Flew my 78 TurboArrow from MD to CO to play some lacrosse and fish. Have wanted to do that for years and the planets finally aligned this year.
In prep I took a multi-day mountain flying course at Boulder last summer. It was a great experience and I got 17hrs in the G1000 DA-40 to boot.
I was in the Arrow near the end of my third leg (2nd day). 14,500ft midway between Kremmling (KRLG) and Eagle County (KEGE). I had just started the descent for Eagle and was taking in the beautiful scenery. Looking through the co-pilot windscreen things seemed a bit fuzzy. I was initially worried that some sort of strange medical thing was going on but a look through my windscreen said the eyes were OK.
I looked closer and could see a thin film of oil on the co-pilot windscreen. As Murphy would have it I was over the worst terrain of the whole trip. Oil pressure & temp were normal.
I let Denver Center in on the situation and let them know that I was slowing my descent. Mountain training pounded the lesson home to keep options open over rough terrain. Staying high ensured that either KEGE or KRLG were in reach. The rest of the flight was uneventful.
Inspection initially found no culprit and the maintainers at Vail Valley Jet Center went to work. They are a great bunch, by the way. They cleaned the engine and ran it. This showed a small leak from one of the through bolts on the front bearing. They tried to retorque it but the bolt immediately sheared on one end. Parts were ordered and a few days later I did a check flight. The trip home was fault free.
Had that bolt sheared in flight, oil pressure would have been lost almost immediately. As it was I managed to lose half a quart during the course of the 4hr leg.
I was wondering if anyone has heard of this kinda of failure. My mech at home is writing it up and I kept the failed part.
Thanks,
In prep I took a multi-day mountain flying course at Boulder last summer. It was a great experience and I got 17hrs in the G1000 DA-40 to boot.
I was in the Arrow near the end of my third leg (2nd day). 14,500ft midway between Kremmling (KRLG) and Eagle County (KEGE). I had just started the descent for Eagle and was taking in the beautiful scenery. Looking through the co-pilot windscreen things seemed a bit fuzzy. I was initially worried that some sort of strange medical thing was going on but a look through my windscreen said the eyes were OK.
I looked closer and could see a thin film of oil on the co-pilot windscreen. As Murphy would have it I was over the worst terrain of the whole trip. Oil pressure & temp were normal.
I let Denver Center in on the situation and let them know that I was slowing my descent. Mountain training pounded the lesson home to keep options open over rough terrain. Staying high ensured that either KEGE or KRLG were in reach. The rest of the flight was uneventful.
Inspection initially found no culprit and the maintainers at Vail Valley Jet Center went to work. They are a great bunch, by the way. They cleaned the engine and ran it. This showed a small leak from one of the through bolts on the front bearing. They tried to retorque it but the bolt immediately sheared on one end. Parts were ordered and a few days later I did a check flight. The trip home was fault free.
Had that bolt sheared in flight, oil pressure would have been lost almost immediately. As it was I managed to lose half a quart during the course of the 4hr leg.
I was wondering if anyone has heard of this kinda of failure. My mech at home is writing it up and I kept the failed part.
Thanks,
