"O. Sami Saydjari" wrote:
Well, here is a little more detail. First, I experienced a 200 RPM
drop. No other obvious symptoms. Then, within 2 minutes, the RPM
dropped another 200 and MP pressure seemed to drop. I boosted throttle.
At that point, I was getting vectors to the nearest airport. Within
about 2 more minutes, I was down into the "yellow arc" of RPM...I think
it was about 2000 RPM. At that point the engine began running rough,
although the vibration was not that bad...just sounded very rough. Then
within about 5 miles of the airport, the oil pressure began dropping
into the yellow arc...35 PSI or so...and dropping. On turning final,
the engine was quite rough, and oil pressure was down to around 10-15
PSI (bottom of the yellow arc), after pulling off the run way, the oil
pressure was at the very bottom of the yellow arc...maybe 5 PSI. I
immediately shutdown. Does that help?
Well, you can rule out magneto problems being a factor here. If the temperatures were
going up at the same time, something in that engine was binding, and it was getting
ready to seize. The pressure drop would be caused either by a serious oil leak (you
would've noticed that) or rapid clogging of oil passages by metal particles. I think
it would not have kept running much longer.
George Patterson
This marriage is off to a shaky start. The groom just asked the band to
play "Your cheatin' heart", and the bride just requested "Don't come home
a'drinkin' with lovin' on your mind".
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