gerrychuck
Well Known Member
Now, I realize that as intrepid aviators we know not the meaning of fear (riiiight...) however, I had an interesting experience today. I had flown to a nice grass strip about 20 minutes away and executed my first off-pavement landing and takeoff in my 6A. After climbing away, I was still congratulating myself on not folding up my nosegear and polevaulting into the weeds when I noticed one of those things you NEVER want to see in your cockpit, namely a flashing red light on my EI engine monitor drawing my attention to the fact that the gauge was showing ZERO oil pressure. That tends to get you interested quickly. Quick scan showed normal oil temp, normal CHT's, and the engine running just as it always does - no change in sound, power, etc. Nevertheless I was just turning to return to the strip I had just vacated, when suddenly the pressure indication returned to normal. Observed this for a minute, and made a judgment call to return to my home base, about 15 minutes away at that point. Most of the way home the pressure stayed right where it should be, but occasionally would drop somewhat, and once or twice briefly went to zero again, then stabilized again. I called for a straight-in to get on the ground as quickly as possible, and then saw the pressure go to zero again when I pulled the throttle and lowered the nose on approach. Again, all other indications were normal, and the engine ran smoothly. Got on the ground in a gusty crosswind, rolled out and taxied to my hangar, with engine again showing pressure. Shut down and took a few breaths before climbing out. All indications were, however, that there was a bad sensor or connection in the oil pressure circuit, something I have had happen before with this system, so I was a bit wound up, but not too bad.
Now here is the part where I scared myself. I immediately trotted around to the oil filler door, popped it open and pulled the dipstick, and saw....nothing. It appeared to be bone dry, bereft of any oil whatsoever, which is the moment at which my recently puckered bum very nearly did a complete 180 and darn near cost me a nearly new pair of jeans. Strangely, though, there did not appear to be any evidence whatsoever on the belly of the plane of anything other than the normal seepage and blow-off that I am used to. Heart pounding, I collected myself and put the plane away, thinking of how close I had just come to an engine out emergency. After popping the upper cowling off, I again checked the dipstick, and, what's this? Looks like oil! With this revelation, I must have redipped that silly thing a dozen times just to verify that yes, it appeared to be showing 5 1/2 quarts of oil, and then the light went on; this oil only has 3 hours on it, and is still squeaky clean, and the first time I read it I was standing out in the bright sunlight. In other words, in those circumstances that Exxon Elite on the dipstick was invisible, thereby giving me quite a fright.
What a relief! Now I just have to identify the actual problem. Last time it was a loose crimped connection; hopefully that's what it is again this time, or a timed out sender, but I don't think at this point that I was minutes away from engine failure, and my jeans will live to see another day.
Now here is the part where I scared myself. I immediately trotted around to the oil filler door, popped it open and pulled the dipstick, and saw....nothing. It appeared to be bone dry, bereft of any oil whatsoever, which is the moment at which my recently puckered bum very nearly did a complete 180 and darn near cost me a nearly new pair of jeans. Strangely, though, there did not appear to be any evidence whatsoever on the belly of the plane of anything other than the normal seepage and blow-off that I am used to. Heart pounding, I collected myself and put the plane away, thinking of how close I had just come to an engine out emergency. After popping the upper cowling off, I again checked the dipstick, and, what's this? Looks like oil! With this revelation, I must have redipped that silly thing a dozen times just to verify that yes, it appeared to be showing 5 1/2 quarts of oil, and then the light went on; this oil only has 3 hours on it, and is still squeaky clean, and the first time I read it I was standing out in the bright sunlight. In other words, in those circumstances that Exxon Elite on the dipstick was invisible, thereby giving me quite a fright.
What a relief! Now I just have to identify the actual problem. Last time it was a loose crimped connection; hopefully that's what it is again this time, or a timed out sender, but I don't think at this point that I was minutes away from engine failure, and my jeans will live to see another day.
Last edited: