Generator failure for no obvious reason

[DthFrmAbv]

Folks, I'm clueless.

 

First of all, I have a lot of hours on that module, 100 at least, could easily be twice of that.

So I can say I'm a very experienced pilot. However, I havn't flown the Mi-8 for a couple of months, so maybe I just miss the point or I'm blind. Happens to elderly people....

 

Anyway, here's the problem:

 

In the "documents" mission, after the second stop (that's the one with that farm near the river), I get a generator failure warning. After takeoff that is, some 30 seconds into flight. RPM are fine, neither too low nor too high. It happens regardless. However, I then can continue till the final stop. Right after takeoff there, I get continuous generator failures and after a few of them, the generators permanently fail. I also seem to lose more and more power, eventually I either fall of the skies or need to do an emergency landing.

 

I've tried that mission three times now, always with the same result.

However, I've done some flying from the "instant action" menu and never ran into that problem.

 

Absolutely no idea what's going on here. Any hints?

[AlphaOneSix]

Are you looking at rotor RPM? Sounds like you might be looking at engine RPM.

[iFoxRomeo]

Folks, I'm clueless.

 

First of all, I have a lot of hours on that module, 100 at least, could easily be twice of that.

So I can say I'm a very experienced pilot. However, I havn't flown the Mi-8 for a couple of months, so maybe I just miss the point or I'm blind. Happens to elderly people....

 

Anyway, here's the problem:

 

In the "documents" mission, after the second stop (that's the one with that farm near the river), I get a generator failure warning. After takeoff that is, some 30 seconds into flight. RPM are fine, neither too low nor too high. It happens regardless. However, I then can continue till the final stop. Right after takeoff there, I get continuous generator failures and after a few of them, the generators permanently fail. I also seem to lose more and more power, eventually I either fall of the skies or need to do an emergency landing.

 

I've tried that mission three times now, always with the same result.

However, I've done some flying from the "instant action" menu and never ran into that problem.

 

Absolutely no idea what's going on here. Any hints?

Do you have a video, screenshot or track of that situation?

 

Fox

[Quadg]

I just flew the mission fine using no more power than cruise. as you are light carrying documents.

 

did you exceed the limits on the engine power indicator?

if you pull a lot more power than take off power, then you do get generator failures.

that I did test at the end.

 

so it sounds like you are exceeding the power settings and burning out your engines.

 

as altitude increases the power available decreases. why the three chevron on the engine power indicator move.

so you have less power at camp 3 than you did at camp 2. and then you have the climb over the mountains. try to keep your collective power in line with the bottom chevron. which is cruise. with unlimited time. the middle chevron is max continuous and has a 30 minute limit. the top one is take off and has a 5 minute max. going above take off is prohibited but probably what you are doing to get the generators to fail.

 

western helicopter use torque for the same thing. but the engine power indicator also takes into account EGT. so you don't have to glance between it and the EGT to see if you are overworking the engines. its easier to use.

anyway the engine power indicator tells you how much collective you can pull. and for how long before you fall out the sky :)

 

also remember the de icing system and the particle filters both effect the power available on the engine power indicator. so turn off de icing when you land or descend away from the condition.

don't have it on when you take off.

 

they seem to have added more icing events since the last time I flew this mission. and a landing pad at camp 2 (the farm).

i had to almost land in the river last time, which the co pilot expressly told me not to do :)

[Hawk 09]

Hi, I got the same problem. I set a simple mission up, just for landing practise around Beslan. Several LZ´s on the riverbank just for training. Even during the start up the generator failed (engine RPM going down, had to put the throttle up again and again) which I never experienced before. I shut the mission down and restarted it. It went quite well until the first landing. After a few seconds on ground the message came "Generator 2 failure". I spooled the throttle up again and had to restart the Roll stabilizer. Then took off, flew without a problem and after the next landing same thing. Repeat at every landing. I never had that before. The start up procedure was correct and not different to my other flights. I do ´nt have a clue. It cannot be the altitude, because it was down in the lowlands on the river. Any idea? Thanks!

Edited October 20, 2019 by Hawk 09

[DthFrmAbv]

Thanks for the replys.

 

But I'm very sure I kept all within limits and certainly I didn't "burn" the engines. The is no need for much power during that mission anyway, only stop three towards home base (assuming you go over the mountains and not back the way you came) needs a little more juice.

I also never take off with more power than necessary and torque was in the green zone for sure.

 

As I've said, I'm flying the fat lady for years and never had such problems before. That includes the "documents mission".

 

I really have no idea. Will save a trk file next time I try it.

[DthFrmAbv]

So I was trying again two times today, no issues whatsoever.

I still have no clue what happened, I did exactly the same as always before.

 

Puzzled....

[Jedrzej]

Hi.

What shows :

 

 

- engine pressure radio (EPR) indicator

- main rotor pitch angle indicator

 

 

Jedrzej

[Hooch]

Hello, forum participants! Maybe this is no longer relevant, but I solved this problem by completely turning off the heating. All success and soft landings!