So, this may seem like a typical keyboard warrior but I have had this exact thing happen, in this exact type of aircraft. 1994ish. I flew the C210M model for a company called Prompt Air. We were based at KMDW. Midway/ Chicago. My FIRST flight for this cargo company was cut short by a bad alternator. The weather was bad. Ceiling 400 ovc and a mile vis. Night time as well. As SOON as I hit the clouds, the low voltage light went on. I was headed towards ORD and the lights/radios went out about 2 minutes after takeoff. I was NORDO for the flight. I climbed to 2500 feet since I was in VERY congested airspace and in 'coast' on the radar screens. I was fearful of running into a MDW or ORD departure. I flew south for about 10 minutes as I checked my pulse and tried to figure out my next steps. I had turned away from ORD and thought about flying south for a bit then east until over the lake. I'm in the clouds but they were well lit by the city below. My plan was to fly out over the lake then descend and try for Miegs on the water front. Occasionally I would try to switch the master back on and get a few seconds of radio. At one point, I heard MDW tower broadcast a position for Prompt 850 ( me ). I was 10 south of the field. Thought new to Chicago, I knew the buildings weren't very tall in that area so I started a slow descent. I broke out about 500 agl and turned north. I started to recognize a few landmarks and soon saw the lights to the SW Airlines employee parking on the north side of the field. I had to pump down the gear prior to landing. The line of delayed airliners was about 20 deep. I landed on the closest runway to avoid the crowd and was followed to parking by ground crew. I was given a number to call and talked to the tower operator that evening. I was just given a "good job" by the tower and sent on my way. I actually planned on never flying again. I swore to God that night that if he got me down, I was done. Luckily I was talked into getting back on that horse and have enjoyed a 35 year career in aviation. But that night will ALWAYS be remembered. My claim to fame is closing Midway and O'hare airports for about a half hour. I survived many such adventures at Prompt, but that experience formed the size of my balls for the future. After about 30 minutes of saying I quit, I had the pleasure of taking another POS C 210 down to Indy that night. Single pilot night IFR 135 in all weather. That will either kill you or toughen you up. Since this guy had the gear collapse, my guess is that he didn't pump hard enough. You really have to push against the microswitch to get it locked. I had to do that several times in real life while flying for Prompt.
I had problems with my power for years. One days on downwind, I dropped the gear and lost all electric. My flaps were manual. I was able to land without problems and retrieved my portable after shutdown. I keep my portable upfront with me now.
Lesson #1 Spend a few hundred bucks on a handheld transceiver and keep it within reach during aircraft operations. Ensure the batteries are fresh. I guess you could try calling 911 on your cellphone too, although it might take a while to connect you to the proper ground facility. "Charleston 911? Can you connect me to the Myrtle Beach International Tower? Yes, I'll hold ............. (Why didn't they give me that dreaded number to call BEFORE I took off)?" 🙂 Lesson #2 Make sure you know the light signals for NORDO operations. Lesson #3 Land as slowly and gently as possible if you doubt the gear integrity. Aim for the softest, least expensive structure if you don't have it all clear ahead of you.
It really surprises me that if the alternator fails, the battery has no autonomy. It's supposed to last a long time. The only condition is that it be so weak that it cannot handle the consumption, strange since it started the engine to leave.
He beeds to find a way to contact ATC if he is radio goes down like you said ring 911 give them phone number fir airport carry walkie talkies with him a gps device uts great that ges okay but caused chaos if another plane looking for him putting them at risk of a accident
@@TechInspected Well you are correct, however they are grossly under powered and unless prewired to use the airplane's antenna they are mostly useless. If you were in the pattern trying to land it might be a benefit.
I was talking to ATC once on flight following and asked if I could test my back-up hand-held radio. ATC heard me well enough. Another time I lost my radio while inbound to land. On final approach the tower gave me a green light to land but I couldn't see it due to the sun in my eyes and the dark windows on the tower. I pulled out my handheld radio and got a "cleared to land" from the tower. These these do work in an emergency, but their range is limited. BTW, some VOR stations have "remote" receivers on them and act like local flight service stations. You can call Flight Service on the local VOR and tell them what frequency you are transmitting on. You then listen on the regular VOR receiver frequency. They can relay any emergency radio transmissions to ATC for you. There are less VOR stations now but they still exist. It's a cool trick if you know how to use it. It's best if you can plug your handheld radio into your headset and leave it on an extension cord next to you just in case your alternater belt breaks and your battery dies. It's happened more than you would think. There is no reason not to carry a backup radio, especially under IFR conditions, IMO.
