Had to declare my first emergency today

ian · December 28th, 2005, 21:22

Well today was a very interesting day. I have my instrument rating with about 160 hours. I was flying a Piper Arrow from ATL-GTR. Took off this morning with about a 1200 ft. ceiling and was in the clouds most of the way, everything was going fine until i got just past Birmingham. Within a matter of less than 5 min my battery died. It went from showing about 40 amps to 0. GPS, Radio,transponder, VOR, everything died..had a complete electrical systems failure. I couldnt talk to anyone for about 10 min..got to a spot where i could fly VFR so i descended down from 6000 to 2500 and flew visually the rest of the way (Thank God i was going to my home base). I pulled out my handheld and tried to use it, but i was too far away so i planned to overfly the field and shake my wings to let the tower know i had no way of communicating, then about 2 miles from the field i finally reached the tower. He told me that Columbus App had already declared an emergency for me and was watching me the whole way, i was cleared to land on 18 with a wind 280@15G26. But first, since the electrical system was out i had know way of knowing if my gear was down so i flew past the tower at 700 MSL so the tower could confirm gear down for me. I then rocked the wings to try to lock the gear in case it was not locked. So i set up for final and briefed my passengers to prepare for a gear collapse on landing. Luckily everything worked out fine, landed, and taxied by the firetrucks and they gave us a wave and a thumbs up. It was interesting because the ASA flight was put in a holding pattern for us which was kind of cool. SO the lessons i learned today were to remember emergency procedures, because you just might need them some day, and if at all possible get a hand held radio, it made life much simpiler today

Sprint100 · December 28th, 2005, 21:26

Don't lie, we know you crapped your pants not knowing if the gear was locked

Jus' joshin, good job though.
How far was your home base? I woulda turned around.

ian · December 28th, 2005, 21:34

HAHA, yes i was praying that the gear was locked and was very relieved to touch down and it nto collapse. GTR is my home base and it is where i was filed to. I was about 80% of the way there when everything went out, so i found it best to continue on since i was very familiar with the area

caliginousface · December 28th, 2005, 21:43

good job staying calm and using your training. any paperwork to fill out yet?

ian · December 28th, 2005, 21:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by caliginousface

good job staying calm and using your training. any paperwork to fill out yet?

They filled it out for me, they came over after i parked and all they asked was what the problem was, fuel on board when i landed, and took a copy of my certificate and medical and said that was all that they needed

PhotoPilot · December 28th, 2005, 21:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by ian

. . . everything was going fine until i got just past Birmingham. Within a matter of less than 5 min my battery died. It went from showing about 40 amps to 0. GPS, Radio,transponder, VOR, everything died..had a complete electrical systems failure.

If you were running on battery power, your alternator must have died first . . .

The load meter in most Arrows shows the load on the Alt, so the 40 amps was the power being drawn from the alternator. If that went to 0, your battery should have had enough charge to give you some juice for at least 10 or 15 minutes. Anymore info on the failure that you can give us? What did the mechanics find?

Either way, nice job on getting down safely!

ian · December 28th, 2005, 21:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhotoPilot

If you were running on battery power, your alternator must have died first . . .

The load meter in most Arrows shows the load on the Alt, so the 40 amps was the power being drawn from the alternator. If that went to 0, your battery should have had enough charge to give you some juice for at least 10 or 15 minutes. Anymore info on the failure that you can give us? What did the mechanics find?

Either way, nice job on getting down safely!

Yes it was an alternator failure. I had to ferry the plane up to TUP which is about a 30 min flight, called both towers to talk to them and make sure it was okay, and to give TUP an idea i was coming and that i might have radio failure and only be able to contact them 1-2 miles from the field. STarted the engine with a GPU, battery got charged back up, then slowly started to die on the way up there, so it is definately a matter of the alternator not charging the battery. It was cool because i called up TUP tower about 30 miles out to let him know it was looking like i was going to make it, and he went ahead and cleared me #1 for landing then in case the radio failed again

PhotoPilot · December 28th, 2005, 22:05

Darn alternators!

As a part of my normal IFR scan (meaning every few minutes), I check the health of the electrical system. In your case, that would mean looking at the ALT annunciator and checking that the load meter is showing approximately what is expected. If either of those indicators diverge from normal readings, it's time to take stock and come up with a plan.

