In-Flight Emergency Today!

Don Jones

Don Jones

Line Up and Wait
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Las Cruces, New Mexico
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DJones
I had my first real in-flight emergency today with a student on board. We were doing pattern work in preperation for his up-coming solo. We had made 3 or 4 laps when on downwind I noticed the oil pressure was falling fast. We were approaching the the numbers on downwind, quick radio call, early base turn, and landed. When the power was reduced oil pressure went almost to 0. I expected to see oil running out of the thing, but it wasn't. It looks like a pump failure, or something to do with the pressure regulator. Engine only has 200 hours on it:( Good thing a stu wasn't on a solo x-country or something when it happened:yes:
 
Don - nice work! ive never had anything comparable with a student on board. a little engine roughness a few times probably due to fouled plugs or a sticky valve is all.
 
Don, Good work. I'll bet that gauge got your attention. How much time did this student have? What was his/her reactiion once on the ground?
 
I'm curious if you told the student what was going on as it was happening, and whether you took the controls, or allowed the student to continue flying.
 
Sounds like it could be a piece of metal from the still breaking in engine lodging in the pressure relief valve and keeping it from closing completely.
 
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It's actually funny, it didn't feel much like an emergency. I mean I reacted, just didn't make my blood pressure rise too much. (Probably because of the 10 gillion engine out landings I've done in the pattern). I told the student when I noticed it, but I let him keep flying. He became a little erratic on the controls at first until he heard me tell him "just fly the damn plane", then he was fine. He was fine on the ground as well, and was kidding that he wasn't going to mention this to his mom;) Great learning experience for him (and me). I sometimes don't feel I pay enough attention to the guages, I bet I will now.
 
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That where training comes in. You won't have time to think about it. Good or bad, you'll do what you're taught. Glad you were in the pattern, that makes life a lot easier!
New engines scare me! I've done hundreds of breakin flights from some very inhospitable places. If it's gonna lock up, it will when it's tight. Give me a good running engine with some time on it any day.
I've had enough engine failures flying crappy old airplanes before I knew any better, I tell people statitically I'm safe to fly with for the next 600 years!
 
Don Jones said:
I had my first real in-flight emergency today with a student on board. We were doing pattern work in preperation for his up-coming solo. We had made 3 or 4 laps when on downwind I noticed the oil pressure was falling fast. We were approaching the the numbers on downwind, quick radio call, early base turn, and landed. When the power was reduced oil pressure went almost to 0. I expected to see oil running out of the thing, but it wasn't. It looks like a pump failure, or something to do with the pressure regulator. Engine only has 200 hours on it:( Good thing a stu wasn't on a solo x-country or something when it happened:yes:
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What plane/engine was your emergency in?
 
Nav8tor said:
Sounds like it could be a piece of metal from the still breaking in engine lodging in the pressure relief valve and keeping it from closing completely.
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Thats what happened to me in a 414 back in November, but the engine wasn't being broken in. On climbout the oil pressure just kept slowly falling, I think I was back in the pattern before it got much below the green arc. The piece of metal was no bigger than an ant and it wasn't magnetic, so I'm not sure where exactly it came from.

Good job keeping your cool Don and I bet it was a good learning experience for the student too!
 
bkreager said:
Thats what happened to me in a 414 back in November, but the engine wasn't being broken in. On climbout the oil pressure just kept slowly falling, I think I was back in the pattern before it got much below the green arc. The piece of metal was no bigger than an ant and it wasn't magnetic, so I'm not sure where exactly it came from.

Good job keeping your cool Don and I bet it was a good learning experience for the student too!
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ben you never told us about that! Exciting!!
 
If that happened to me, I certainly wouldn't tell my mom. She's not too thrilled with this flying thing in the first place, and hearing anything like that at this point would definitely make her decide that this flying thing is outright unsafe. I'm converting her... just slowly.

Great story! Glad that you all had a safe landing, and the student wasn't too shaken up by it. That's a good reminder for me to look at the engine gauges more frequently. I don't pay enough attention to them while flying.
 
bkreager said:
Thats what happened to me in a 414 back in November, but the engine wasn't being broken in. On climbout the oil pressure just kept slowly falling, I think I was back in the pattern before it got much below the green arc. The piece of metal was no bigger than an ant and it wasn't magnetic, so I'm not sure where exactly it came from.

Good job keeping your cool Don and I bet it was a good learning experience for the student too!
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I would expect the oil pressure to stay above zero at mid RPM and well above zero at high RPM if the relief valve was blocked open by debris. Totally zero pressure could be a broken pump or more likely a gauge problem. Either way you want to be on the ground ASAP since you can't tell the difference for sure until the engine is about to seize. Normally oil temp would rise with a loss of pressure, but if the pump breaks there's no flow and the oil temp probe will simply read the case temp.
 
Lucky you were in the pattern it sounds.
I've got audio (my fav) warning, idiot light and needle guage for engine oil pressure in the new amphib panel.
 
I just heard from my boss at the school today. The mechanics picked up the airplane from it's tiedown, fired it up and the oil pressure was in the green.:(
They are going to check into it further, hopefully they will find something. Probably was trash in the regulator. They are going to cut the oil filter, and pull the regulator and inspect. Going to be a while before I trust it again, and I have a student that needs to take a long x-country in it.
 
Don Jones said:
It's actually funny, it didn't feel much like an emergency.
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Interesting, I had the same thought during my last two emergencies. I think the more comfortable you become with an airplane, the calmer you'll feel during an emergency.

I still remember my first failure in a 172 when I had about 80 hours. The DG failed at night in VMC. We were close to an airport, so it really wasn't a big deal at all. At the time, though, I was quite scared.

A few months ago, the landing gear motor had a problem due to corrosion, so the gear just wouldn't extend. We had a pleasant flight back to the airport and successfully completed the manual extension procedure. I liked my casual call to approach, something along the lines of 'and if we can't extend the gear, we'd like to proceed to Oakland and land gear up'. That didn't feel like an emergency at all, more like a 'oh hey, now that's interesting' moment...

Anyone else here notice that they speak more clearly and slowly during an emergency?

-Felix
 
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sba55 said:
Anyone else here notice that they speak more clearly and slowly during an emergency?

-Felix
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Yup. The one "big" emergency I've had, when I actually declared, I think was some of my most coherent radio work and definitely one of, if not the best landing I've had. Go figure.
 
Don Jones said:
I just heard from my boss at the school today. The mechanics picked up the airplane from it's tiedown, fired it up and the oil pressure was in the green.:(
They are going to check into it further, hopefully they will find something. Probably was trash in the regulator. They are going to cut the oil filter, and pull the regulator and inspect. Going to be a while before I trust it again, and I have a student that needs to take a long x-country in it.
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Did they get the oil temp up into the normal range?
 
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