Martin 404 to OSH!
AVweb continues its coverage of EAA AirVenture 1998 … .

One rejected takeoff, two precautionary engine shutdowns,a lost tire tread, and some other less serious events, and we're here at OSH with thislovely vintage airliner. It was built for, and delivered to TWA in 1952, and served themuntil 1960, when it was converted to an executive interior, and sold to a constructioncompany. Later, it was used for celebrity charters, for the likes of Muhammad Ali, HowardCosell, Don Meredith, and others.
The airplane is now owned by "Airliners of America", a new museum based inCamarillo CA. Jeff Whitesell, the owner and President, has a wonderful dream of havingexamples of all the classic airliners, all in flying condition. The Martin is the first,with a DC-4 and DC-6 to follow soon, and others in the future.
These aircraft will be doing tours of the USA next summer, and inthe meantime, we are hitting airshows close to home, doing sightseeing "cheese andchampagne" flights, movie gigs, and flight training. Full captain checkouts,including the type rating go for $7,500, and FO checkouts for $1,500, with the hopes thatwe can actually use such people for the various flights, as volunteers. Several havecompleted these programs, and appeared to have a ton of fun. It's a lovely way to get someexperience with one of the radial-engined classics, for real. One such pilot, RandyDettmer, volunteered to go along to OSH as copilot, while I took captain duty for thetrip, with Jeff (also a fully qualified captain) watching us manhandle his baby from thejumpseat. Jeff has long experience with this airplane, as he, his father (Bill Whitesell),and brother used to operate this very aircraft, on the charter flights!
We also sell memberships in the museum, with various "levels" and privileges,like going along to airshows, etc.
The Plan
Jeff decided that he wanted to hit the giant show at Oshkosh forpromotional reasons, to sell memberships, and put the airplane on show. To help with thehuge expense for fuel and oil alone, he decided that $404 would be a "neatnumber" to ride along, although it would not cover fuel and oil, even with all 20seats full. We figure 300 gallons the first hour, and 200 gallons per hour after that forrough flight planning, and it can be much higher. The word was put out, and aviationenthusiasts from all over the area jumped at the chance to ride to OSH in style. There are16 plush seats in an executive configuration, and four crew seats, and we ended up withpeople on a waiting list, just in case someone cancelled.
The plan developed to leave from Van Nuys at 0700 Monday (July 27), in order tohave the nice long runway, and to take advantage of the very nice hotel right next to theparking spots. The week before was a frantic one for the crew of volunteers, tryingdesperately to get everything checked out, a flyaway kit put together, a new left inboardtire put on, and some cleanup done. We knew everything was working (the airplane is infine shape, compared to most older airplanes), but a couple systems had not been used formany years, like pressurization, cooling, water injection, radar, autopilot, and so on. Inthe end, we were unable to get any of those going to our satisfaction, so we decided to gowithout them, in accordance with the MEL.
The "Experience" Begins
The "experience" began with the very first takeoff, apositioning flight from Camarillo to Van Nuys, around 1700. We really wanted to get thewater injection system going, because it allows a maximum weight increase from 41,500pounds (dry), to 44,900 (wet). This would have allowed us to go non-stop to Liberal KS.Without the ADI system, we would have to make at least one stop. Why Liberal? Well, withall our aviation enthusiasts, we wanted to stop and see the wonderful museum right on thatairport.
Water injection ("ADI" or "Anti-Detonation Injection") is an oldidea. Internal combustion engines use excessive fuel at very high power settings forcooling, with the excess fuel just going out the exhaust, mostly as dark smoke. This iswasteful, but worse, the very rich mixture that does burn is too rich to produce"best power". The tradeoff works, but only to a point.
If we lean the engine out to "best power", we can increase the actual powerat the prop by up to 10%, but the cylinder head temperatures go out of limits, anddetonation may occur. However, if we dump water in with the fuel/air mixture leaned to"best power", the water does the cooling, without affecting the combustionmixture. But water creates more problems, because it freezes in cold weather, withresidual water freezing in the lines with the very cold temperatures at altitude. Bymixing half water and half methyl alcohol (methanol), we solve the freezing problem andserendipitously, the water/alcohol mix is even more efficient at cooling than the excessfuel.