If you noticed the loadmeter go to zero, a properly maintained, properly functioning battery should have given you a descent amount of time to get to an airport after loadshedding the non-critical items. If you know that you lost power at the same time the needle dropped, your battery might be toast as well.

Again, nice job on handling the lost comms!

ian · December 28th, 2005, 22:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhotoPilot

Darn alternators!

As a part of my normal IFR scan (meaning every few minutes), I check the health of the electrical system. In your case, that would mean looking at the ALT annunciator and checking that the load meter is showing approximately what is expected. If either of those indicators diverge from normal readings, it's time to take stock and come up with a plan.

If you noticed the loadmeter go to zero, a properly maintained, properly functioning battery should have given you a descent amount of time to get to an airport after loadshedding the non-critical items. If you know that you lost power at the same time the needle dropped, your battery might be toast as well.

Again, nice job on handling the lost comms!

See, it wasnt like a gradual loss, it was pretty much immediate. It just shut down. The engine was performing fine, so we were not in any rush simply for that matter. It was very unusal because everything just went out in a matter of seconds and there was nothing we could have done to prevent it. The night before it worked fine getting us to atlanta, and the alternator belt was on and everything. The mechanic thinks its loose wiring somewhere

moxiepilot · December 28th, 2005, 22:41

good job on being safe. that's what counts right?

Callous · December 28th, 2005, 23:36

How much fuel did you have onboard when you landed? Did you use the handheld to talk to the tower? Did you have to pump the gear down? How many passengers aboard?

Van_Hoolio · December 29th, 2005, 00:14

The important thing is: you made it down safely!

This just goes to show all of us that it can happen to us and that it is a good idea to review the lost comm procedures (91.185) before flying on an IFR flight plan.

Glad you're safe.

Mike

chris6387 · December 29th, 2005, 00:23

That's quite a story. Good job handling it in such a calm, professional manner.

Texguy · December 29th, 2005, 02:29

Good job, Ian. What kind of hand held do you have? I oughtta get one.

av8rmsu · December 29th, 2005, 04:56

nice work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GTR is where i first soloed

are you flying with RAS?

i really enjoyed flying out of there

av8rmsu · December 29th, 2005, 05:00

who worked on it in tupelo

i bet it was the arrow from Southernaire?!

am i right?

Aero_Engineer · December 29th, 2005, 19:06

Good job, now let's explain to others why pilots are not just button pushers and they should be paid much more.

ian · December 29th, 2005, 23:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callous

How much fuel did you have onboard when you landed? Did you use the handheld to talk to the tower? Did you have to pump the gear down? How many passengers aboard?

about 25 gallons, 2 on board

ian · December 29th, 2005, 23:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Van_Hoolio

The important thing is: you made it down safely!

This just goes to show all of us that it can happen to us and that it is a good idea to review the lost comm procedures (91.185) before flying on an IFR flight plan.

Glad you're safe.

Mike

thats awesome that you found our flight plan

but thats weird because everything was working fine, ATC had us until about KTUP

ian · December 29th, 2005, 23:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by av8rmsu

nice work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GTR is where i first soloed

are you flying with RAS?

i really enjoyed flying out of there

yea, my family is friends with the owner...I got my private and instrument there, but now i live in COlorado and yes it was the arrow from southeraire...howd you know

haha

ian · December 29th, 2005, 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texguy

Good job, Ian. What kind of hand held do you have? I oughtta get one.

http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl....4922&CATID=165

it basically paid for itself already

Callous · December 30th, 2005, 01:16

I have that transciever too.

December 28th, 2005, 21:26	#2
Sprint100 Old Skool Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Santa Clarita, CA Posts: 6,013	Don't lie, we know you crapped your pants not knowing if the gear was locked Jus' joshin, good job though. How far was your home base? I woulda turned around. __________________ "I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, that diminshes fear" - Rosa Parks

December 28th, 2005, 21:34	#3
ian Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: CO Posts: 221	HAHA, yes i was praying that the gear was locked and was very relieved to touch down and it nto collapse. GTR is my home base and it is where i was filed to. I was about 80% of the way there when everything went out, so i found it best to continue on since i was very familiar with the area __________________ Ian

December 28th, 2005, 22:05	#8
PhotoPilot Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 902	Darn alternators! As a part of my normal IFR scan (meaning every few minutes), I check the health of the electrical system. In your case, that would mean looking at the ALT annunciator and checking that the load meter is showing approximately what is expected. If either of those indicators diverge from normal readings, it's time to take stock and come up with a plan. If you noticed the loadmeter go to zero, a properly maintained, properly functioning battery should have given you a descent amount of time to get to an airport after loadshedding the non-critical items. If you know that you lost power at the same time the needle dropped, your battery might be toast as well. Again, nice job on handling the lost comms! __________________ .......__o .......\<, ....( )/ ( ) If it isn't fixed, it's broken.

