A B757's oil tank drain plug came loose on an oceanic flight causing a low oil pressure warning so the crew shut the engine down; executed the off NAT track diversion procedure; declared an emergency and diverted to an enroute airport.
Synopsis
A B757's oil tank drain plug came loose on an oceanic flight causing a low oil pressure warning so the crew shut the engine down; executed the off NAT track diversion procedure; declared an emergency and diverted to an enroute airport.
Narrative
On a NAT Victor [airway] at FL380 we noticed right engine oil pressure in the amber caution range. This was immediately followed by a right engine oil pressure light on the forward center panel. Oil quantity was 8 quarts on the right engine. I took control of the aircraft; called for and accomplished the engine shutdown procedure on the right engine per QRH. I started a turn 45 degrees to the left (north) of track in order to depart the NAT Victor. First Officer declared emergency with ATC. He then broadcast our intentions on 121.5 per SOP. Since we were ACARS NO COMM; I told the First Officer to go to air-to-air freq 123.45 and ask if there was a B777 on frequency that could pull up our destination weather. The aircraft promptly got the weather; which was 3;000 BKN 3 MI winds 200 at 12. At 10 miles offset I began drift down procedure to FL250. At 13 miles offset got SELCAL from Oceanic and given VHF frequency for ATC. ATC got us in radar [contact] and cleared us direct. At this point I called the Purser and gave him the briefing. This was followed a short time later by a PA. We were approaching the airport from the east at FL070; about 20 miles out; working Approach. They told us that Tower had called them and advised a line of weather was moving in from the east. Sure enough; we started to pick up the line on radar. Approach offered a vector south. I picked a 'soft spot;' and we penetrated the line and encountered heavy rain and moderate turbulence for approximately 30 seconds. Approach descended us to 3;000 FT. We coordinated for a 10 mile final; runway heading to 3;000 FT in the event of a missed [approach]. Once cleared for the approach; I armed the center and right autopilots. This was a two-man crew and we had been up most of the night. The other two autopilots gave us an added layer of redundancy and active rudder control to compensate for the engine-out asymmetric thrust condition. I knocked off all autopilots on short final; made a smooth touchdown; and uneventful rollout. Cleared runway at Taxiway A. Airport Rescue and Fire Fighters gave us a look over; said we were good to go; and taxied to parking. Elapsed time from engine shutdown to landing was approximately 1+15 hours. I neglected to say that oil quantity went to zero on the right engine.
Second reporter narrative
Other than the failed engine and the preparations made for a single-engine approach and landing; the entire operation seemed to go fairly normally and smoothly. After approximately 75 to 80 minutes of flying after the shut-down; an uneventful approach and landing was executed at the diversion airport. After blocking in at the gate; we were told that an oil tank drain plug appeared to have backed off its threads; allowing oil to drain from the engine.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.