Dave~What's the plan for FIFI?

[51fixer]

Ok, since when does a fuel pump cause bad vib's? Rich could you chime in if you can please??

The backfires at high power can cause a lot of damage and strain on the engine.
If there is a problem with fuel delivery that can lean out the mixture and cause the backfires.
Ignition could be another source. Even deposits on the spark plugs can cause back fires.
Assuming that the boost pump wasn't used or that the engine pump was inop and possibly blocking the proper delivery of fuel could be part of the issue.
Either way excessive backfires under power is a bad thing.
Weren't they already building a spare?
This is a hybrid engine build and new setups require caution and examination of things closely. There just isn't any data to use here.
Rich

[Lynn Allen]

Roger that and thanks for the chime. I would think that lack of fuel would be at the top of the list....

[Obergrafeter]

Sucking air? Maybe an intake problem on the one engine. The others seem fine.

[Brad]

A fuel pump went out. That sort of stuff happens. It was replaced with another one. It's not a big deal and was completely seperate from the problems that are being looked at now.

The number two engine is the only one we've had any problems with. After the problem flight, the right distributer was removed, it was found that the rotor wasn't necessarially getting fire where it was supposed to. That sort of stuff happens. We changed it out and thought that would cure the problems. We fired it up and found that the ignition problem wound up causing a few other problems. Still not a huge deal, just a pain in the butt and inconvience.

In the process of chasing other problems that developed as a result of the ignition problem,the decision was made to pull the engine and send it back to Anderson (by their request) so that is what has happened. The engine isn't making metal and the problems aren't that significant, considering what could go wrong. It's just stuff that needs to be addressed by the people that are the best at it, the folks from Anderson.

Engguy, you don't know a dam thing about the warranty, the fine work done by Anderson or anything we've done to the plane; beyond what you've seen on here. So don't bother speculating about stuff you have no knowledge about.

If you want to help, Southwest Airlines is ready when you are. By all means come to Midland and pick up a wrench or send a check to the squadron so we can get out of the financial bind that we've been in for all these years.

If Gary was here, maybe you would have a complete update on the hour, every hour for the duration of the life of FiFi. Gary didn't have a life outside of the airplane and that is extremly sad. He posted like he did because of that. Fortunately, the guys running the show now do have a life outside of the hanger.

Nothing is being kept secret, there is no conspiricy, nobody is hiding things and it's certainly not a matter of the crew trying to keep the WIX crowd in the dark. There is absolutely nothing that has happened with this airplane that wouldn't have happened with Gary still here.


I am amazed by the number of people that think everything should go perfect from now on with Fifi. Why is it so surprising when there are a few setbacks? It's going to be one thing after another for a long time until everything shakes around and finds a happy place. She's just like any other 65yr old woman after surgery. She's not going to just jump back up and dance.

Could the squadron keep people informed better? Possibly so and that is being worked on. I can say that in the meantime, as soon as something worth posting about happens, it will be posted.

[Robbie Stuart]

Well said Brad! It sho is easy to let your fingers on the keyboard be a Monday morning C.C., flightmech, Motorman (F/E), & F"ing expert. This ain't no perfect World. It takes a lot to keep a simple airplane flying in good shape. This here gal "FIFI" is an old gal that was not easy to "take out on the town" when she was young, so just do a little thinking before you guys let your fingers do the walking. No hard feelings to anyone from here, no I am not involved with FIFI, but "I been there & done it" with some other old gal's. Thank you to all involved with FIFI, wish I was closer, He11, I would probably come out of "Warbird Maint" retirement, & bust some knuckles, fall off ladders, drop a wrench when it took you 15 minutes just to get on that generator mount bolt you were about to loosen, drill out 100 screws in a day that were stripped long ago on the one panel you really need to remove, & wonderful stuff like that.
Brad, here's to ya buddy and all the folks that are trying to keep FIFI flying. Long live Gary's memory, we miss you Retroaviation!!!!!!!!!!

