Well, I certainly found the most expensive way to get to Florida.

Wowzers glad everyone was ok. No idea what I would do it that happened to me in flight. What kind of plane do you have?
 
Rgbeard said:
it’s a Piper Arrow XL Edition. (lance)
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It looked like an Arrow but then I saw the 6 cylinders and front baggage door. Looks cool. So faster version of an Arrow with extra storage?
 
mandm said:
It looked like an Arrow but then I saw the 6 cylinders and front baggage door. Looks cool. So faster version of an Arrow with extra storage?
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Yeah, it’s a slick plane for sure.
 
Jim and family, I’m very glad to see y’all are okay! Certainly not the way anyone wishes to begin a vacation!
 
So……………you won’t be stopping at PDK?

Glad you are all Okay.
 
Jim K said:
I think i saw 2.5 in my book. Don't know how much I lost, but it was a bunch. Dipstick wouldn't catch any. The fact that it still had SOME oil pressure when I shut it off gives me hope. My concern is if the oil pressure was sufficient to keep the spinny bits away from the non-spinny bits. I'd hate to get halfway back home and lose it totally in a more inhospitable spot.
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Very curious how much your dipstick says you have left... sometimes a very little oil can look like a big spill on a cowling. You might have only lost a quart or two.
 
Jim K said:
That would've been REAL handy. That or another engine.
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Last time I had a bunch of oil fall out of an engine like that, I just turned that engine off and flew to the airport on the other one. The tail was covered in oil but it was a good rust preventative. On the bright side this also means your windshield won’t rust anytime soon.

Nice job getting on the ground before the pilot cooling fan deactivated!
 
RyanShort1 said:
sometimes a very little oil can look like a big spill on a cowling. You might have only lost a quart or two.
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I was flying a 210 one time. When I landed there was what appeared to be all the engine oil down the right side of the engine. Turns out the oil cooler developed a leak. For all the oil on the outside of the plane, it only lost 1 qt.
 
RyanShort1 said:
Very curious how much your dipstick says you have left... sometimes a very little oil can look like a big spill on a cowling. You might have only lost a quart or two.
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Dipstick doesn't measure less than 4 and it sounds like he said he couldn't see anything on it. Typical PA32 drivers run theirs at 8 or 9.
 
RyanShort1 said:
Very curious how much your dipstick says you have left... sometimes a very little oil can look like a big spill on a cowling. You might have only lost a quart or two.
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In general, the dipstick on the IO540 stops registering after 5 quarts. There may be some exceptions out there, but I haven’t found any yet.
 
Looks similar to the Cherokee Six that went down in South Carolina almost a month ago.

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/pa-32-300-down-south-carolina.136210/

"you could see the oil all over the rudder...I can't imagine what the windshield looked like. Good on him for getting her down safely with no visibility" -Jimk

Bravo sir. Bravo. Not sure if you were trying to get the little ones some more plastic hats or get one for yourself but you deserve one for the successful outcome.
 
Wow Jim! Glad you and fam are safe!

I’m sticking with the consensus that low oil on your descent (low power setting, short time) probably did very little if any abuse. If anything it might shave a few hours off of its life… well worth the trade off IMO.

Now on the lighter side of things…. Between you and @masloki ’s never ending annual, how many of you am I going to have to schlep to RR?
 
Yikes. Glad you are safe. Curious, in that scenario was it a continuous drip drip drip accumulating on the windshield or was it splashed on fairly quickly?
 
Congrats on the great landing!

So... are you going to keep it, or sell it?
 
My heart dropped when I saw those pics! Good job young man on getting all down safely. Hope that engine survives ...
 
mondtster said:
Did the shaft that the cap retains remain in place? If not, and the shaft worked it’s way out far enough that the gear fell off you’ll be disassembling the engine.

Sounds like it may be ok.
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Good question. No room at all in there with the prop on.

Racerx said:
"you could see the oil all over the rudder...I can't imagine what the windshield looked like. Good on him for getting her down safely with no visibility" -Jimk
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Ha. I forgot all about that. Pretty ironic comment. Can confirm.... oil covered windshield does increase the difficulty.

kaiser said:
Now on the lighter side of things…. Between you and @masloki ’s never ending annual, how many of you am I going to have to schlep to RR?
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You better get started on that pc12 checkout.
mr_happyland said:
Yikes. Glad you are safe. Curious, in that scenario was it a continuous drip drip drip accumulating on the windshield or was it splashed on fairly quickly?
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It was real fast. We were talking about the kids going to sleep after lunch and we heard a weird buzzing noise in the headsets. Not sure if it was oil going through the alternator or what. We looked at each other and said "what was that?" I looked forward and it was 2/3 of the way up the windshield. Took about 2 seconds more to cover it completely.

Teresa told me later she couldn't figure out what was going on. She's kind of vaguely aware that engines require oil, but the thought of it running up the windshield hadn't occurred to her.

The thing that scared me the most was when we started getting smoke in the cabin. Thankfully it wasn't much. I'm not sure if it stopped when I reduced power or I just stopped noticing it. The time compression is amazing. She heard stuff on the radio that I didn't. Once I was aligned with the runway it was total lizard brain/tunnel vision.

Albany Tom said:
So... are you going to keep it, or sell it?
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Nah... we've been through too much together :confused:
 
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Jim K said:
The time compression is amazing. She heard stuff on the radio that I didn't. Once I was aligned with the runway it was total lizard brain/tunnel vision.
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True that. The other way also. This weekend I calculated that it took about one second from when we hit the first tree until we were stopped. The wife and I both marveled at that, thinking it seemed a whole lot longer at the time. The rest of the approach seemed to go by in the blink of an eye.
 
Wow! Glad you got it on the ground safely, Good job!

I hope the motor is OK and it is fixable without a overhaul.
 
Oils well that ends well!

Seriously, glad you had an uneventful landing and are continuing on to Florida!
 
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