Throttled

After the airplane was returned to me, my gut was telling me something was wrong. Some of the work was, in short, a bit sloppy. I took this as a sign to go over everything, including 10 hours of high-speed taxi tests before the first flight, but clearly it wasn't enough. I recall looking at the throttle and how unprofessional it looked, in particular, "full throttle" on the right side only opened the throttle to 75 percent. The left seat throttle lever opened and closed the carbs fully, so I decided I could live with it.

Editorial Staff

Thursday, October 03, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The author's decision to modify a simple aircraft design by relocating the throttle, rather than "leaving well enough alone," introduced unforeseen complications.
Despite noticing sloppy workmanship and a specific flaw in the relocated throttle's function (e.g., limited opening), the author chose to ignore these warning signs.
During a landing, the poorly designed throttle caused an unexpected engine acceleration, leading to a dangerous ground incident and underscoring the risks of unnecessary modifications and overlooked safety indicators.

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Ipurchased a popular light sport that had been sitting in a hangar after the builder injured his back. We both walked away happy with the sale, but I soon decided it needed an engine with more horsepower. I worked with an A&P and builder to coordinate the engine upgrade, and we agreed on a number of other projects, one of which involved relocating the throttle.

This was my first mistake, not leaving well enough alone. Clearly the factory knew a simple, foolproof throttle easily reached by both pilots was the way to go. Fabricating a dual-throttle so both pilots can fly with one hand on the stick and the other on the throttle ended up introducing problems that didn’t exist before.