Off the soapbox, best to all.
Robbie

[B-25 C]

Hi Brad
Well said! Thanks for the up date.

[Obergrafeter]

Just think of all the billions of dollars (yes billions in todays dollars) that Boeing and Wright spent on that combination back in 43-45, much less the amount of manhours spent in the Battle of Kansas then having a little glitch don't seem so bad.

[b29flteng]

Well said Brad.

The first flight went very well. We had two minor write-ups that weren't bad enough to mess with. One problem from the first flight that was fixed was a small leak in the #2 engine driven fuel pump, it was changed and the problem solved.

You've heard what happened on the second flight. What caused the problems, we don't know and we don't want to speculate like the media does by calling in "experts" who don't know crap. When the engine comes back and we are told what was wrong, we may or may not pass it on. When the time is right we'll let you know, speculating doesn't help. Trust me, it's more frustrating to us than you can possibly imagine.

Yes the engines are a hybred, but they have been tested many times at Reno, and have won.

[Chris]

Thanks Brad. That was really my intention in posting the question in the first place. I know theres a bunch of guys on this forum who have FIRSTHAND knowledge of the facts thus disspelling any rumors. Some of our members in Arizona had heard about it and were just wondering about the reason for the pulled engine. Always better to slow down and examine all the issues like Anderson is doing since they are in a learning curve phase with this new engine too. Hope she's back in the air by Airsho. Great work all you guys.

[mustanglover]

1 out of 5 overhauled engines of this age AND being a new hybrid is NOT bad if you think about it.

Let Anderson sort this out and then we will know what happened.

[ZRX61]

WTF is with all the frigging attitude? Looked to me like engguy was just asking questions & everyone jumped down his throat about it.

Lighten up guys.

[Brad]

WTF is with all the frigging attitude? Looked to me like engguy was just asking questions & everyone jumped down his throat about it.

Lighten up guys.

I'm not trying to be a jerk to him. The problem is engguy talking out his butt about the airplane, the crew (and us apparantly playing "I got a secret") , the engines, the warranty,our motives, etc..as he has done before...when he has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. If you have the time go back through his other posts and you will see its nothing new and quite honestly I am tired of it. He's making up stuff about the warranty that has no basis in truth but will lead to speculation by other people. That isn't something that we need and it has to be stopped. We have enough trouble stomping out fires as it is. We don't need him starting more.

Edit to add:
This is all strictly my opinion and viewpoint. I'm not a spokesman for the B-29 squadron, the CAF or anybody else. In fact some of those folks will probably get mad at me for writing any of this.

[engguy]

Southwest is a good airline, but I pretty much refuse to fly in a jet anymore. Besides the place I work at thinks I enjoy it so much that I should work every weekend for them. Then theres my own rusting and corroding projects, that never seem to get done. If I was closer I would love to help wrench. So since I'm not, I could write on engine related topics, here, but I would have to be kept uptodate on them.

Oh and the reason for the thinking "and us apparantly playing, "I got a secret", is because the thread was sitting at zero, 0, replys, its just no fun when no one replys to a thread you started, so I replyed. And its kinda not cool that the news was everywhere else and nota word on this web site that we all so enjoy.
And the reason I even mentioned the warranty deal is, because someone other than Anderson was doing repair work to the engine.
Gosh I sure didn't think I was gona get everyone so upset.

[b29flteng]

Right now there is no news. We're not going to feed you a line of BS, or speculate.

[ZRX61]

He's making up stuff about the warranty that has no basis in truth but will lead to speculation by other people.

Well let's be fair here, after the previous issues with warranty work on some engines from a certain company (NOT Anderson) it wasn't an entirely unfounded comment Gary & I had quite a conversation about engine warrenties. Some of the lines fed to engine buyers verge on the ridiculous...Not quite "well, the engine warranty was ok, but then we spotted a scratch on the elevator trim tab....".. but getting that way

Last edited by ZRX61 on Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.