My First Real Instance of PIC

[Joshrk22]

Yes, I've soloed and I have acted as PIC but today was my first real instance of truly being PIC. I was going to finish the last part of my training today with my solo X-C.

I got the plane out and did all the paperwork and preflight. So I go to start the plane and had a heckuva' time starting it. I just figured maybe I had overprimed it. When I did finally get it running the oil pressure gauge shot up past the normal operating areas and the engine began to run rough. I tried to lean the mixture thinking maybe it was running rough because a fouled spark plug. Nope, the engine just quit when I tried to lean it. I did a mag check and the aircraft didn't even want to run.

So after a few minutes of seeing if the oil pressure was going to drop it didn't, instead it went up even more. I shut it down and put her away. I entered this in the maintenance squawks and called my instructor on the way home.

I'm not really sure what could cause this because I did fly the plane yesterday and it ran great. It did have a 100 hour inspection earlier this week. Oh well, today I truly felt like a PIC.

And this is now the shortest flight in my logbook...
:laugh:

 

[Waldom]

Good job, Joshrk. You just encountered a difficult decision all P.I.C.s sometimes have to make. Sometimes it is our responsibility to disappoint our passengers or ourselves when deciding whether or not to takeoff. You made the right call.

I know that is stating the obvious, but think about having to make that decision when you have an appointment for a job interview or a date with a girlfriend at your destination. Its easy to make a bad decision regarding pushing weather or living with a mechanical discrepancy then.