While climbing out of FL280 a MD83 crew noticed the oil quantity on the right engine went from 12 qu...

Narrative:

While climbing out of FL280 we noticed the oil quantity on the right engine went from 12 quarts down to eight. We immediately ran the QRH for oil quantity. The QRH said that it was likely that the oil cap was left off and that oil should stabilize around 4 to 6 quarts. We called company on commercial radio to let them know the possibility of us having to divert and also what they recommended. The oil quantity [was] about five quarts when we declared an emergency and deviated to a nearby airport. We elected to keep the engine running as long as parameters were in acceptable limits. The pressure never dropped and the oil temperature never rose higher than the left engine. The captain updated the flight attendants and passengers while I continued to fly and monitor ATC. We ran the diversion checklist and other appropriate checklists and landed at the diversion airport. We transferred the controls in the terminal area and the captain made the landing. After we came to a stop on the runway we shutdown the right engine and had the airport fire department look at the engine before proceeding to the gate. We landed with approximately three quarts of oil. We wrote up the airplane and maintenance later advised a seal had broken allowing oil to escape close to the starter.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While climbing out of FL280 a MD83 crew noticed the oil quantity on the right engine went from 12 quarts down to eight. The crew diverted to a nearby airport where Maintenance later advised a seal had broken allowing oil to escape close to the starter.

Narrative: While climbing out of FL280 we noticed the oil quantity on the right engine went from 12 quarts down to eight. We immediately ran the QRH for oil quantity. The QRH said that it was likely that the oil cap was left off and that oil should stabilize around 4 to 6 quarts. We called company on Commercial Radio to let them know the possibility of us having to divert and also what they recommended. The oil quantity [was] about five quarts when we declared an emergency and deviated to a nearby airport. We elected to keep the engine running as long as parameters were in acceptable limits. The pressure never dropped and the oil temperature never rose higher than the left engine. The Captain updated the flight attendants and passengers while I continued to fly and monitor ATC. We ran the diversion checklist and other appropriate checklists and landed at the diversion airport. We transferred the controls in the terminal area and the Captain made the landing. After we came to a stop on the runway we shutdown the right engine and had the airport fire department look at the engine before proceeding to the gate. We landed with approximately three quarts of oil. We wrote up the airplane and Maintenance later advised a seal had broken allowing oil to escape close to the starter.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1071115
Time
Date	201302
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-83
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Powerplant Lubrication System
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

While climbing out of FL280 a MD83 crew noticed the oil quantity on the right engine went from 12 quarts down to eight. The crew diverted to a nearby airport where maintenance later advised a seal had broken allowing oil to escape close to the starter.