PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Aircraft without a loss of oil pressure procedure
Old 3rd Dec 2010, 08:41
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SNS3Guppy
 
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Whilst the argument over semantics is perhaps more fun than rolling around in broken glass, the question I posed still remains - Simplistically, there is always a red light in the cockpit that tells you when the oil pressure in your engine is low. Pretty much every other red light on the annunciator panel has a checklist procedure for that red light, so why does a low oil pressure light not rate one from the different engine makers and/or aircraft makers?
The original question didn't regard oil pressure, but oil quantity. Specifically, loss of oil. Loss of oil doesn't necessarily mean a loss in pressure, nor does a decrease in quantity (loss of oil) show up as an increase in temperature. Furthermore, a loss of oil pressure isn't necessarily an emergency, as a loss of the indication doesn't necessarily mean a loss of pressure.

Which manufacturers are you aware of that don't have a procedure for loss of oil pressure?

Certainly if there is no cockpit indication available of oil quantity, then having a procedure to deal with low oil quantity (oil loss) is somewhat redundant. Dealing with the effects of loss of oil, however, where such indications are available (and generally more readily apparent), is always appropriate, and one generally has ample procedure available for this.

Again, loss of oil is not the same as loss of oil pressure.
As I've mentioned if I saw the oil pressure starting to fade I would without hesitation pull the S&F on a Garrett but I know of others that would dig around trying to find a solution in the QRH, only to dig themselves a deeper hole. There's large numbers of lesser failures that all get a mention, but not loss of oil.
In the case of the garrett, there was no loss of oil pressure. There was a loss of torque, but no cockpit indication of loss of oil pressure until there was no torque. At that point, loss of oil pressure was really meaningless and irrelevant, as bigger issues pressed.

Furthermore, upon pitching up, there was again a surge in both oil pressure and torque, until the last of the oil was gone (the bit that was pumped as a result of the pitch change). Shutting the engine down wasn't really an issue with a power loss in a burning canyon at 150'. The increase in oil pressure and torque lasted for about three seconds and it was gone again, this time with no significant torque indication, where previously I'd had about fifteen percent.

You do seem to be confusing loss of oil with loss of oil pressure, though perhaps you're suggesting that without an oil quantity indication, then one will look to a loss of pressure as indicative of being out of oil (often not the case, as a pump failure, sensor failure, or gauge failure, as well as a bypass failure in the open position, thermostat or thermovern failure open, and other types of malfunctions, can cause a loss in oil pressure, as can high temperatures).

Are you suggesting the aircraft you fly has no procedure for loss of oil pressure? In your initial post you posed a different conundrum, namely that the aircraft you flew had no procedure for loss of engine oil.

Surely procedures are in place for dealing with the effects of the loss of engine oil, are they not?
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