My understanding is that this is 121.5 and the emergency frequency. Most aircraft tune a spare radio to this frequency and monitor for any emergency. Not sure why they use the term "guard" for this frequency but "on guard" means on the guard frequency or calling the aircraft on the emergency frequency to distinguish it from normal communications. I stand to be corrected but this is my understanding
Not ridiculous at all. He gave him instructions if he could hear (because he may be able to hear but not transmit). Both landing and ident instructions are unrelated to the radio if it was only his radio that died.
What? They're telling what to do if he can hear but can't respond. Then he will squawk IDENT, or rock his wings, or do a 360° as requested. How on earth is it ridiculous?
Perfectly valid. On low voltage the radio may still receive but die as soon as you key the mic. One time had a rental 150 where I could hear ATC but they couldn't hear me which turned out to be a damaged antenna
Early 90’s I was in a 152 doing first cross country and for whatever reason I lost being able to transmit during approach. Squawk ident and rocking wings worked for us. Tower also used the red / green light on us.
So, this may seem like a typical keyboard warrior but I have had this exact thing happen, in this exact type of aircraft. 1994ish. I flew the C210M model for a company called Prompt Air. We were based at KMDW. Midway/ Chicago. My FIRST flight for this cargo company was cut short by a bad alternator. The weather was bad. Ceiling 400 ovc and a mile vis. Night time as well. As SOON as I hit the clouds, the low voltage light went on. I was headed towards ORD and the lights/radios went out about 2 minutes after takeoff. I was NORDO for the flight. I climbed to 2500 feet since I was in VERY congested airspace and in 'coast' on the radar screens. I was fearful of running into a MDW or ORD departure.
I flew south for about 10 minutes as I checked my pulse and tried to figure out my next steps.
I had turned away from ORD and thought about flying south for a bit then east until over the lake. I'm in the clouds but they were well lit by the city below. My plan was to fly out over the lake then descend and try for Miegs on the water front. Occasionally I would try to switch the master back on and get a few seconds of radio. At one point, I heard MDW tower broadcast a position for Prompt 850 ( me ). I was 10 south of the field. Thought new to Chicago, I knew the buildings weren't very tall in that area so I started a slow descent. I broke out about 500 agl and turned north. I started to recognize a few landmarks and soon saw the lights to the SW Airlines employee parking on the north side of the field. I had to pump down the gear prior to landing.
The line of delayed airliners was about 20 deep. I landed on the closest runway to avoid the crowd and was followed to parking by ground crew. I was given a number to call and talked to the tower operator that evening. I was just given a "good job" by the tower and sent on my way.
I actually planned on never flying again. I swore to God that night that if he got me down, I was done. Luckily I was talked into getting back on that horse and have enjoyed a 35 year career in aviation. But that night will ALWAYS be remembered. My claim to fame is closing Midway and O'hare airports for about a half hour. I survived many such adventures at Prompt, but that experience formed the size of my balls for the future.
After about 30 minutes of saying I quit, I had the pleasure of taking another POS C 210 down to Indy that night. Single pilot night IFR 135 in all weather. That will either kill you or toughen you up.
Since this guy had the gear collapse, my guess is that he didn't pump hard enough. You really have to push against the microswitch to get it locked. I had to do that several times in real life while flying for Prompt.
"Single pilot night IFR 135 in all weather. That will either kill you or toughen you up." This.
I had problems with my power for years. One days on downwind, I dropped the gear and lost all electric. My flaps were manual. I was able to land without problems and retrieved my portable after shutdown. I keep my portable upfront with me now.
i am sorry for my ignorance, but do cell phones work up there?
Shewww! Thank God he managed this well. The pilot lives to fly another day.
There is always another day
God was not flying the plane.
Lesson #1
Spend a few hundred bucks on a handheld transceiver and keep it within reach during aircraft operations. Ensure the batteries are fresh.
