To Quit or Not to Quit...That is the question!

[loopnroll]

Hello fellow ACA enthusiasts. I have just started flying IAC competition in my 7ECA at the Ohio Aerobatic Open, 2021. It was great fun and while there was a steep learning curve, I learned a lot and what to do it again.

So the question is, when flying Primary or Sportsman, do you let the engine quit or not during inverted downlines, slow rolls or any other maneuver that requires negative Gs.

I don't mind the sounds of silence but I wonder if starving the engine for fuel and floating the oil is bad for engine life.

The secondary issue is that it is very hard to get the basic 5 point harness tight enough to keep my butt in the seat.

 

[kubark42]

I had a similar question about oil, https://champcitabriadecathlonforums.com/threads/inverted-flight-carb-before-oil.938/

Elsewhere people have pointed to anecdotal instances where an airplane engine was run several minutes without oil and without harm. @Bob Turner reports 18 years of losing oil pressure without having seen issues arise.

P.S. The engine doesn't care if you run it out of fuel. That won't hurt anything.