Interest to Pilots

[dreamchasers]

Since their are numerous pilots in the POG membership, I thought this would be of interest to those.

My business partner, and life long friend, and I were on a business trip Wednesday in his private airplane, Cessna 182 RG. We flew from Livingston, Texas, IFR, to Kerrville, Texas (1/ 1/2 hour flight) early in the morning and had a great smooth flight.

However, on our return trip that afternoon, things were different. We took off from Kerrville, wheels up at 4:00 pm. About 10 minutes into the flight, I noticed the alternator gauge was showing a discharge current. We both talked of it and as we were discussing our options, we noticed the fuel gauge for the left wing tank was dropping fast. The fuel indication was dropping so fast, we had to have a ruptured fuel tank. Then the left gauge started dropping fast. We looked around the plane and could not see fuel leaking from the wings. To make things more interesting, both of us started hearing what sounded like 'metal buffeting' in the wind (Coming through our headsets, as the electrical power was dropping.). As we were redirected to the nearest airport, 7.4 miles and we were at 6000 feet, things were very tense in the cockpit. A few seconds after we turned for the nearest airport, we lost all electrical power. With no radios or navigation equipment, we followed the last bearing gave to us for traffic control. As we entered the pattern, David, the pilot, attempted to apply flaps (Electrically operated), with no response. OK, we could land easily with no flaps. Then he attempted to lower the landing gear! No response from the electrically operated hydraulic landing gear system. Then things became very tense! As David flew the aircraft, I was able to pump the manual landing gear pump handle, very fast I might add, until we could see the main landing gear on each side of the plane. We were uncertain of the nose gear, but felt we needed to land immediately to resolve the problem. We touched down and thank goodness, the nose gear was in position.

After a mechanic looked over the aircraft, he could not find any problems. We spent the night to give the mechanic plenty of time to look thing over. Still no problems. After several takeoff and landing, cycling of the landing gear, we headed for Livingston.

Our brainstorming lead us to the following conclusion:

David uses a checklist each and everytime he starts the aircraft. One of the checklist items is turn off the master switch (With the engine running at 1500 RPM), then turn the master back on while observing the alternator indicator for correct movements. We think during the run up check of this function, when he flipped the master switch back to the on position, the switch did not lock into the on position(Partially on). Then during takeoff and flight, the vibration must have allowed the switch to release. During our emergency situation, we did not notice the switch position, we were focused on flying the plane and landing safely.

At a minimum, he intends to replace the master switch and install a new battery.

I thought this would be of interest of POG pilots. The good news is that we did not panic and were able to land safely. I am an ex pilot, not current, so I knew panic was not part of the solution.


With this public forum, I will not express in my words how 'tense' I was during all this. But use your imagination.

Hector

[Jerry Winchester]

Hector,

Thanks for the post. I can truly say I own several check lists and none of them ever said or suggested turning the master off and on in the run up.

In fact this would cause my GPS / engine monitor / fuel totalizer to reboot which would also not be a good thing.

My Bonanza has an alternator failure light and the engine monitor has a low voltage alarm as well. My 496 GPS mounted on the yoke has enough battery power to last 3-4 hours, so between that and my hand held radio, I feel fairly comfortable in a pinch. And I generally have to crank the gear down during my flight review, while flying under the hood, so that is not much of a shock.

Sounds like you guys recovered well.

[0533]

Hector,

Thanks for the post. I can truly say I own several check lists and none of them ever said or suggested turning the master off and on in the run up.

In fact this would cause my GPS / engine monitor / fuel totalizer to reboot which would also not be a good thing.

My Bonanza has an alternator failure light and the engine monitor has a low voltage alarm as well. My 496 GPS mounted on the yoke has enough battery power to last 3-4 hours, so between that and my hand held radio, I feel fairly comfortable in a pinch. And I generally have to crank the gear down during my flight review, while flying under the hood, so that is not much of a shock.

Sounds like you guys recovered well.

I know what its like to be in an emergency in flight. It is a good thing that the two of you kept your heads. Cool heads make the difference between life and Death, good work.

I agree with Jerry. I have owned both Piper Turbo Arrow and Cessna aircraft, and have logged many hours in the 182RG and never have cycled the master during runup.

It is possible though to not completely enguage the master and make partial contact I guess. The rocker could have tripped if it was not completely over. Its a bit of a mystery though.

I once was caught in my first thunder. lighting, and hail storm years ago. When I was checking my pitot Heat, I accidently turned it off. It remained off for the rest of the trip. I still have nightmares thinking about what could have happened.

Bruce