First flight with my wife and we had an emergency landing

You were just showing off your crazy calmness, impeccable training, and general pilot coolness. I'm sure she was impressed! (We all are lol)
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
First flight with my wife in our "new" Comanche and we got to do an emergency landing.

Pilot error of course.

We took off and flew and she loved the plane for the first 20 minutes.

Everything was great then the GPS went black. My first thought was turn the avionics off and back on. But it was still blank. I spent about 30 seconds irritated because I just bought this and surely this cannot be the first time the GPS has gone out. The seller must have known it was dying and didn't mention it. So my first emotion in all of this was anger.

Then the radios started dimming and I said "Crap we've lost the alternator".
As I reached over to squawk 7600, the transponder went bank.

Embarrassingly, that's the first time I noticed the ALT light was illuminated and started to ponder if the light being on meant the ALT was on or it was failing.

Everything switched to slow motion as I simultaneously thought about the electric landing gear and reached at the switches to start powering everything off.

No radios, transponder, GPS, and I am guessing landing gear was going to be an issue.

Fly the plane. So I made sure everything flight-wise was fine and told my wife to grab the stratus out of my flight bag since we were nordo and I want to be able to see traffic.

I climb up a few thousand feet, slow way down and try to lower the landing gear. It goes down about a quarter of the way and stops.

Eren is starting to panic, cry, and pray. I am trying to reassure her that there is no reason to panic, the plane doesn't need electricity to fly. I give her work to do "Look for traffic" so I can troubleshoot.

I have obviously lost my alternator I am thinking but then I start to think about every plane I have ever flown and that all of them have Alternator field switches. I am scanning every square inch of the panel over and over looking for ANYTHING that looks like an alternator switch. I don't see anything.

I grab 2 checklists that came with the plane looking for any mention of turning on or ensuring the alternator switch is on and I find nothing.

Now it is time to do what both instructors I flew with told me. slow down to 100, open the panel on the floor, read the instructions on the back of it, lift the red lip, extend the pole, push it to the stop.

It is full forward but no green light on the panel.

Here's where I got dumb brain. I said "I'm going to fly by the nearest controlled field and ask if I can do a low pass and have them look.... Oh yeah, no radio. We're on our own here.

I recall the seller of the plane stating at night, when the panel lights are on, the green light either doesn't come on or is very dim. I found the knob and it was on but on its dimmest setting. 1mm to the left and click. Green light comes on. The gear is down and locked.

We head to our home field and feel horrible because there is traffic in the pattern and of course none of them can see me on ADS-B or hear me so I probably irritated some of them.

We cross the numbers and I am just waiting to hear metal scraping but I greased the landing.
Not so much as a bump. We taxied to the hangar to put the plane away and all was well.

We arrived in 2 separate cars so my wife went back to the house and I went through that plane again and I saw a label "Alt Field" on the front of the panel but no switch for it.

I felt under the panel where the circuit breakers are and sure enough right in the middle of the circuit breakers is a toggle switch. I believe when I was feeling the breakers before taking off, I inadvertently hit that toggle and turned the alternator off.

Lucky for me it turns out I have an A&P on my field that is very familiar with these planes. He came over, jacked the plane up and re attached the landing gear transmission. On the Comanche when you do the manual procedure, it detaches the gear mechanism from the jackscrew that drives it up and down so that has to be manually reattached after manual extension.

My wife is totally cool now and has no concerns about the plane or flying in it. She said she actually has more confidence flying because she saw me stay collected while this was going on . She said "I have never heard the business voice before and gotten that much eye contact as you explained what was happening and what wasn't happening and what you were going to do about it"

I called the former owner and just asked about it and he said "It never crossed my mind to mention that switch" It was just part of his muscle memory.

So I guess there is some silver lining. But yes, complete pilot error. I am making my own checklist that references the alternator switch even though, I know I will never forget it again.

I am also having it relocated to a less ridiculous location.
I have also relabeled the "Alt" light to "ALT INOP"


View attachment 103459



My View

View attachment 103457



View attachment 103458
Click to expand...
Ya survived one of them 'guy just bought the plane' incidents. And ya greased it. Sumpin about situations that got your concentration on steroids often lead to those. In my experience anyway. Anyway, good job. Ya know, if ya got a Cessna you wouldn't have to do all that thinkin bout gettin the Tower to have a look at the gear.:goofy:
 
cowman said:
There are phone numbers for ATC in foreflight, calling one of them would probably also be an option.
Click to expand...

