Kitfox Flight over Yosemite with Engine Problem at 12,000 Feet
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2020
- I flew over the beautiful Yosemite Valley in July 2020. At the end of the Valley, at 12,000 feet altitude, I felt a vibration in the Rotax 912ULS motor. Instead of flying to Hetch Hetchy, I started flying back to Pine Mountain airport. Didn't lose any power and landed safely at Pine Mountain. Checked out the Rotax, couldn't find anything wrong, so headed back to Lincoln. Vibration stopped when I left Pine Mountain. Turned out to be a fouled spark plug.
I am surprised it didn't shake more running on 3 cylinders. Nice video, thanks.
The Rotax has two plugs per cylinder but it will loose a little power if only one is firing.
Nice camera work! I did the Yosemite run from Placerville in November 2020. Nice morning jaunt with spectacular views!
Wow George, beautiful shots of Yosemite. In flight problems always tend to be nerve wracking...you handled that like a pro. Well done
Thanks Dan! Glad it was only a spark plug.
Wow, awesome photos, well done. You did great.
Thanks Jean!
Great aerial shots of Yosemite!
Thanks Rumbear!
Gorgeous views of the Valley, but man definitely not a place I'd want to have any type of engine problems. Glad you landed safely. Great videos! Keep them coming!
Thanks Tango Juliet. Afterwards I thought if I completely lost my engine, I could have circled around the inside of the valley and landed in a meadow and would have had some great video.
George Hardin that would have definitely been a memorably landing. We’ve always wanted to fly over Yosemite, been there by car tons of times but flying I’m sure is a whole other experience
Get a Hacman Leaner, Green Sky Adventures sells them, and you can lean your 912. I change my plugs every 4 to 600 hours, and have never had a fouled one in 2700 hours, plus you can knock off as much as half a gallon per hour fuel burn! I looked it up, El Capitan is only 7573' feet, man it should looks taller then that! Great scenery!
Awesome videos. Could you please upload a video about your kitfox explaining the details of it? I binge watched all your videos and they are lovely.
Hi Swaviman, thanks for watching my videos. Since the fire smoke is so bad in California right now and I can't fly, I might be able to put together a video with more details regarding my Kitfox.
Very nice! I didn't realize Yosemite was so low an elevation, at only 12 K you appear to be WAY above it. Fouling aplu gi super rare in 912S, first time I've heard of it. Too rich maybe? Too much av gas, too often would maybe be the culprit also.
I was right at my 100 hour plug replacement cycle when this happened. After I dropped 4,000 feet it stopped. The rotax carbs dont have a way to lean. Got my attention, though.
Fouled plug in a 4T motor? That seems odd. Is it carb or FI? if carbed, maybe should've been leaned out more - 12k feet is pretty far up. Glad you came thru it safe, in any case.
I was right at the 100 hour replacement interval when one plug stopped firing. The Rotax carbs automatically compensate for altitude so can't adjust. Started firing again after I got down to 3,000 feet.
How was this filmed? What camera was used?
Hi Chris, I am using a Insta360 One X on a selfie stick mounted on my strut. Nice camera, but buggy. Has shut off several times when out flying and you cant walk out on the wing to turn on. Studio software took some time to learn how to manipulate video.