How to ruin a great day

Threefingeredjack

Threefingeredjack

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Threefingeredjack
So, the boss wife and I are taking the newly restored 172 on a little road trip, she has the Penn Yann STC for a 180 horse engine, new almost everything and she's sporting a GTN 750 nestled in the stack.

Our plan: Shelter Cove, Santa Rosa, Ashland OR for a couple of plays at the Shakespearean Festival, and then home.

Shelter Cove was nice, and this morning the crappy weather rolled in right on cue. We left VFR and joined V 27. And got a clearance into KSTS. No Huhu.....until just outside CEVAR oil started splattering on the windscreen. :yikes: Bummer. No sense declaring as I was already number 1 in the cue so I watched the oil pressure and took it on in. Still had pressure when I shut down. Looks like a leak at the oil cooler return. Wifey is NOT impressed:nonod: New seat covers on order. :D
 
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Bummer - glad you made it in OK. Are you planning to complete your original plan, or too soon to say?
 
How many hours since the 180 HP upgrade?
 
Jim Logajan said:
Bummer - glad you made it in OK. Are you planning to complete your original plan, or too soon to say?
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We are planning a few days here anyway, so it should be ready to go when we are. After shut down I checked and had only lost 1 1/2 quarts so it is a very small leak. The engine has about 96 hours on it, and if it turns out to be an installation artifact it will be free to me.
 
Threefingeredjack said:
So, the boss wife and I are taking the newly restored 172 on a little road trip, she has the Penn Yann STC for a 180 horse engine, new almost everything and she's sporting a GTN 750 nestled in the stack.

Our plan: Shelter Cove, Santa Rosa, Ashland OR for a couple of plays at the Shakespearean Festival, and then home.

Shelter Cove was nice, and this morning the crappy weather rolled in right on cue. We left VFR and joined V 27. And got a clearance into KSTS. No Huhu.....until just outside CEVAR oil started splattering on the windscreen. :yikes: Bummer. No sense declaring as I was already number 1 in the cue so I watched the oil pressure and took it on in. Still had pressure when I shut down. Looks like a leak at the oil cooler return. Wifey is NOT impressed:nonod: New seat covers on order. :D
Click to expand...

I think I'd declare anyway. What if tower decides to cancel your landing clearance? I know, you can declare then...but by simply saying the words takes that possibility off the table. One less thing to think about and put all the relevant players on the same page.

Its free and there's no paper work (99% of the time). I just don't see any reason NOT to declare.

All the same, glad you guys are okay.
 
Captain said:
Its free and there's no paper work (99% of the time).
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I've witnessed two emergencies where the trucks were rolled. Fortunately, no harm done. The only paperwork was a release form that the fire crew supervisor needed signed.
 
Agree. I've rolled trucks maybe a dozen times in my life and never had to fill out anything.
 
And not to be a broken record, but there's always the exception. When I announced a precautionary landing because of a fuel gauge acting funny, an emergency was declared FOR me by ATC against my express wishes, they rolled the trucks, and I wound up having to explain myself to an inspector from the local FSDO. According to said inspector, the trigger was the diversion; ATC is now required to file paperwork whenever a flight in the system does not reach its filed destination.
 
I think most of the time the emergency crews are thankful for having something to do.
 
Twice I've head equipment rolled on me. One time I had actually reported that I smelled smoke right after takeoff (and after the appalachian-american mechanics had worked on the alternator) and told the tower I was shutting off the master and landing. The entire Air National Guard (mixed use field) chased me down the runway.

Another time, my engine developed a miss while IFR and I diverted to LYH. There was a fire engine waiting for me when we touched down.

Dulles offered to send the equipment another time (I wasn't flying, but I was working them on a handheld). I declined (which was about the only transmission they received in the whole sequence).

I used to be a member of a fire department up in Balitmore County and we practiced from time to time with the BWI CFR guys. I learned that they have like 30 seconds from the time someone rings the alarm to they are on-scene flowing foam if they want to have a prayer of being successful in an aircraft ground fire. I don't begrudge them being a bit quick on the trigger.
 
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