I tried looking around but only finding FBO, manager, and Clearance Delivery numbers? I have my home field’s tower phone number in my phone, but good to know if and where to look in FF if you can advise.
 
Nice job, welcome to the alternator out club, mine was at night. And yes, keep the ammeter in your scan, my first indication that the gig was up was the ammeter needle was showing a hefty discharge. It signaled the issue a good while before I got the low volt light on the annunciator.

And for the love of all that is good, tell your wife to shave her legs! Oh, and ditch those New Balance, makes her look like an old lady.
 
Did you remind her that during the preflight briefing you explained the right seat is the flight engineer's position, and it was her job to monitor the engine? I mean, all the gauges are right there, that was obviously Piper's intent.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
We head to our home field and feel horrible because there is traffic in the pattern and of course none of them can see me on ADS-B or hear me so I probably irritated some of them.
Click to expand...
Having been to that airport, dealing with the other tenants may be the most hazardous part....

Well done on handling the situation.
 
Sam D said:
For your USB charger in the cigarette lighter, you might want to consider something like this to confirm the battery is charging as part of your runup procedures (of course until you get a full glass panel that includes this). And by the way, get rid of all that bright red string around your yoke -- that can be a hazard.
s-l400.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm going to get one of these.
 
I had something similar happen in the Aztec - dual alternator failure (longer story) back when I was pretty new to it, and had a plane full of dogs. Good job, Bryan. These things happen. And now you learned something about your new airplane (including how to do an emergency gear extension!).

One of the biggest problems I find with older planes like yours is the human factors aspects, like what you dealt with. You'll be able to make minor changes to help with that, and as you know the plane, it will become less of an issue. But, newer planes defifnitely actually think about human factors now.
 
Mrs. Steingar hated the Mooney at first. Just hated it. Seat were wrong, hard to get into, all sorts of stuff. She changed her tune when I got us back from DC in 2 hours.

Thankfully an alternator failure is a relative non event in my aircraft, since the gear and flaps are manual. Good thing too, you have to remove the prop to change the alternator belt in my aircraft.

New airplanes can have teething problems. Glad it turned out all right.
 
I think you handled this well, you landed, no damage. I'm thinking that is not a factory installed switch, furthermore I wonder if someone replaced a circuit breaker with a switch, which would not be a bright move. Ya gots some work to do I think, but sweet airplane otherwise
 
I've had two in my Piper as well. The first was with an ammeter exactly like the one in your plane. I didn't notice the battery was discharging due to a broken wire until I announced landing at an uncontrolled field and the radio sounded weird. Afterwards, all I got was just a click from the starter when I tried to start back up. The second time it happened was after I installed the instrument below. Saw the yellow "battery discharge" light in time to make it all the way back to Tucson before the battery died enough to affect the radios.

VA-1A.jpg
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
If I make a video about, I will be "lucky to be alive", "Never flying these deathtraps again", "We almost died 9 times.", "That time I died in a plane crash", "Gryder Gryder Gryder, the New Mayday Mayday Mayday"
Click to expand...

You can also add, "You wont believe #7" "Local single moms in your area"
 
Also find a way to work in "I did an Internet search for ramen noodles and got flooded with gay porn."
 
Sam D said:
For your USB charger in the cigarette lighter, you might want to consider something like this to confirm the battery is charging as part of your runup procedures (of course until you get a full glass panel that includes this). And by the way, get rid of all that bright red string around your yoke -- that can be a hazard.
s-l400.jpg
Click to expand...

The bright red string is the autopilot.
 
Great job sir! At least we won't be singing, "Hey Mr. Tangerine Man" songs about you. :D

Too soon? :dunno:
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
I tried looking around but only finding FBO, manager, and Clearance Delivery numbers? I have my home field’s tower phone number in my phone, but good to know if and where to look in FF if you can advise.
Click to expand...

