Oil on the windshield. What would you do?

Pretend nohing is wrong and stay the course. Don't cut and run!
--
Go, and never darken my towels again.
Groucho Marx

In article . com,
"Tony Cox" wrote:

You're cruising along happily when suddenly
oil drops start appearing on the windshield. There
is no "bang" or anything else to indicate catastrophic
failure. The nearest airport is out of gliding range.
What do you do?

head for the nearest suitable airport (taking into consideration
terrain that I'd overfly)

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

On Jan 28, 8:09 am, Bob Noel
wrote:
In article . com,
"Tony Cox" wrote:

You're cruising along happily when suddenly
oil drops start appearing on the windshield. There
is no "bang" or anything else to indicate catastrophic
failure. The nearest airport is out of gliding range.
What do you do?head for the nearest suitable airport (taking into consideration
terrain that I'd overfly)

Yup. I'd be examining the ground near me for a forced landing area
while asking the nearest airfield to put the kettle on for my surprise
visit.
A friend who had this occur in a Percival Proctor was unaware of the
oil loss. However the tower told him that he had smoke.
Fastest 180 and downwind landing they ever saw :-)

In article om,
"george" wrote:

On Jan 28, 8:09 am, Bob Noel
wrote:
In article . com,
"Tony Cox" wrote:

You're cruising along happily when suddenly
oil drops start appearing on the windshield. There
is no "bang" or anything else to indicate catastrophic
failure. The nearest airport is out of gliding range.
What do you do?head for the nearest suitable airport (taking into
consideration
terrain that I'd overfly)

I've always figured I would start to climb (and, of course, head for the
nearest airport while doing that). If I've got a fixed amount of time that
the engine is going to continue to run, I'll use that time to store up as
much energy as I can in the form of altitude.

Of course, there's always a chance that a higher power setting used in
a climb would make the catastrophic failure occur sooner.

On Jan 27, 11:50 am, Roy Smith wrote:
I've always figured I would start to climb (and, of course, head for the
nearest airport while doing that). If I've got a fixed amount of time that
the engine is going to continue to run, I'll use that time to store up as
much energy as I can in the form of altitude.

In article . com,
says...
Here's a question that anyone with a single
engine, constant speed prop might have to
deal with sometime.

You're cruising along happily when suddenly
oil drops start appearing on the windshield. There
is no "bang" or anything else to indicate catastrophic
failure. The nearest airport is out of gliding range.
What do you do?

I'd assume symptoms were caused by some prop seal
failure. I'd go to fine pitch (to minimize further oil
loss) & then reduce RPM to where I could still maintain
altitude (to further minimize oil loss, and to minimize
structural damage if the prop were about to disintegrate)
while heading for the nearest airport.

Can anyone think of a better response?

One of our club planes (a C-172) blew a frost plug in flight - they
continued flight to reach the field (10 minutes), landing with no oil
found in the engine. (Can't recall the bill for the engine rebuild but
it was tens of thousands).

Saving grace may well have been topping up the oil before departure -
what is it? 6.5 quarts? I'm sure they were glad of every drop.

I'd do what you have sugggested, and make for the nearest field.

--
Duncan

A "frost plug" in an aircooled motor????? Geez I can see a oil line
plug but most of those are the screw in type, not press fit ...

On Jan 27, 5:14 pm, Duncan (NZ) wrote:
In article . com,
says...





Here's a question that anyone with a single
engine, constant speed prop might have to
deal with sometime.

You're cruising along happily when suddenly
oil drops start appearing on the windshield. There
is no "bang" or anything else to indicate catastrophic
failure. The nearest airport is out of gliding range.
What do you do?

I'd assume symptoms were caused by some prop seal
failure. I'd go to fine pitch (to minimize further oil
loss) & then reduce RPM to where I could still maintain
altitude (to further minimize oil loss, and to minimize
structural damage if the prop were about to disintegrate)
while heading for the nearest airport.

Can anyone think of a better response?One of our club planes (a C-172) blew a frost plug in flight - they
continued flight to reach the field (10 minutes), landing with no oil
found in the engine. (Can't recall the bill for the engine rebuild but
it was tens of thousands).

Saving grace may well have been topping up the oil before departure -
what is it? 6.5 quarts? I'm sure they were glad of every drop.

I'd do what you have sugggested, and make for the nearest field.

--
Duncan- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -

In article . com,
says...
A "frost plug" in an aircooled motor????? Geez I can see a oil line
plug but most of those are the screw in type, not press fit ...

heh - I'll see if I can find the write up - I think one was done in a
newsletter. But yer right, it obviously wasn't a frost plug.

--
Duncan

"Duncan (NZ)" wrote in message
. nz...
In article . com,
says...
A "frost plug" in an aircooled motor????? Geez I can see a oil line
plug but most of those are the screw in type, not press fit ...

heh - I'll see if I can find the write up - I think one was done in a
newsletter. But yer right, it obviously wasn't a frost plug.

--
Duncan

I think maybe he means the crankcase breather. If that freezes, it'll blow
the oil overboard pretty quickly.
Having flown several thousand hours towing banners, a leaky prop seal is
quite common, and pretty much a non- issue in the airplanes I fly (PA-18/
J-3 with lyc o-360 and fixed pitch propeller). Depending on the condition of
the seal, usually they leak about 1-2 qts. over a 5-6 hour day. It's more of
a hazard to visibility than to the engine. It may be different for an
airplane with a constant speed prop. I haven't nor would I ground an
airplane for it, then again, your results may vary.

Frank

Duncan (NZ) wrote:
One of our club planes (a C-172) blew a frost plug in flight - they
continued flight to reach the field (10 minutes), landing with no oil
found in the engine. (Can't recall the bill for the engine rebuild but
it was tens of thousands).
...
I'd do what you have sugggested, and make for the nearest field.

it depends on what kind of field is below. It might be better to spend
$20k on the engine and making the field than crashing in the field,
wrecking the plane and killing yourself.

As for the money aspect, in a club plane, the maintenance of the plane
is entirely up the club (or owner on lease back). They charge a renter
are fee for renting the plane which includes the maintenance on the
plane. As a renter, I expect to get a plane that will not have any kind
of failure. If it fails, I am not going to risk my life nor my
passengers lives to save the owner some money. Much of the reason I say
this is because the head of MX at my club also owns or owned ~8 a/c
online. They were known to have serious MX issues that this head of MX
and owner conveniently wrote off as fixed. Most CFI refused to fly them
yet plenty of renters rented them. Yea, conflict of interest the club
refused to fix. I fly the only a/c online that is not maintained by the
club. it's older but in excellent condition and everything works nearly
every time. And I would love to join a different club or own my own
plane but so far sticking to this one airplane is the best choice for
me. So back to the original question, the cost of the repair of a club
plane will not affect my decision whatsoever. In return, I treat the
aircraft that I rent as though it was my own. I fully clean up the
interior afterwards often nicer than the way I received the plane and
treat the engine and avionics like they were my own. I also give
frequent PIREPS to the owner. Oh, and of course make the most gentle
of landings every single time. ;-)

Gerald