Hi, all.
I own a 73 Cherokee 140.
This past Easter weekend my brother was in town so I took him up for a little tour around the county. We were enjoying the weather and views and doing lazy turns over our various childhood landmarks, and during one particular right hand turn, my engine coughed. It was an instantaneous and momentary power loss, it was very brief, and it spooked me. I’ve not felt it do that before. I’m generally hyper aware, as I imagine we all are, of how the engine is sounding and feeling. I had my hand on the throttle when it happened, I tend to keep my hand on the throttle during maneuvers. I levelled out of the turn and listened, all seemed normal. It was not carb ice conditions, but I checked anyways, as I had been doing every 15mins or so. All normal. I turned on my electric fuel pump, and switched tanks. All normal. I remember the turn was right hand but I don’t remember which tank I was on when it happened. My brother didn’t hear the cough or feel it, but my sudden change in demeanour and rapid moves on the controls are what spooked him. We landed at our planned destination, fuelled up and had a coffee, and all was normal on run up and our return flight.
And as I’ve replayed the tape in my head, I can’t help but wonder if the engine cough was just in my head or did I bump the throttle during the turn accidentally, or did it happen as described above?
I plan to go fly circuits for a while on my own and try to recreate the scenario close to home. I don’t like this loss of trust I have in the plane right now.
Advice on this or on what to even look for on the plane?
I own a 73 Cherokee 140.
This past Easter weekend my brother was in town so I took him up for a little tour around the county. We were enjoying the weather and views and doing lazy turns over our various childhood landmarks, and during one particular right hand turn, my engine coughed. It was an instantaneous and momentary power loss, it was very brief, and it spooked me. I’ve not felt it do that before. I’m generally hyper aware, as I imagine we all are, of how the engine is sounding and feeling. I had my hand on the throttle when it happened, I tend to keep my hand on the throttle during maneuvers. I levelled out of the turn and listened, all seemed normal. It was not carb ice conditions, but I checked anyways, as I had been doing every 15mins or so. All normal. I turned on my electric fuel pump, and switched tanks. All normal. I remember the turn was right hand but I don’t remember which tank I was on when it happened. My brother didn’t hear the cough or feel it, but my sudden change in demeanour and rapid moves on the controls are what spooked him. We landed at our planned destination, fuelled up and had a coffee, and all was normal on run up and our return flight.
And as I’ve replayed the tape in my head, I can’t help but wonder if the engine cough was just in my head or did I bump the throttle during the turn accidentally, or did it happen as described above?
I plan to go fly circuits for a while on my own and try to recreate the scenario close to home. I don’t like this loss of trust I have in the plane right now.
Advice on this or on what to even look for on the plane?
