wrote in message
...
In October, after an extensive repair/restoration of my airplane, the
oil cooler split on start-up and dumped most of the oil. Long story, but
the engine seized up 6 minutes into the flight and we did an emergency
landing in the desert. We were very fortunate to walk away with minor
injuries, but the plane was totaled.

To the airplane owners out there, how often do you flush/pressure test
or replace your oil cooler? Some say it's only done at a major overhaul,
others say it should be done at every annual, others say only if there's
a problem w/oil pressure. I had never heard of an oil cooler failing
before this, but now I've heard people say it happens on occasion.

Anyone else here have experience with this?

Shirl

A friend had one split in a 2 year old Mooney 201 over Eastern Oregon
desert. We went to Boise to pick up an Aztec, and decided to fly "together"
on the way home. (Medford,Or) 20 Minutes out of Boise, I had been flying
his right wing, and gradually slipped under/behind to the left side. He had
a 2 foot side black stripe from the cowling to the tail. We turned a bit to
the right to divert to Baker, and he had normal pressure and slightly rising
temps as we landed. I think he still had almost 2 qts left in the 700 hr tt
engine. I always wondered what would have happened if we hadn't stuck
together that day.

Al G