In fact, the ADI lowers the temperatures so much, we can increase the manifold pressureand RPM, and get an additional amount of horsepower, perhaps as much as 10%, for anoverall 15% to 20% gain, from the ADI system.
We decided to test the ADI system on the positioning flight, as we were out of time.Alas, the "derichment" valve didn't work properly, and we got a lot of surgingout of the right engine when the water kicked in, so we had to abort that takeoff. No bigdeal, we were only doing about 50 knots, with a V1 ("decision speed") of 88.Damn, there went our nice non-stop.
Next, the pressurization. It worked, but the gear-driven compressor on the right engineused a bit too much oil, and we were unable to find a sufficient quantity of that veryspecial oil. Ok, so much for pressurization, and never mind the flight levels. Too bad, itwould have been much nicer to go to FL210 across the Rockies.
Too Much of a Good Thing
During the short hop to Van Nuys, we discovered very early that the left fuel flow wasinsanely high, approximately double what it should be. This was worrisome, as it had beenworking just fine for a year. Engine ran fine, and leaning for best power worked fine, butthe fuel flow was still far too high. We thought it might be an indication problem, butthe very ugly possibility existed that we had a fuel leak inside the engine compartment.Both Jeff and I have had engine fires in the dim past from this very thing, so we quicklyagreed the best thing to do was just shut it down. This done, emergency checklistcomplete, we had to decide whether to press on to Van Nuys and work on the problem withthe tools and components we had aboard, or go back home, where we had it all. Easy choice,back home we went.
We changed the fuel flow transmitter, and for good measure, the fuel flow indicator,did a quick runup, all ok, so buttoned it up. By this time it was 10pm, and we had anuneventful flight to Van Nuys. By the time we got the airplane secured and fueled, it wasmidnight, after a long, tough day.
Heading For The High Country
There was one very minor problem, which would later nearly costus the airplane, or worse. The oil in the left tank was 27 gallons, and 32 in the right,while "Full" is around 35. We have tracked fuel and oil usage very closely forthe year the aircraft has been operating, and we knew it burns about two gallons per hour.Two is "reasonable", with three not all that rare in these big radials. Wewanted to fill both tanks for the three-hour flight to Grand Junction, Colorado (GJT), butthe Van Nuys FBO did not have 60W oil, except in quart cans. No one had the heart to add32 quarts of oil at midnight! We do carry 25 gallons in 5-gallon containers in the belly,but we use that only when absolutely necessary. Knowing GJT did have 60W, we elected toleave the oil alone. We use 15 gallons as an absolute minimum for takeoff (short flightonly), and even if we burned 3 gph, we figured at worst, we'd be down to 21 on landing at2 gph, or at worst, 18 at 3 gph. That is quite acceptable, meeting even airline standards.According to all information, all the oil is usable, but that turned out not to be true.
About half-way to GJT, we noticed the oil quantity was a little lower than we'd planned(both fuel and oil quantity instruments are superbly accurate on this airplane). With somecalculations, we figured the oil in the left engine would be down to about 10 on landing.Not good, but not a really big deal, either.
Things Start Getting "Really Interesting"
About 30 minutes from GJT, at 11,500', left oil quantity at 10gallons, right at 18 or more, the left oil pressure needle started jumping. Ooops. Wasthis correct, or was it the indicator? With a little bit of "denial mode" goingon, I figured we'd not do anything unless the light for "Low Oil Pressure" (anentirely separate system) also came on, but at the same time, I started looking for nearbyairports, runway lengths, and elevations. About ten minutes later, sure enough, the littlered light started flickering, meaning we really had a problem, and had to shut the enginedown, or burn it up. We briefly discussed it, everyone agreed that while we couldn'tmaintain 11,500' on one engine, we had plenty to altitude to "drift down" to asingle-engine landing at GJT at 5,000' msl, using "METO" power ("MaximumExcept TakeOff"). Once down at lower levels, we could probably maintain altitude, onone. So we did the familiar engine shutdown procedure, set up METO power, and began agentle descent, in fine shape. Since we were talking to Center for radar advisories, wedeclared an emergency. The Canyon Lands airport was just ahead and to our left, with GJTroughly 30 miles beyond that. I thought of just dropping in at Canyon Lands, but with theshort runway, high elevation, and hot temperature, we'd never get the airplane out again,unless we left all the passengers and baggage behind. Further, a single-engine landingwould be a real challenge, too, with no room at all for errors. Since we were now on oneengine, and engines do fail, after all, we briefed the passengers, got 'em buckled in, anddiscussed the procedures for an emergency restart of the left engine. I offered to pullRandy out of the right seat, and let Jeff sit there, but with an incredible show ofconfidence, he said we were doing just fine, no changes needed.