Unless I’m mistaken(which is totally possible) the clearance delivery numbers should get you in touch with a controller. Even if it’s not the correct person I’m sure in an emergency they’d be able to get the information where it needed to go or get you another number.
 
I like "low voltage annunciator" lamp.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
If I make a video about, I will be "lucky to be alive", "Never flying these deathtraps again", "We almost died 9 times.", "That time I died in a plane crash", "Gryder Gryder Gryder, the New Mayday Mayday Mayday"
Click to expand...
Subscribed...
 
Good job Bryan - well handled and kept your cool!

Ted said:
One of the biggest problems I find with older planes like yours is the human factors aspects, like what you dealt with. You'll be able to make minor changes to help with that, and as you know the plane, it will become less of an issue. But, newer planes defifnitely actually think about human factors now.
Click to expand...

Very true... Makes me appreciate the simplicity and redundancy that I am luck to fly with.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
If I make a video about, I will be "lucky to be alive", "Never flying these deathtraps again", "We almost died 9 times.", "That time I died in a plane crash", "Gryder Gryder Gryder, the New Mayday Mayday Mayday"
Click to expand...

“Gryder, Gryder, Gryder”. That made me laugh out loud. :)
 
Timbeck2 said:
The second time it happened was after I installed the instrument below. Saw the yellow "battery discharge" light in time to make it all the way back to Tucson before the battery died enough to affect the radios.
Click to expand...

The ammeter in our Archer packed it in and we replaced it with one just like that for a fraction of the cost of a Piper one. Like it a lot.
 
When I had a total electrical failure, it was also because of an accidentally turned off alternator switch.

Unfortunately, it was with an instrument student, during an approach in IMC, at night!

Finding VFR conditions while flying partial panel from the right seat with a flashlight in my mouth was "fun." It must have worked, because we apparently survived.
 
This thread could be a commercial for an engine monitor. my EDM 700 would have started flashing way before I started losing power.
 
JOhnH said:
This thread could be a commercial for an engine monitor. my EDM 700 would have started flashing way before I started losing power.
Click to expand...

I fly experimental. My instrumentation allows me to set over/under limits on most parameters. I'm certain the same thing exists for certified aircraft. It's about the Benjamins ...
 
Had similar. Avionics shop decided to flip that switch. I never flip that switch. Was at a Class C, announced we needed to make a precautionary landing. On final I noticed the alternator switch was flipped. Flipped it back and all was well. Made landing anyway, then did what needed to be done.
 
You handled the situation well. You didn't do anything impulsively to make the situation worse, just thought through the problem. Yes you should have figured out how to reset the alternator as part of training, but mistakes are made. I understand flying old aircraft with odd systems and modifications, and a lack of modern manuals and checklists makes it difficult to incorporate everything into a checkout.

Ammeter check needs to be in your run-up routine. Flip a switch for something electric that draws a lot of power (on a cessna i'd use flaps) to make sure the ammeter is working and not just dead and reading zero (if that is the type of ammeter you have).

Newer engine monitoring and electronics do make a difference. I took off out of DuPage in Chicago IFR in a Piper warrior a few years back. The alternator tripped somewhere on the climb out and It could have been tripped for a good 15-20 mins between run-up and leveling out in cruise and scanning the ammeter. The ALT warning light on those old airplanes is very dim and worthless. I reset it and continued uneventfully, but I was probably 10 mins from going NORDO in IMC in busy chicago airspace.

Later I was flying a newer 172 which had an actual legitimate warning light system, VFR on top at 10,500 and got a low oil pressure indication. I knew instantly because a bright red OIL PRESSURE light flashed right in front of my face. I declared an emergency, descended through the clouds, made a power off approach to a nearby airport and landed uneventfully. (by the way, the foreflight glide distance ring was awesome to have in that situation). It was just a failed gauge. But had that been an old-style instrument located somewhere low on the panel with no warning lights, and I actually was losing oil pressure, it probably would have been several minutes at best before I caught it, and that would have been too late.
 
Last edited:
Well, if nothing else, I bet the annunciator lights are now in your scan! Way to keep cool and work the problem and not turn it into a serious situation. I would offer up that a cheap handheld radio and/or the ability to connect your headset to a cell phone would have come in handy and worth consideration...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top