It was not so much an emergency as much as abnormal operations. My folks were in town Sunday and I wanted to take my old man up to show him the thousands in student loans for flying lessons were worth it. Thing is I have been training recently in a 112hp Piper Tomahawk aka "tomarock", im talking 2 adults, fuel max is tabs, and still praying it lifts off. The school offers an Archer, and 172 to rent, but I figure if I can pass my check ride in this thing, I should be able to fly anything.

Now obviously three of us wern't going to fit into that piper, and since my next goal is adding a tailwheel endorsment, I rented the 2003 172 for a couple hours as an intro to a high wing aircraft. Having never flown a high wing I was somewhat nervous, new plane to me and all. After a quick preflight, and taxi ride to 12 we lifted off, smooth and FAST, man was it nice to fly a 180hp! We made our turn-out to the north, and within 5 miles my instructor says, whats the engine temp? I looked down and saw it was redlined at 245F. I'll admit I was ashamed he noticed it before me, after all im almost ready for my check ride. After a failed attempt to cool it down, we promptly turned around for an immidiate landing.

Even though our flight got cut short this turned out to be a huge learning expereince for me....ALWAY WATCH MY GAUGES!! Plus everything turned out ok, and as far as the 172 its going in early for the 100hr inspection. I do have one question you guys might be able to answer. While I was taxing back to the hanger I noticed when I adjusted the throttle back even a small amount of RPM's, the temp fluctuated a huge amount like 50F? And when I added a small amount of power it jumped right back up? I thought it was strange but what do I know im just a student!

I've always heard them refereed to as a "Tramahawk". Ya, nothing like looking at the oil pressure gauge and seeing a big fat 0.

"... within 5 miles my instructor says, whats the engine temp? I looked down and saw it was redlined at 245F. I'll admit I was ashamed he noticed it before me, after all im almost ready for my check ride. After a failed attempt to cool it down, we promptly turned around for an immidiate landing. "

I'm assuming you are talking about oil temp, not CHT. The difference in oil chemistry for modern aviation oils versus the old oils they used in the 40's and 50's is in your favor. A few minutes at 250 or even 260 with modern av oil is not going to wreck an engine. But it might have "worn out" the oil's lubricating properties and dirtied it up prematurely. To be conservative, your flight school should probably just change the oil and have someone do a test flight ont he airplane to make sure nothing was damaged.

I'm not an accredited expert on this, and I surely have never run a flight school... but to my feeble senility-addled mind, it seems to me that any rental/student training airplane that is redlining the oil temp within 5 miles of takeoff needs to have the cooling system adjusted to provide a little more airflow in the summer???

Your correct EZ it was oil temp my bad.

sorry accidental re-post