Lost oil pressure - forced landing

[Sonex1517]

So I had an unplanned adventure yesterday evening that ended well. I did what I was taught.

I left KARR on a planned flight to KFEP then KSQI then back to KARR. I climbed up to 3500 feet for cooler air - turns out that was to pay off a little later.

As I passed Byron, IL I saw my oil pressure had dropped to zero. I had that moment of “no way - that can’t be right” but then I saw the RPMs begin to fade off a bit. I went to the “Nearest” page on my GRT Mini and discovered I was less than a mile from an airport - looked out to my left, and sure enough, there was a beautiful grass strip right under me. There were several other airports a couple of miles away, including Mt Morris where I go frequently. For a moment I considered trying to get to it, but it was 6 nm away with a tree covered hill in between, and I know more than one person has tried to pass up a place to land with bad results. I turned and circled to set up to land.

The engine was still producing power but the RPMs dropped off farther and it ran rougher. For a moment I thought about putting 7700 in the transponder and calling on 121.5 - but again, I knew job one was to fly the airplane. So I did.

At 2400 feet MSL I was on a good downwind to base (I did not know the field elevation - but it looked right) and keeping it in tight enough to ensure I made the field. Once I was sure I had it made, I dropped in flaps, started a slip, and held it right down to very short final.

I touched down and, while the ground was rough, the Sonex slowed quickly in deep grass to a stop. I shut the fuel off, pulled the mixture, turned everything off and got out. There was a small amount of smoke drifting out of the cowling - likely oil on the exhaust - but no damage to the plane and no fire.

After the obligatory call to my wife and friends, I moved the airplane to one side of the runway and did what I could to secure it. There was oil all over the bottom, but as of right now I have no idea why yet.

Lesson learned for me was all that training paid off. What could have been a bad ending is just a hassle now - the plane is at a grass strip far from home base - but that will be taken care of.

Converting to a Jabiru 3300 is now going to happen a bit sooner than originally planned.

[peter anson]

Wow. Well done Robbie. Saving the aircraft as well as yourself is a great outcome. I'd like to think I was that cool but I'm not keen to be tested.

Peter

[LarryEWaiex121]

Robbie,

You are going to enjoy your plane so much more with the Jabiru in the nose. My Waiex was scheduled for an Aero-Vee when I ordered the kit. As luck would have it I stumbled onto a new in crate solid lifter 3300 back in 2009. I quickly changed gears and went with that. That was a good engine with minimal troubles.
I converted to the Camit in Jan. of 2015. This is proving to be an excellent engine also. Fact the manufacturer cratered in is obviously and issue but, the engine performs like a top.
Your going to enjoy the smooth power of the Jabiru. Carb matters are your choice, but for me, I love the Aero-Injector. NO carb ice and no choke.

Larry
Waiex121YX, Camit 3300, Skyview,625 hrs.

[Rynoth]

Robbie, I like your decision making process and am glad you are safe. Well handled.

[N111YX]

Well done, Robbie!

If everything happens for a reason, a Jabiru may be behind this one:)

[ihab]

Hi Robbie,

I'm not a fancy pilot or CFI like some of the folks here, but it seems like there are some important positive lessons for me --

1. You monitor your engine regularly enough to have caught the problem early.

2. When something happened, you relied on doing the common-sense thing rather than going heads-down with procedures and checklists. I am not opposed to checklists but I think sometimes the training of new pilots like me focuses too much on working the lists and not enough on doing the common-sense thing NOW and getting out of danger ASAP.

3. You opted for the most immediate satisfice (a good-enough landing spot where survival was reasonably assured) over optimality (the more distant airports, and more complex plans).

Ihab

[wlarson861]

Same thing happened to me but all I had was a bean field. My bottom mounted oil cooler leaked all the oil out till the engine seized. There was no warning as I had oil pressure right before the engine quit. Mine required a complete rebuild including crank shaft.

[Sonex1517]

Thanks folks.

I credit good training. Somewhere out there in aviation land is a guy named Mark Tkadletz who taught me at the Stick & Rudder flying club at KUGN in 2001. John Pauly, John Jacobs, Joe Norris, and Mike Farley re-enforced that training.

I drove out today to reconnoiter the recovery effort. I was a bit stunned. All around the airport is slightly hilly terrain, trees, fields with gullies and piping....I got lucky in being right over the runway at 3500.

Kip - up until now my wife had been a bit hesitant about the additional investment of a 3300. When I called her to tell her what happened (seconds after climbing out) she told me to buy the Jab. Everything happens for a reason.

[wlarson861]

Robbie;
I just finished my conversion to a gen 4 3300 and it took over 2 months. If you are going Gen 4 call me if you need a hand, I can send you some baffle patterns. If you have a billet engine then the Sonex baffles will fit right up. The rest of the install is pretty straight forward but still time consuming. Good luck with the install.
P.S. the climb performance is almost scary compared to the turbo let alone the aspirated AeroVee. You will love it.

[bvolcko38]

Do you know what caused the loss of oil pressure?