At this point, we were in pretty good shape, all things considered. We talked about thequantity indicator, and wondered aloud to each other whether it was stuck at 10, or wasthere something else going on, here. We must have run the numbers a dozen times, but theactual oil consumption appeared to be an astounding six gallons per hour.
Strike Three?
Then we noticed the RIGHT engine oil quantity dropping faster than it had been, perhapsfrom the use of very high power. On the other hand, by all cockpit indications, theadrenaline flow was increasing rapidly, and the usual "pilot's prayer"("Oh, shit") was duly uttered by all three of us. We wondered if the rightengine would show the same problems as the left, or if it would perhaps be good to us, anduse a bit more oil out of the tank, please. Pretty please?
The cockpit got very quiet, with all three of us constantly cross-checking the rightengine oil quantity against the GPS "time remaining", while I started lookingfor nice roads, open fields, and flat spots (not many in that part of the world!). We werein deep trouble now, because we only had a couple thousand feet above the ground for a fewmore miles, before the terrain dropped away to the valley where the airport is located. Ifthe remaining engine quit, we'd have only seconds to get the other one going before we'dbe in the dirt, and a deadstick landing in a big airplane like this is nearly unthinkable.I found myself thinking very seriously about the unthinkable. About ten minutes out (onthe GPS), with 10 gallons remaining in the right tank, airport coming into view, the rightoil pressure started doing the dance for us. Well, hey, at least the airplane isconsistent! With four minutes to go, the right engine low pressure light startedflickering, and continued to do so until the landing, which was uneventful.
We checked the screens (normal), filled up the oil tanks (thequantity indications appeared correct), and the oil consumption for the next two flightswas perfectly normal!
What the heck happened here? Was it unreasonable to take off with the oil less thanfull? I don't think so, considering "what we knew, and when we knew it". Thereare some who say "NEVER take off with less than full tanks!" (oil or fuel), butthis is plainly silly, the airlines do it every day. We take what we need, plus provisionfor the alternate(s), plus reserves, and go.
We are still unable to explain the one-time unusually high oil consumption, and canonly guess that the long, hard climb in hot conditions did that. Or, perhaps there wassomething else going on due to the altitude (11,500'), which we have not used much, andnever on a long flight, before. Since arriving at OSH, and talking with many pilots withextensive warbird/radial experience, no one else has been able to come up with anything,either.
Also, why did the oil pressure start fluctuating with 10 full gallons still in thetank? I can take a wild guess at this one. It may be because of the very long tank in thetop of the wheel well. There was probably only a few inches of oil over the outlet tube,and since oil at 190F flows like water, there may have been a little "bathtubeffect", perhaps a little funnel over the outlet, allowing some air to be sucked in.I wish I'd thought of this sooner, perhaps a little yawing might have broken that funnelup, just as sticking your foot in the funnel will do in the bathtub. But, I don't plan toexperiment with this again, we will now consider that bottom 10 gallons"unusable"!
Passengers fed and watered at GJT, we pressed on to Liberal, Kansas, for the museumtour.
What Else Can Go Wrong?
