planeandpilotmag.com 77I can’t see one either. I wipe of the dipstick, push it
back into place, and pull it back out. Again, neither Brian
nor I can see a level.
Brian walks back to the shop and returns with three
quarts of Shell’s inest. We pop the plastic caps and pour
the contents of two bottles into the funnel, then, check
the oil again, and we can just barely see a level at the very
bottom of the dipstick.
“Bill, it looks as if you burned eight or nine quarts of
oil between Santa Barbara and here,” Brian comments.
He adds the third quart, and the level rises slightly on the
bottom of the dipstick.
And so the mystery begins. he Australian owner’s
new $360,000 Stationair (remember, this was in 2000)
sits forlorn on the ramp in Honolulu. Lycoming suggests
the engine checked out to specs before it was shipped to
Cessna. he Cessna factory claims the airplane was perfect
when I picked it up in Wichita.
Understandably, the owner, a retired Qantas 747 pilot,
wants a new engine for his new airplane. Someone would
probably blame me if they could, but no one can igure
how a pilot could induce high oil consumption, so I’m of
the hook. Also, I still have the invoice for the oil change in
Long Beach, so I’m not a factor in the debate.
I’m installed at a comfortable hotel looking out on
the sights of Waikiki Beach while everyone ights it out.
Brian pulls the cowling, drains the oil, does a compres-
sion test and performs every diagnostic he can think of.
he airplane’s belly is a little oily, but it hardly looks dirty
enough to account for eight or nine quarts of blowby. No
one can come up with a reason for the high oil consump-
tion. he question is, now what?
Finally, with everyone pulling their hair out trying to
understand where all that oil went, I make a suggestion
that Cessna, Lycoming, the customer and the Australian
dealer agree with.
Why not, I propose, top of the oil and let me take the
T206 on a four-hour light above Oahu at 12,000 feet,
circling high above the airport; then, land, check oil
consumption on that light and decide on the next step?
he following day, I launch into a typically beautiful
Hawaiian morning, ATC vectors me in the climb, and I
set up a racetrack pattern in case I need to return to the
airport. Again, the airplane runs perfectly, and the engine
instruments give no hint of problems.
Four hours later, I wake up and advise ATC that I’m
ready to land, and 30 minutes after that, I’m shutting down
in front of the Air Service oice.
he engine burned one quart. After more conference
calls across four time zones, the only logical course of
action is for me to continue the trip if I’m wiling.
I’m willing. he following day, long before the sun has
topped Diamond Head crater, I’m of and lying toward
Majuro, Marshall Islands, 2,000 miles south-southwest of
Honolulu, located in the geographic center of the Paciic.
If there’s any sign of trouble and I develop engineComing up on one of the world's most welcome landmarks, Diamond Head on Oahu, which is the first spec of land many pilots see after many hours in the air.