On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 22:52:19 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

On the ground there was a definite oil leak coming out where the vacuum
pump is mounted. And I'd lost two or three quarts of oil.

I'm not sure I would have pulled the trigger as quickly on the "Emergency"
declaration, which certainly could have become a disaster.

Your post taught me something. Good call, Ron.

In the air, all I knew for sure was that my oil pressure indicator was
flaky. I did not know what was going on inside the engine, or possibly
even behind the control panel. It was that uncertainty, along with the
possibility of something really bad going on, that lead me to declare an
emergency.

There was really no question in my mind that if I am going to make a
decision to divert because of possible but unknown engine mechanical
problems, that I'd want to have the fire and rescue people close at hand.

I've never been one to hesitate to declare an emergency. I don't see any
down side. My self-critique though includes that fact that if this recurs,
I will definitely make the decision to land earlier. In addition, I fault
myself because I did not mentally prepare myself to shut down the engine if
the pressure dropped to some low number. (So although I think I would have
shut it down, I can't be sure that I really would have).

But no one has volunteered any thoughts as to why the Garlock seal blew off
the scavenger pump. And it had been replaced about 75 hours previously.




Ron (EPM) (N5843Q, Mooney M20E) (CP, ASEL, ASES, IA)