AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 102

RUDDER & WRENCH
human factors training was to come into
the picture.
The flight up to Daytona proved to be
every bit as challenging as anticipated.
My instructor, half my age but twice
my ability, gave me a running narration
of the sights of Orlando International
Airport and downtown, that I was not to
see as I was working under the hood trying
to set up the descent and approach
into Daytona. On the basis of the weather
and flight plan we had filed, I requested
a GPS Runway 34 approach, but was told
" unavailable. "
Only slightly flustered, I requested
the opposite GPS Runway 16, still easily
negotiated from my position to the southwest,
but was also told " unavailable. " The
only approach I was able to get that night
was an ILS 25R, which took me several
miles out over the ocean before being
turned back in to intercept the localizer.
As I turned outbound, the young instructor's
running narrative became noticeably
more terse out low over the ink-black
ocean at night. Weather was good, but
there was some mist offshore, and soon
he informed me he could no longer see
the shore. Silence settled in.
After only minutes-which seemed
like much more-the radio call came to
turn onto an intercept heading. I turned
inbound to intercept, and soon enough I
removed the hood to the welcoming view
of a full approach lighting, heralding the
10,500-foot runway, lit like a Christmas
tree. We touched down on the huge
runway with all the grace of a tossed coin
on a tennis court, but it had been quite
a workout, and it was a relief to be on
the ground.
We had planned a VFR return,
which should be easy going, and a relaxing
conclusion, as we both had to be up
early the next day for work. Return taxi
instructions from the tower included an
intersection takeoff, which proved to be
more complicated than it should, as the
intersections were not well marked or
lit, and the Cessna 172's taxi lighting also
seemed pathetically dim and mostly useless.
But after almost taking the wrong
one we managed to stumble toward the
correct intersection, to the same 10,500foot
runway.
102
AOPA PILOT / January 2024
After a quick check, I keyed the microphone
to ask for takeoff-and everything
went dark. The panel, the lights, the
radios. Using a flashlight we were able
to see the ammeter swinging wildly from
full charge to zero. I assume there were
incipient signs of electrical system failure
on the flight out, and that's on me,
because the instructor cannot really see
it from his right seat position. Once again
began the drill of turning off everything
nonessential; then, revving the engine, we
were able to get enough charge to turn on
one radio. Hardly surprised to hear the
tower trying to reach us, I asked for taxi
on the runway to return to the ramp for
troubleshooting.
On the ramp, we checked everything
we could and tried revving the engine
After ruling out the
alternator switch or
fuse, we were faced
with a flat-out
electrical system
failure.
for several minutes. After ruling out the
alternator switch or fuse, we were faced
with a flat-out electrical system failure. At
several points we were able to get enough
charge to turn on a radio, but it would only
last a few seconds. We were parked in
front of an FBO, but it had just closed for
the night. Convinced there must still be
someone there, I rang the bell, but no one
responded. Going around back, I found a
gate closed, but not locked. I opened it to
see if that would trigger something, and
sure enough a ramp agent came out immediately.
Sometimes a guy has to know
what to do to get some quick service.
The ramp agent agreed to let us park
there and helped us push the airplane to
their reserved area and secure it. It was
then that I was faced with the biggest
challenge of the night: The instructor
wanted to fly it back. He called a few other
people-instructors and mechanics-who
gave him a few items to test, but they were
all unequivocal in their admonitions.
" Don't even think about flying the airplane
tonight. "
But he wouldn't hear it. It's an easy
flight, it's not very far, weather was VFR.
He kept calling people, trying to get
someone to buy in on his plan to fly the
crippled airplane back that night, but no
one would. I had a handheld VHF radio
with me, but relying on that to take off in
Class C, fly through or under a Class B to
land in Class D just didn't make sense. We
were safely parked on the ground, arguing
about whether to take off at night in an airplane
we knew to have a faulty electrical
system, with nothing but a handheld VHF
radio on a flight where radio is required
for the entire flight. The ramp agent, who
was still there, watched in amazement as
I tried to persuade the instructor that
getting back in that airplane would be creating
a potential emergency, where none
existed at the moment. I asked the guy
if there was a place at the airport where
we could rent a car, and he indicated the
terminal was just a five-minute walk, but
they would be closing in 15 minutes, as the
last scheduled flight of the evening was
already in.
I told the instructor, " I'm walking to
the terminal right now, I'm going to rent a
car and drive back to Kissimmee " -a twohour
drive- " and you're coming with me. "
We got a car, a Chevy Cruze, minutes
before the agency closed, and I did the
driving. The fault turned out to be the battery
itself, which was not the result I had
expected (I suspected an alternator issue).
On the FAA list of dangerous attitudes,
I believe we checked four out of the five
boxes that night. Anti-authority, impulsivity,
invulnerability, and probably macho,
with resignation-albeit in a sense different
from what the FAA intends-being the
good sense that brought us home safely.
None of this is to denigrate that
instructor in any way. We got along well;
he is a fantastic aviator, and is in his rightful
place at the moment as a first officer at
a major, with a brilliant career ahead of
him. I can only hope he took away something
about human factors that night.
Greg Faris is an instrument-rated private
pilot with 23 years of flying experience.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024

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