Partial Power Loss

[VFRGuy]

Hi All,

I'm a student doing solo xctry. Got about 60 hours in the DA-20 and never had a problem.

The other day, I experienced a partial power loss on climbout at about 3,000 feet at full throttle. It scared the fudge brownies out of me.

I turned back to the field and landed normally. Multiple instructors told me it was "normal" and probably water in the fuel.

Was hoping I could get some feedback from the owners here....appreciate it!

[pietromarx]

I can imagine there were some brownies. What were the symptoms? I'm guessing you checked the fuel for color / water, etc.?

I've not seen it in 1400 hours of flying ...

[1911Tex]

I wonder if the low pressure fuel pump was on....as it should be in climb. Another question, was the plane a C1 or earlier with a Rotax...I know nothing about the earlier versions. I would immediately demand to have the fuel source sumped and analyzed! There are 3 types of impurities: Clarity, water, particulates. A partial power loss is mucho better than a full loss. "Normal" and probably water in the fuel?......mags? preflight?

[Karl]

We would need a lot more information to make any reasonable guess.
Engine type, location, altitude, weather including dew point, power setting.
How long was the event? Momentary or was the power still reduced all the way to landing.

The fact others have said it was normal makes me think it was momentary and the engine recovered within a second or 2 which may indicate water or other contamination.

[VFRGuy]

I wonder if the low pressure fuel pump was on....as it should be in climb.

Yes it was.

Another question, was the plane a C1...

Yup

I would immediately demand to have the fuel source sumped and analyzed! There are 3 types of impurities: Clarity, water, particulates. A partial power loss is mucho better than a full loss. "Normal" and probably water in the fuel?......mags? preflight?

Instructor sumped it afterwards and didn't find any issues. No issues during preflight and run up.

[Guest]

How long was the event? Momentary or was the power still reduced all the way to landing.

The fact others have said it was normal makes me think it was momentary and the engine recovered within a second or 2 which may indicate water or other contamination.

Yes, it was just a couple of seconds, but felt like someone pulled the throttle to idle. Since this had never happened before, I fully expected the engine to quit any second. The adrenaline shot was stronger than first solo )

I'm really just trying to find out just how normal this was. I've flown 4 different DA20 C1s and never had an issue in flight. Just hard to start most of the time.

[Karl]

Yes, it was just a couple of seconds, but felt like someone pulled the throttle to idle. Since this had never happened before, I fully expected the engine to quit any second. The adrenaline shot was stronger than first solo )

I'm really just trying to find out just how normal this was. I've flown 4 different DA20 C1s and never had an issue in flight. Just hard to start most of the time.

It does sounds as though most probably water if it recovered almost immediately.
An event like this does indeed grab your attention especially if it is the first time. Happened to me half way across the English channel in an AN2. I was not looking forward to ditching a beast like that.

[thefoxx]

Now this has happened in my C1 but it was less than 1/2 a second - felt like an engine stutter of some sort with about a 200RPM drop, and then immediate rise again. It has done it about 3 times in the past year and a bit - completely random times.

All times this happened, I checked fuel sources (never any water or contaminants) and further more I just did a long x-country (5hrs flying each day for 2 days) and it didn't skip a beat (with this issue).

Did it feel like an engine stutter with a couple hundred RPM drop?

Have read about possible carbon deposits getting stuck in a valve, and it takes a short period for it to get blown out (or something similar)??

Sorry I'm not much help - but I have experienced something possible similar in my C1.

I can assure you of that complete adrenaline rush feeling - it is numbing.

[Guest]

Did it feel like an engine stutter with a couple hundred RPM drop?

Have read about possible carbon deposits getting stuck in a valve, and it takes a short period for it to get blown out (or something similar)??

Sorry I'm not much help - but I have experienced something possible similar in my C1.

I can assure you of that complete adrenaline rush feeling - it is numbing.

It definitely felt like much more than a couple hundred RPMs, but I don't know for sure. I pretty much immediately turned back and flew a tight pattern just in case, but everything was back to normal.