Oil Level Sensor

[Skymaster337B]

I know it's not the same thing, but didn't the O-2 have an oil filler system? So that you could add engine oil during flight. They used it to cross the Pacific.

[Ernie Martin]

They did have it for the ferry flights, but I don't know that it was part of the standard equipment and retained after they got to Vietnam.

For those of you who don't know the story, it was the in-flight oil filling that caused the only ditching in the many aircraft ferried from the U.S. to Vietnam.

Cessna and/or Continental had calculated/estimated the amount of oil burned per hour by these new engines on these very long flights and instituted a procedure for in-flight refilling. One of these aircraft had one engine that, by sheer luck, had an impossibly perfect set of tolerances and burned much less oil, so the refilling led to excess oil, plug fouling and engine stoppage. Because the aircraft was so overweight with additional fuel for the trip, the remaining engine was unable to maintain altitude and the aircraft was ditched. The pilot was rescued.

Ernie

[skymstr02]

The inflight oil replenishment system was only installed for the trans-Pacific crossing, it was removed with the ferry fuel tanks on arrival in Saigon.

[CO_Skymaster]

Ernie,

Thank you for the information. After thinking about that scenario, I agree. When I was losing oil on my rear engine a couple years ago, I could not see the oil spilling out and I never saw a drop in oil pressure. I did start to see the RPM gauge pulsing. I wondered what it was at the time, thinking it was an issue with the gauge or sensor. I never saw it again. It was probably because of the low level of oil.

If I see it again, I'll take it as a warning to land at an airport.

Thanks,

Karl