I guess you could try calling 911 on your cellphone too, although it might take a while to connect you to the proper ground facility.
"Charleston 911? Can you connect me to the Myrtle Beach International Tower? Yes, I'll hold .............
(Why didn't they give me that dreaded number to call BEFORE I took off)?" 🙂
Lesson #2
Make sure you know the light signals for NORDO operations.
Lesson #3
Land as slowly and gently as possible if you doubt the gear integrity. Aim for the softest, least expensive structure if you don't have it all clear ahead of you.
Wouldnt you be able to call the tower with your phone?
It really surprises me that if the alternator fails, the battery has no autonomy. It's supposed to last a long time. The only condition is that it be so weak that it cannot handle the consumption, strange since it started the engine to leave.
Why all pilots should get at least 20 or 30 hours in gliders, ideally before even starting on their power ratings.
Good job pilot aviating. Good job ATC communicating. Good job other aircraft with attempted communication.
He beeds to find a way to contact ATC if he is radio goes down like you said ring 911 give them phone number fir airport carry walkie talkies with him a gps device uts great that ges okay but caused chaos if another plane looking for him putting them at risk of a accident
I land on flight sim all the time after forgetting to put my gear down. No biggie. lol
Cessna 210 Centurions ate alternators and vacuum pumps.
And crash a lot..
I heard there are portable radios you can get as a pilot. Those would have probably been handy here.
@@TechInspected Well you are correct, however they are grossly under powered and unless prewired to use the airplane's antenna they are mostly useless. If you were in the pattern trying to land it might be a benefit.
I was talking to ATC once on flight following and asked if I could test my back-up hand-held radio. ATC heard me well enough. Another time I lost my radio while inbound to land. On final approach the tower gave me a green light to land but I couldn't see it due to the sun in my eyes and the dark windows on the tower. I pulled out my handheld radio and got a "cleared to land" from the tower. These these do work in an emergency, but their range is limited.
BTW, some VOR stations have "remote" receivers on them and act like local flight service stations. You can call Flight Service on the local VOR and tell them what frequency you are transmitting on. You then listen on the regular VOR receiver frequency. They can relay any emergency radio transmissions to ATC for you. There are less VOR stations now but they still exist.
It's a cool trick if you know how to use it. It's best if you can plug your handheld radio into your headset and leave it on an extension cord next to you just in case your alternater belt breaks and your battery dies. It's happened more than you would think. There is no reason not to carry a backup radio, especially under IFR conditions, IMO.
What do they mean when ATC keeps saying “on guard”?
My understanding is that this is 121.5 and the emergency frequency. Most aircraft tune a spare radio to this frequency and monitor for any emergency. Not sure why they use the term "guard" for this frequency but "on guard" means on the guard frequency or calling the aircraft on the emergency frequency to distinguish it from normal communications.
I stand to be corrected but this is my understanding
@@nocofaig many thanks, makes sense 👍
@@nocofaig Also 243 MHz for UHF.
Some radios have a discrete GUARD receiver, so pilots can monitor guard as well.
Damn, just damn !
Pump the gear down.more 40 pumps it least
Always have a handheld and n nothing else, use a cell phone.
Glad they landed ok.
How many times he called N59196? At least 40 times !
There is a chance
@@SeligTiles the controller did great
@@shawon_rahaman 👍
If you can hear this transmission - what a ridiculous thing to say! Equivalent to saying if you can't hear this transmission please advise.
Not ridiculous at all. He gave him instructions if he could hear (because he may be able to hear but not transmit). Both landing and ident instructions are unrelated to the radio if it was only his radio that died.
There have been plenty of times that someone on a radio could hear the other person, but the other person couldn't hear them.
What? They're telling what to do if he can hear but can't respond. Then he will squawk IDENT, or rock his wings, or do a 360° as requested. How on earth is it ridiculous?
Perfectly valid. On low voltage the radio may still receive but die as soon as you key the mic. One time had a rental 150 where I could hear ATC but they couldn't hear me which turned out to be a damaged antenna
Early 90’s I was in a 152 doing first cross country and for whatever reason I lost being able to transmit during approach. Squawk ident and rocking wings worked for us. Tower also used the red / green light on us.