Well this Christmas was a completely different story. The Plan was to leave on Thursday before Christmas for West Palm Beach Florida. The additional part of the deal was to give my significant other's brother a lift to Florida. This would be his first trip in any kind of a small plane. The significant other had already made the trek VIA USAir a week before. So the day of the trip comes around and it is the most perfect weather day imaginable. I'm totally pumped about having a great flight to Florida from DC. I pick up my all too willing passenger at Union Station and in 45 minutes we are on our way south. The plan is one fuel stop after 3 hrs flying time and then another 2 hrs and we are at our destination.
45 minutes into our flight I get a sporadic low oil pressure indication. Oil is pretty important so I figure I better land right away... This has happened one other time but the symptoms are different, the other time I only got 2 different indications: normal pressure and zero pressure very quickly. Right away I knew this was a loose wire and didn't pay the faulty indication much mind. This time the oil pressure goes randomly from 80(normal) to 20, to 40, to 60 and so on. I know of at least 2 other failures of the oil pressure sensors so I'm pretty sure it is a faulty sensor. I get on the phone to Vans, the airplane kit manufacturer, and they say may be able to get a replacement at an autoparts store and they suggest I call an engine expert to make sure my engine is OK.
Great. Looks like the plane isn't going anywhere today. I am at Crewe Municipal Airport, Crewe, Virgina. pretty far from anything.
There are 2 other pilots there about to leave in a plane and they tell me of the nearby airports that have mechanics. I tell them I may be in over my head but I am the certified mechanic on this plane.
I call around to auto parts stores and can't find an exact replacement. Most of the stores don't want to talk to me unless I can tell them what kind of car the sensor is for... This isn't very easy to explain to people. The nice guy at the town hall that also comes out to the airport to pump gas picks up a part that might be a fit and brings it by. Unfortunately it doesn't fit so I get one overnighted with shipping costs greater than the cost of the part itself.
In the meantime I've got a hold of my engine guy. He agrees that I've got some kind of sensor issue on my hands and to make dead certain there isn't any wrong with the engine I should cut the oil filter open and make sure there is no metal. I've done this to every filter I've removed from the plane so far and the only problem is I've got to track down a replacement filter. Turns out Dinwiddie airport about 45 minutes drive away has one.
I call enterprise and arrange for a car. We drive over get the filter. Go out to dinner and the most crowded restaurant in town(pork barbecue) and head back to Crew, VA.
Well I'm droning along the highway about 12 miles from Crew. 60 miles per hour. It's really dark between these small towns. Its been a long day. Suddenly not more than 6 feet ahead of the car a dog darts out and we smash in to it. I pull off the road right away and radiator steam is billowing up. I walk back. It is dead, green collar, no tags and looks like a beagle. What a day.
Enterprise says the tow truck will be there in 90 minutes, they won't be able to get us another car since we are so far from a location that is open and since I wrecked their car they won't even pay for a cab to get me where I need to go. Its not like I can just get out and hail a cab where I am now. I figure I'd kill 2 birds with one stone. I bit the bullet called the state police, had them do a police report and then bummed a ride back to the airport. The only good news is that the airport building is heated and has 2 sofas. Since we are transportationally challenged now we agree that sleeping at the airport is our best, maybe only... option. If we go to a hotel I don't think that Enterprise is going to be very keen on giving us another car and cabs seem to be non existent...
While waiting for help a guy stops by in his truck, blaring music, smelling of beer and asks us if we're OK. I tell him we hit a dog and split open the radiator. After asking what kind of dog he is convinced that we've hit "Jack." He calls his friend who owns Jack, it seems he has been drinking as well and finds out that Jack has a different color collar. As much as I'd like to tell the owner what has happened I really don't want to face a drunk and angry dog owner.
Its now 10 PM, we're back at the airport and I do the oil filter dissection and it comes up clean. Good news: I don't need a new engine. The part is on the way and I take a roll of paper towels for my pillow and get some sleep.
7 am I wake up. New sensor isn't coming until noon. Having nothing better to do I fiddle with the sensor wiring and end up finding that I've got a wiring problem not a sensor problem. I fix this problem in about 5 minutes are we are operational.
Now, 1 dog is dead, 1 rental car is wrecked, 1 day of perfect weather is lost. It turns out that the weather between us and our destination is horrible and we aren't going to see anything on our trip. I didn't think I would be forced to fly in the clouds so I didn't bring the right charts for that... Well back over to Dinwiddie where I drove last night, this time via airplane, and get the instrument charts...
We flew pretty much uneventfully to our destination and I flew home on Christmas day with similar lousy weather in the Carolinas.
I've always been very lucky with weather and mechanical problems but this time that wasn't the case. When things go downhill that can really go downhill quick...
Merry Christmas!
PS: the car damage estimate from hitting the dog came in at $1700 and discover card insurance covered the damage so don't ever bother with the rental company's super expensive insurance.