December 28th, 2005, 23:36	#11
Callous Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Utah Posts: 356	How much fuel did you have onboard when you landed? Did you use the handheld to talk to the tower? Did you have to pump the gear down? How many passengers aboard? __________________ Callous - adj. Emotionally hardened; unfeeling: a callous indifference to the suffering of others. Have You Served Your Country Today?

December 29th, 2005, 02:29	#14
Texguy Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: KAUS Posts: 850	Good job, Ian. What kind of hand held do you have? I oughtta get one. __________________ Leonard Nimoy singing The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

December 28th, 2005, 21:22	#1
ian Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: CO Posts: 221	Had to declare my first emergency today Well today was a very interesting day. I have my instrument rating with about 160 hours. I was flying a Piper Arrow from ATL-GTR. Took off this morning with about a 1200 ft. ceiling and was in the clouds most of the way, everything was going fine until i got just past Birmingham. Within a matter of less than 5 min my battery died. It went from showing about 40 amps to 0. GPS, Radio,transponder, VOR, everything died..had a complete electrical systems failure. I couldnt talk to anyone for about 10 min..got to a spot where i could fly VFR so i descended down from 6000 to 2500 and flew visually the rest of the way (Thank God i was going to my home base). I pulled out my handheld and tried to use it, but i was too far away so i planned to overfly the field and shake my wings to let the tower know i had no way of communicating, then about 2 miles from the field i finally reached the tower. He told me that Columbus App had already declared an emergency for me and was watching me the whole way, i was cleared to land on 18 with a wind 280@15G26. But first, since the electrical system was out i had know way of knowing if my gear was down so i flew past the tower at 700 MSL so the tower could confirm gear down for me. I then rocked the wings to try to lock the gear in case it was not locked. So i set up for final and briefed my passengers to prepare for a gear collapse on landing. Luckily everything worked out fine, landed, and taxied by the firetrucks and they gave us a wave and a thumbs up. It was interesting because the ASA flight was put in a holding pattern for us which was kind of cool. SO the lessons i learned today were to remember emergency procedures, because you just might need them some day, and if at all possible get a hand held radio, it made life much simpiler today __________________ Ian

December 28th, 2005, 21:43	#4
caliginousface Old Skool Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: san jose, ca Posts: 2,031	good job staying calm and using your training. any paperwork to fill out yet?

December 28th, 2005, 22:41	#10
moxiepilot Old Skool Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: CFI / CFII in PA Posts: 2,671	good job on being safe. that's what counts right?

December 29th, 2005, 00:14	#12
Van_Hoolio Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Des Moines, Iowa (based in IAH) Posts: 1,070	The important thing is: you made it down safely! This just goes to show all of us that it can happen to us and that it is a good idea to review the lost comm procedures (91.185) before flying on an IFR flight plan. Glad you're safe. Mike

December 29th, 2005, 00:23	#13
chris6387 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 686	That's quite a story. Good job handling it in such a calm, professional manner.

December 29th, 2005, 04:56	#15
av8rmsu Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Pickwick Lake Posts: 448	nice work!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GTR is where i first soloed are you flying with RAS? i really enjoyed flying out of there

December 29th, 2005, 05:00	#16
av8rmsu Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Pickwick Lake Posts: 448	who worked on it in tupelo i bet it was the arrow from Southernaire?! am i right?

December 29th, 2005, 19:06	#17
Aero_Engineer Old Skool Join Date: May 2005 Location: California, USA Posts: 2,036	Good job, now let's explain to others why pilots are not just button pushers and they should be paid much more.

December 30th, 2005, 01:16	#22
Callous Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Utah Posts: 356	I have that transciever too. __________________ Callous - adj. Emotionally hardened; unfeeling: a callous indifference to the suffering of others. Have You Served Your Country Today?

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