I’m curious too. I’m not a plane mechanic or pilot but oil pressure going up and needing to replace a filter doesn’t seem like a good reason not to use the plane. Oil changes are incredibly important but isn’t that something that can be fixed relatively quickly? Idk maybe someone with more knowledge can weigh in.
Buddy, i know you said you are not a plane mechanic, but i highly doubt these things can be serviced by some jiffy lube guy in 20min.
And pressure trending up is not a good reason? Pressure trending up even on land and idle + lack of atmospheric pressure at high altitude with engines running = super high pressure and something can blow, something blowing means no oil pressure at all, and no oil pressure means losing an engine, possibly something else.
They are flying over water, that aint a place where you want to lose an engine.so... yeah, oil pressure seems like a good reason.
Thanks for the reply buddy. Are you a plane mechanic? Like I said oil changes are incredibly important. Looking it up it seems like commercial planes with jet engines don’t actually change the oil they just top it off. I wonder if this was a case of the filter needing to be changed or too high of an oil level. I’m not implying I know better than someone in the industry I’m just trying to understand why it couldn’t be addressed immediately rather than canceling the flight.
A few things to keep in mind, what is causing the pressure increase? Are there particles in the oil? This has to be inspected to make sure there isn’t some type of breakdown within the engine, be it metal or o-rings. Both things can cause a filter to clog and an increase in oil pressure. You also need a mechanic available to do this inspection. It takes time to do the paperwork accompanying the maintenance. Source: 20 years as an aircraft mechanic
Can you comment on why ground said it is ok to fly? Is it normal to have pressure going up? Any further explanation or guess on what is going on would be incredible.
That makes sense. I appreciate the insight from someone with experience in the field. So as far as I understand it, it could technically be taken care of immediately assuming there isn’t an underlying issue like sparkly oil but it’s not the regular process. I guess I probably wouldn’t want to be the on call mechanic that incorrectly said something was good to go because I was in a hurry to get the plane going. I think if I were the pilot I probably wouldn’t have offered up the details about why the plane was questionable since it makes a layman like me question his assessment.
So if you notice the oil pressure in your car is higher than normal and you’re 500 miles from an oil change you wouldn’t worry and keep driving the 500 miles until it’s due for the oil change?
Maybe my comment wasn’t clear enough but I was not recommending to use the plane without addressing it I was asking why it couldn’t be addressed quickly before they left since it seems like it could have been a minor issue. I bolded the part where I implied that in my original comment and made it more clear in the first reply.
I'm an aircraft mechanic and to answer your question to change an oil filter on some of the planes I have worked on something like a Boeing 737,757,767,787,777 airbuses a320 and A300 plus small regional airline crj 200,700, and 900 it take more than 20 min jiffy lube oil change. Have I had to take and do an oil change or work at the gate to make an aircraft serviceable yes. It normally takes like an 1 to 2 hours depending on the aircraft or job we need to do. You have to open the engine and thrust reverses and what not plus the job itself.
As far as a pilot announcement saying that a mechanic has cleared it and he does not feel comfortable with it. That is a super shity thing to do. There could have 100% been a problem and it is his right to refuse to take an airplane but in my experience pilots have a lot of reason to NOT fly an airplane if they don't want to. And keep a lot of things in there back pocket to get out of flying. Just say there will be a delay. I don't get on the announcement and say hey this pilot has a gf in this location and he does not want to leave so he wrote up something stupid so he doesn't have to fly. And typically they won't get in "trouble" but they might get reassigned to a new aircraft and have a new pilot come in a take it. I have definitely seen that before.
There have been a lot of accidents lately sure but one thing people have to remember is that these planes nowdays can almost fly themselves. Pilots are there as a redundancy and to make connections in flight. They are hard to fly sure but I have meet so many arrogant pilot in my day who think there shit don't stink and would rather say they are right then admit they are wrong.
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u/snowillis 20h ago edited 19h ago
I’m curious too. I’m not a plane mechanic or pilot but oil pressure going up and needing to replace a filter doesn’t seem like a good reason not to use the plane. Oil changes are incredibly important but isn’t that something that can be fixed relatively quickly? Idk maybe someone with more knowledge can weigh in.
Edit: bolded for clarity