SR22
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 85; Flight Crew Total 534; Flight Crew Type 162
Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown; Time Pressure; Training / Qualification
ATC Issue All Types; Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; General Declared Emergency
Procedure; Aircraft; Human Factors
Departed ZZZ for cross country flight VFR. Climbing through 6;000 FT the indicated oil pressure fell below 30 PSI. I immediately started a precautionary descent back to the airport and contacted Tower 10 miles northwest; then again at five miles. Oil pressure was in the low 20's by this time. Tower told me to turn right base. Oil pressure kept dropping. Turned final; my oil pressure dropped to seven PSI. Tower told a King Air to Line Up and Wait while I was on short final. Tower told me to execute a go-around; but by this time my oil pressure had dropped to two PSI and I was unsure about safely executing a go-around. I declared an emergency and the Tower cleared the King Air for departure. I landed behind the departing King Air. Clearing the runway I contacted the Tower and discussed the preceding actions. I realize now that I should have communicated my falling oil pressure at initial contact with the Tower; and perhaps declared an emergency much earlier in the process.
When faced with deteriorating engine oil pressure during a return to his departure airport an SR22T pilot learned an important lesson about declaring an emergency in a timely fashion in order to obtain the priority handling from ATC commensurate with his situation.