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 -