Ugh. I thought I had it tight but guess not.

S

slippery sam

Guest
Checked the oil before flight a little more than 4.5 quarts where it should be on this plane. I have a hard time getting the fill cap on as it is in an awkward place at a weird angle. I think I must have gotten it tightened cockeyed and not really screwed down tight. Anyway about an hour flight land and wife unit says is that mud on the strut? where did that come from? I said no that is oil.

CRAP!

At some point the cap came unscrewed. Made a mess all down the side and bottom of the plane took an hour and half+ to clean. Thankfully only lost about 1/2-3/4 of a quart. Never noticed any pressure or temperature problems and I check fairly frequently. Never had any on the windscreen which might have at least let me know.

Lesson learned check and double check to make sure the cap is screwed on and threaded on right.
 
What type airplane?

With a small Lycoming engine, like my O-360, one learns to screw the cap in barely finger tight. That's because when the engine cools after flight, what was "finger-tight" becomes "welded shut" and very hard to open.
 
Never done that, but I have had a citabria screw on fuel caps come off, student had them lined up straight, but kinda cross threaded, I didn't physically check them (sure do now lol) we take off and I see a stream coming off the back of the wing, "hey lets turn around a land for a sec" oops, cap back on, doubble check both and off we went, thank god for that little chain keeping them from going AWOL.
 
I left the oil door ajar on a 172.
It was fine on the take off and cruise home, but
when I flaired for landing it started flapping violently.. oooops.
 
I left the oil door ajar on a 172.
It was fine on the take off and cruise home, but
when I flaired for landing it started flapping violently.. oooops.

You think the oil door flaps in the flare... Try the front cargo door of a PA32 in the flare!!! It was latched preflight but popped open during flight. A close inspection post flight revealed the latch was just barely holding when in the closed position. Adjustments were made and it shouldn't happen again. Definitely a WTF moment!
 
I had something similar happen in a 182. We were on the LPV approach into MYF 28R, and heard a strange buzzing noise. Varied the RPM, and the buzzing didn't go away. All the gauges looked OK, so we proceeded as normal. Taxied in and shut down. I hopped out to get the towbar, and there was oil streaked all down the side of the plane. Walked to the nose, and there was a dinner plate sized puddle of oil next to the nosegear, and a trail leading in from where we'd taxied in from. After the plane went into mx, I was advised that the heater muff had worn a hole in the oil pan.
 
You think the oil door flaps in the flare... Try the front cargo door of a PA32 in the flare!!! It was latched preflight but popped open during flight...

There was a recent crash (with fatalities... believe it was a man and his daughters) that was attributed to that. The front cargo door popped open on takeoff and instead of keeping his cool, climbing and then returning when at safe altitude, he went for the impossible turn. :(
 
I had something similar happen in a 182. We were on the LPV approach into MYF 28R, and heard a strange buzzing noise. Varied the RPM, and the buzzing didn't go away. All the gauges looked OK, so we proceeded as normal. Taxied in and shut down. I hopped out to get the towbar, and there was oil streaked all down the side of the plane. Walked to the nose, and there was a dinner plate sized puddle of oil next to the nosegear, and a trail leading in from where we'd taxied in from. After the plane went into mx, I was advised that the heater muff had worn a hole in the oil pan.

No one likes a noisy muff
 
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There was a recent crash (with fatalities... believe it was a man and his daughters) that was attributed to that. The front cargo door popped open on takeoff and instead of keeping his cool, climbing and then returning when at safe altitude, he went for the impossible turn. :(

Oh wow. That's horrible I will admit that when I flared and the door popped straight up it was startling to say the least, and I guess for a split second I considered a go around... but also within that instant I understood the fact that what I was witnessing was going to simply happen again on the next landing attempt. Even if it meant a higher risk of damaging the plane I was putting that thing on the ground right then and there. I was already within a few feet with airspeed dropping...

In hindsight I had some nightmares about the door breaking partially loose during the flare and on a go around the door flying off knocking the elevator off.
 
Oil was a bit down headed out from Oshkosh. Not hugely, maybe a half quart. Halfway over lake Michigan I'm convinced the oil pressure is coming down and the oil temp is going up. The things we can convince ourselves of over water...
 
I was a kid, maybe 20 or 21 flying out of Carrollton GA. We had already flown for the day and were leaving the airport when a local guy was getting ready to takeoff in his WWII fighter, I think it was a Corsair. Of course we waited to watch him leave, the lineman pointed out how these old birds leave oil everywhere.:D Well, as he was taking off, it was evident that he was trailing smoke!! :eek: About 5 minutes later he landed and taxied to the wash rack, it sat and dripped oil for 2 days!! (pre-EPA meddling) :eek: He had added oil and didn't tighten the cap, he was drenched, but I don't think the airplane ever has a rust problem!! :eek:
 
What type airplane?

With a small Lycoming engine, like my O-360, one learns to screw the cap in barely finger tight. That's because when the engine cools after flight, what was "finger-tight" becomes "welded shut" and very hard to open.
Fortunately, the PA-28 addresses this by providing a little door in the cowling that pops open so you can verify that the oil cap is welded shut, and the razor-sharp fiberglass edges will only slice your hand open if you try to loosen it.
 
You think the oil door flaps in the flare... Try the front cargo door of a PA32 in the flare!!! It was latched preflight but popped open during flight. A close inspection post flight revealed the latch was just barely holding when in the closed position. Adjustments were made and it shouldn't happen again. Definitely a WTF moment!

Been there and done that!
 
In a C-150 I left the oil cap resting on the top of the filler tube. Which is exactly where I found it when I used my superior landing skills to gently return to earth. ;-) Very little mess, so when my partner did the same exact thing, I wasn't concerned.

On fuel caps. Let's just say if you so much as *think* you smell AVGAS on departure, come back around and land!
 
In a C-150 I left the oil cap resting on the top of the filler tube. Which is exactly where I found it when I used my superior landing skills to gently return to earth. ;-) Very little mess, so when my partner did the same exact thing, I wasn't concerned.

On fuel caps. Let's just say if you so much as *think* you smell AVGAS on departure, come back around and land!
One CAP flight for which I was right seat had a fuel cap pop off in flight (so the pilot claimed -- I think he never closed it). Fuel consumption was not excessive, and the open tank was filled higher after landing than when we left. It had almost 40 gal, and had been filled to 32. Of course the other tank was much lower, but we still only used the usual 10 gal from SAC.
 
I forgot to put the gas cap on the right tank of my Turbo Arrow once. I noticed it sitting on the wing when I did my control check in the runup area.

One wonders how many gas caps are sitting on the middle third of any given runway serving GA. Probably not a lot but I'll bet they're there.
 
One wonders how many gas caps are sitting on the middle third of any given runway serving GA. Probably not a lot but I'll bet they're there.
A few years ago I left a cap off the right tank of my Sport Cub after refueling at McCall, Idaho. About a half hour into the subsequent flight I noticed the sight gauge on the right tank was still full, but the left tank was going down too quickly (it's a left-right-both gravity feed system with a vent connection between the tanks, like a C-172). I landed and discovered the problem. Fuel was being pulled out of the open right tank by airflow over over the wing (and a good morning to you, Dr. Bernoulli). The suction was causing fuel to cross-feed from the left tank, keeping the right one full even as fuel was coming out the top.

Later that day I flew to the CubCrafters factory in Yakima (fuel selector on left tank only) and did the first smart thing all day ... I bought two replacement fuel caps.
 
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