Flight Training - July 2019 - 8

AROUND THE PATCH BY JILL W. TALLMAN

REAL PILOT STORY:
'POWERLESS OVER PARIS'

Technical Editor JILL W. TALLMAN
prefers to fly during daylight
hours, just in case.
jill.tallman@aopa.org

LIGHTS OUT

Most mechanical issues I've dealt with as a pilot have been minor.
And I like it that way.
The most recent one involved a flight from Ohio to Maryland in April 2018. I
had spent a fun, exhausting weekend practicing formation flying with some of the
pilots in Cherokees 2 Oshkosh. Ten airplanes had flown together in groups of three,
a rehearsal for the mass arrival of Cherokees that would occur in July. Now I was
heading back home to Maryland.
About 20 minutes into the 2.5-hour flight, I noticed that the needle on the loadmeter was no longer registering a charge.
I knew what this meant: The electrical system was shutting down. I also knew this
wasn't an emergency. The engine would continue to run, thanks to the four-stroke
engine with magnetos that are self-powered. I was flying in good visual meteorological conditions, during the day. I had plenty of fuel on board, so, knowing that the
engine would keep my airplane flying, I decided to head straight to my home airport.
I had to decrease the load on the airplane's battery, and so I shut off lights. For
some reason it didn't occur to me to turn off the avionics switch. So, not surprisingly,
the radios and Garmin GNS 430 went belly-up in about a half hour.
I still wasn't worried. All that was needed was to see the light gun signals at my
towered airport.
Cruising over the Appalachian Mountains at about 7,500 feet, 65 miles outside Frederick, I started thinking. Was there more that could be done to prepare for this arrival? No
worries lowering the manual flaps or the fixed landing gear in this Piper Cherokee 140. I'd
reviewed the light gun signals, which were printed on the back of my kneeboard.
8 FLIGHT TRAINING JULY 2019

An instrument-rated, commercial
pilot flying through thick instrument
meteorological conditions at night
experiences a full electrical failure.
Through creativity and some rule
breaking, air traffic controllers are able
to get in contact with him, but will he
be able to find the airport and land in
the current conditions? Hear the story
firsthand from the pilot and controllers
involved.
youtu.be/UQtvi1ijPQ4

Could I somehow let the tower know
I was coming? And how could I do that?
Our airport gets a brisk amount of training
traffic on weekends, and the prospect of
arriving NORDO (no radio) into a busy
pattern wasn't thrilling.
Ordinarily I don't use a cellphone
during flight (well, OK, I'll snap the odd
wing view photo now and again). This was
an extenuating circumstance.
I tried to call a flight instructor friend
using the Bluetooth function on my headset, but the call did not go through. Then I
sent her a text, but she was in the middle
of a lesson and couldn't help.
Eventually I thought to text a pilot friend
who's on a first-name basis with practically
everyone at the airport. Not only did he
contact the tower to let them know, but he
also passed along my cellphone number to
the controller on duty. That controller texted
to ask my approximate location so he could
watch for me, and he told me to expect a
right base entry to Runway 5.
And that was it. I watched for the light
gun signal, found it-in broad daylight, it's
not as bright as you'd think-and landed.
I taxied to my hangar, shut down, and
then called both the tower controller and
my pilot friend to let them know all was
well, and to thank them. A mechanic later
determined that a loose electrical connection had caused the failure.
I wish all mechanical issues could be
resolved so easily. We know they aren't,
and that's why we train for emergencies.
It's why we keep emergency checklists
handy and practice flows for when time
is short and items must be accomplished
from memory. Practicing flows, engine-out
procedures, and other types of emergencies
not only make us safer pilots, but also more
confident pilots. It's a great feeling that
makes the flight itself more enjoyable. FT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQtvi1ijPQ4&feature=youtu.be

Flight Training - July 2019

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