Takeoff was normal in every way, but on departure, we heard apilot report of "big pieces of rubber on the runway". Uh, oh, NOW what? I calledand said "Tower, Martin 36X, would you advise us if that rubber looks like it mighthave come from us?" A few minutes later, they said it looked like just about theright size, and "What are your intentions?" Since it didn't matter on theflight, we elected to press on to Liberal, so if we did have a problem, at least the gangcould visit the museum while we fixed it. Departure control asked "Understand youblew a tire?" "Naw, we didn't feel anything, probably just lost a chunk oftread". Center, upon first contact: "36X, understand you lost a tire ontakeoff?" "No, no, center, we just lost a bit of tread, not a problem!"Next center controller: "36X, understand you lost a wheel on takeoff? Are youdeclaring an emergency, Liberal just called in a panic, want to know if you'll need theemergency equipment?" It got worse with every contact!
We finally raised Liberal Unicom, and straightened things out. Randy made a finelanding from the right seat, and we taxied in, everything normal. Folks, I could really,really get to like "normal"! Getting out, we discovered the newly-installed,recapped tire was the one that threw one whole tread, a three-inch wide strip of rubberthe full circumference of the tire. So much for precautionary changes!
We looked long and hard at it, and thought of just pressing on. With just the missingtread, and without passengers, we'd have probably done it, but there was an ugly flawedspot that had been covered up by the now-missing tread, which may even have precipitatedthe event. I decided a change was in order, and everyone agreed, not without a few groansat the work ahead of us.
It was now 1600, we were all tired from the long days, short nights, and all theexcitement, and we were facing a very difficult tire change. Mercifully, we had elected tobring a spare tire, but it was not mounted on a wheel. This meant we had to take the wheeloff the airplane, dismount the bad tire, install the good one, and put it back on. Simple,right? WRONG.
This is a big tire, about three feet in diameter, 60 psi. We got the airplane jacked up(yup, we carry the jack and all tools), the wheel off, and then started trying to get thetire off. We had to be VERY careful, because the wheel is magnesium, cracks and shatterseasily, and there are NONE to be found anywhere. Someone finally got the bright idea ofcalling in an outfit that specializes in changing truck tires, and they brought theirsetup out. That was still a challenge, but we finally got the beads popped off the wheelat about 1900 (no breaks, no food). The next two hours were spent trying to split thewheel itself. Twelve very special bolts, washers and nuts need to come out (allheat-treated, high tensile stuff), then the wheel splits. In theory. The reality is thatthis wheel has a very unusual "mate" with one half fitting inside the other, andit's HARD to get them apart, but we finally get that done. We are really, really draggingnow, filthy dirty, cranky and hungry. Someone mentions "pizza and beer",everyone cheers, but we're all too busy to make it happen, we just want to get the jobdone. Paid employees would NEVER work this hard, only volunteers.
Now it's about 2100, and someone says "Rain!" Uh, oh, we've got a bigairplane up on a tiny jack, out on an unprotected ramp, with a Kansas boomer bearing down!More "pilot's prayers". Best we could do was lower the jack so the remaining(left outboard) tire was on the ground, tie it down, and hope, while the wind got strongenough to literally blow tire tools around the ramp. Meanwhile, back to putting the newtire on the wheel, which went fairly smoothly. I got all the bolts that hold the wheeltogether, all the washers, and all the nuts - except one! This is not only a special part,it has a special thread, to prevent the use of anything else! I went nuts, running anever-expanding search for that nut, first in the hangar, then on the ramp, to no avail. Inutter desperation, I finally yelled "Does anyone have a nut in their pocket?""Oh, yeah, I do", sez Randy, not realizing he was only inches from death frommutilation. He'd been holding the nut when the "Rain!" cry came, and stuffed itin his pocket while running to help. We would have been grounded for lack of a nut.
Finally!
We finally got to the motel about 0100, grease and dirt from headto foot, absolutely exhausted, facing an 0500 wakeup. "Oh no, guys, no way. I want agood eight hours, so let's just play like we're an airline, and delay the flight threehours — MINIMUM". That was easy, and the passengers didn't even complain! They had agood museum tour, a fine dinner, a good night's sleep, and were all happy and ready to goin the morning. We launched from Liberal about 1100, made a quick stop in Omaha for fuel(no oil), and arrived at Oshkosh around 1600, after two beautiful, smooth flights,airplane an engines running like a Swiss watch. While droning along near Dodge City at9,500', a ground speed of 200 knots, we all looked at each other, smiled contentedly, andsaid "Man, it don't get no better than this".
