Submitted by Anonymous on December 07, 2010.

Turbocharger failures may be tricky to detect. I was lined up with my twin and cleared for take off, I started to advance both throttles simulatneously forward the aircraft was rolling , speed was alive, TITS, EGTS, CHTS, OIL T&Ps were all normal as I continued to advance the throttles I noticed the MP was 4 inches higher on the right engine, yaw was still negligible, over a second I advanced the left throttle only further forward and noticed no increase in the left engine power and then immediately closed both throttles and stopped (luckily within the runway). Result was the left engine turbo was not working (something that will not show on normal power checks). Since then I developed a habbit. Every take off with my twin is a short field take off: Once cleared for take off I will press the breaks, advance throttles slowly to take off power setting, check my engines power, check all gauges and then release breaks...

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Submitted by billstrawn on December 09, 2010.

I agree you did the right thing. I had a runaway prop when leveling off once. I pulled power and prop, declared an emergency and was directed toward the nearest runway. On the way down I checked and everything worked fine now, but I kept heading to the runway. I spent 3 hours while mechanics ran tests, checked the governor, and all sorts of things. They found nothing and sent me on my way. I flew the 6 hours home (including a fuel stop), with the last 2 hours in the dark (would have made it home in daylight if I had not gone back to have the issue checked). But to this day, I still think I made the right decision. People who think otherwise may be bold pilots. but I doubt they will be old pilots. Unlike the auto, it is not so easy to pull to the side of the road when things kablooey at 10,000.

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Submitted by alanmurg on December 09, 2010.

thans625 - or should you be re-named "pressonitis " - it's easy to be smart after the event, if in doubt - don't.

As a result of this Robert will now increase his experience of Turbo sysems, and their failures if indeed that was the problem, and maybe make a different decision next time.

You cannot buy, or read, experience, you have to experience it.

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Submitted by north36 on December 09, 2010.

Robert,
as a student pilot I say you did the prudent and correct thing.

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Submitted by rmishler on December 09, 2010.

As a B36TC Bonanza pilot for 15 years, I experienced a turbocharger malfunction on 2 occasions. The most memorable was on the takeoff roll when the manifold pressure was only 25 inches and the acceleration was poor. I pulled back the power and taxied off without incident.Turned out that the turbo had coked up and was not turning despite my pathologic adherence to the 4 minute cool down that was prescribed after each flight. Robert, it seems to me that you are correct in the analysis that it was the turbocharger that malfunctioned though not in a catastrophic manner. Your actions were entirely appropriate-end of story.

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Submitted by johnbpatson on December 10, 2010.

And if you had carried on.... If it was a bearing failure in the blower side of the turbo, due normally to lack of oil, as often happens, it might have got hotter and hotter until it melted with the possibility of red hot bits of bearing being sucked into the engine. Or just burst into flames which might or might not have reached the fuel lines. If it was due to the blades coking up on the exhaust side of the turbo, they too would probably get hotter and hotter in the stream of exhaust gas until they decided to break up. Either way you would get at least a lot of smoke and a good shot of adrenalin. And a chance to experience life on the plains of Texas...

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Submitted by fastroush on December 10, 2010.

A similar thing happenned to me. I was ferrying a Cessna P337 from New York to Chicago and on take - off noticed that something was not right. Being that the #2 engine is behind you in a 337, it is somewhat difficult to hear or feel what it is doing. Checking the manifold pressure gauges confirmed that the #2 engine was developing less MP than the #1 engine so I stayed in the pattern and returned for a landing. Upon landing and roll out, the left main tired went flat which hampered directional control a little. Turns out, the turbo charger on the #2 engine was not working. The airplane had sat for a long time prior to this but mechanics DID do an annual inspection and engine runs before I tried to ferry it............

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Submitted by JR on December 10, 2010.

Robert my only question is why were you climbing in autopilot with vertical speed selected? Never a good idea in any airplane for just the situation you described, inattentiveness, hi deck angle, low airspeed.

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Submitted by robert goyer on December 10, 2010.

There's no other mode available. And I spotted the trend right away. I love airspeed hold, but you can't do it with the 55X. On the Perspective airplane, there's FLCH mode, which is how it should be done. That way the nose lowers and the airspeed stays the same, as opposed to the other way around.

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Submitted by iused2fly on December 09, 2010.

Is there not a part of the SR-22G3 run-up where the TIT reading is compared to an expected value, same type of thing as the RPM drop on each magneto that pilots look for in normally aspirated aircraft? If not, why isn't there such a procedure for the Cirrus SR-22G3?

Less than expected engine power/performance is a red flag that I hope most pilots would recognize long before they reach cruise altitude.

"Anonymous" above has some good suggestions but needs spelling, grammar and punctuation lessons.

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Submitted by Hogey74 on December 21, 2010.

Nice article and I like these comments sections. I find myself checking out this site more often. Can I suggest adding a tickbox to be notified of new posts? That feature encourages discussion beyond basic comments and my gmail aggregates multiple emails if a bunch of notifications come in.

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