-grown. He went up in the Moth as a passenger about 5 years ago, decided on the spot to learn to fly, and made it happen. He got his license on a Cessna, whacked in a bunch of time, came over to us and got checked out on taildraggers (Fleet Canuck), worked ceaselessly as ground crew on the Moth whenever required, took folks up for New-Member flights on the Canuck. And then eventually got checked-out on the Moth that first inspired him.

Which he's done a first-rate job of preserving in a difficult situation.

Dave

Dave, I’m very glad to hear everything worked out fine for the crew and Moth. I guess if something like this has to happen at least it is at the end of the flying season and not the beginning. I imagine ECAF does not have a backup engine? It sure has been a sad two weeks for Moths in Canada.

Eric

_________________
The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

Yes, it seems the Moths are refusing the harness lately. Maybe we need to put more oats in the feed bag.

Not to worry, though. These things happen from time to time -- rarely, and it's the first one at ECAF, but not unheard-of. We were planning to tear it down this winter anyway.

No we don't have a spare Gipsy. We'll have to scrounge.

Got one?

Dave

Good airmanship and a beautiful plane, too. I'm not familiar with that one.

August

Glad to hear that everything turned out well. Good job!

_________________
President National Waco Club
Curator for the Waco Historical Society Air Museum
Writer for VINTAGE AIRPLANE, SKYWAYS, BARNSTORMERS.COM EFLYER

Glad everyone was OK and everything worked out. Enjoyed the humor in your "narrative."

_________________
Steve
www.eaglesmereairmuseum.org
www.net2nite.com

Great piloting, staying cool and keeping his head. Looks like good training pays off. She will fly again. Dead sticking a plane is a whole lot harder than dead sticking a car! Hate it when there is a bang/pop then nothing but red and yellow lights! Hello AAA!

_________________

Aviation Illustration Website
http://shepartstudio.com/illustration/

August, this is a link to some A2A shots I took of the lovely Moth.

http://www.airic.ca/html/ccafmoth.html



Eric

_________________
The air resounds from the Rolls-Royce roar!
To an enemy the warning is dire: here only eagles soar,
and the last thing he'll see is a mirrored Spitfire!

I'm glad to hear everyone and everything is safe and in one piece (each).

It might be worth getting in touch with the tiger boys out in Guelph. If they don't have any gypsy motors, they could probably point you in the right direction or help with parts. They're the first people I thought you could contact, but I don't really have any connection with them or really know much about them. Ya know, Tiger Boys, probably know a bit about Tiger Moths and the engines on the fronts of them. Anyways, I digress.

Cheers,

David

Thanks, Davey. Yes, they are our good friends and neighbours. We have a few irons in the fire regarding a replacement Gipsy.

Dave

Ah! Now I recognize it. I downloaded a few pix of it last year when I was involved with the Tiger down at Lone Star. I had quizzed everyone on different paint schemes Tigers wore at different times and theatres of operation.
We did conservation of the artifact and then hurried up and waited while the blankety blanks at FEMA ( a dirty word down here) and insurance bozos twiddle their thumbs about paying us to restore/replace historic artifacts. If they come through, we'll hopefully get some hangar queens flying again. Wish us luck.
Working on the Tiger is what first got me seriously interested in biplanes and its the only one I have any hands-on wrench time with.
Open cockpits rock!

blue skies & tailwinds

_________________
"I love the smell of 100LL in the morning."

Happy ending!

After a long winter of searching out engines, parts and accessories, the grounded Moth flew again! It was particularly grueling for Dan G, who took charge of the engine replacement, because 5 of the engine cores he found and sent away for testing had cracks in various places. Very frustrating! Eventually he located a spare one from the Museum at Downsview, and a deal was made. Then the rebuilding began. Ultimately with success.

Here, Andy S swings the prop (Andy has spent virtually all spring replacing many components of the Fleet Canuck, and it's flying too, now). It's a stock DH 82A, thus has no electrics or brakes.



And it catches.