snip

had a prop governor drive failure in a PA32 (T-tail Lance) after T/O
from Port St. Joe FL, a 4230 x 65 grass strip. Took off from 18 & was
climbing through 600' agl on downwind when what I thought was rain
began to spray on the windshield. Trouble was, there wasn't a cloud in
the sky. As I was 3/4 of the way on downwind the little idler shaft
driving the governor spit out behind the flywheel & it puked 10-11 qt
of oil out the front. The oil actually rained inside the cockpit
through the overhead fresh air vents. Abeam the numbers 36, I shut the
engine down, got the wheels out (got lucky & saved the bearings).
With the luxury of a 4000+ rwy, I was able to put it into a slip so I
could see out the left side window & get it on the ground (killed a
lot of grass from the oil). The engine was overhauled 400 hrs earlier
& it seemed that they didn't safety wire the crankcase plug which
retained the little prop governor driveshaft at the front of the
engine. Having flown the Lance in a lot of IMC, night, over mountains,
out to the Bahamas, etc, I kinda shake when I think of other times it
could have let go!

I have instructed "the impossible turn" back to the rwy in my 172. As
others have said here, 60 deg bank worked best for me. The teardrop
turn involves a total of 270deg of heading change. In standard
conditions, 400' - 450' agl was a comfortable minimum altitude. I
certainly don't advocate teaching this emergency maneuver as a part of
primary training due to the vagaries of reaction time, density
altitude. etc; but its a fun exercise if approached carefully & only
with someone who has had spin training & knows what rudder pedals are
for.

john