EMERGENCY - RETURN or CONTINUE?
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
- Immediately after departure the main power breaker trips, should I continue the flight or return to the airfield I just departed from?
Regularly flying the same aircraft and understanding its systems is so important as a private pilot, that way you get to know what is going to kill you and what is more of an inconvenience.
In this short flight I get to experience a pretty major fault and decide the best course of action to deal with the fault and to get it fixed.
My name is Terry Kent and I am a General Aviation PPL private pilot operating out of North Weald EGSX about 12 miles to the north east of London in the UK. Short Field is my channel focused on the lighter side of General Aviation including flight and airfield reviews, equipment unboxing and review plus all things private pilot related. I use various cameras to record my videos including GoPro and Insta 360 and stills and edit them in Adobe Premiere Pro, I am an animator as well and often use animations to describe situations more clearly I use Blender and Adobe After Effects for these. I always attempt to post my videos in the highest possible quality, normally 4k.
I fly a 2011 Pipersport two seat single engine aircraft that is also known as the PS28 or SportCruiser in the USA (America) it is know under the FAA as an LSA or Light Sport Aircraft and can be flown on a very basic license. In the UK it is a Part 21 airplane which requires a full licence but it's generally cheap to run, affordable maintenance and great value for money. It cruises at 100 to 105 knots and has superb short take off and landing or STOL capabilities. I visit farm strips, back country and short airfields, some of them dangerous and I try not to crash :-), as well as international airports and try to learn something new every time I fly.
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I fly VFR and IFR as well as visual and instrument approaches.
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If a breaker pops, they very rarely pop for no good reason.
That is a 20A breaker as you described, and if you are running 12V power through it, it means that for some reason you had something draw over 240 Watts of power.
You can't see what it is, and seeing as it was temporary and the breaker didn't pop right away, it could be a spike, or you could have an intermittent wire shorting out the breaker.
But a more sinister cause is if you have a high resistance circuit / short that pulls close to the 240 Watt limit, now you have something that can spark an electrical fire when you reset the breaker.
The clue I want to get to is, you do not know what is going on, what is happening behind the panel is a black box to you when you fly, so you should always land one too many times than one too few, an unchecked inflight electrical fire can seriously ruin your day.
I think you did the right thing in those circumstances. You had just left North Weald so aimed to return. Then when the breaker stayed in (at the time), you knew you had time to get to your nearby destination, where you had technical support. If your destination had been further away & at a strip without technical support, I'm sure you'd have landed back at North Weald. I'd say it was sensible decision making all round.
I kept low because of the potential of an electrical fire, I didn't mention it on the video but when I put my hand around the back of the breaker it was red hot, scary stuff, in hindsight I should have just landed the first time.
Thank you for sharing this flight and your thought process.
I think the defining take away from this video is "Know Your Aircraft and its Systems". Your knowledge of what was at risk drove rational thinking which kept you ahead of the situation. I think this is an extremely valuable lesson and one which might inspire others to ask what would happen if each of the different breakers in their aircraft failed. Another well presented and very educational video Terry, thanks again for sharing.
Thank you Alan.
Probably not completely necessary in this case, but all I can add is don't be afraid to call a PAN. Keep it short and sweet e.g. electrical issue, precautionary return via left downwind. It sure quietens down the radio chat!
Great advice.
Sounds like a bunch of reasonable decisions made calmly and without fuss. Well done :)
Thank you but that breaker was so hot when I landed.
I love how you show the real-world problems that pilots face, and the thought processes to solve them. Great stuff.
Cheers Mark
Hi Terry. As a non pilot, for now, I thank you for your honesty and openness in recounting this episode. I also thank your correspondents for their helpful and insightful comments. I'm looking forward to starting my flying training this year. You all stay safe. Greg.
Thank you Greg, looks like you'll be joining us soon. So appreciate your comnments.
Hi Terry. I certainly hope so. I'll keep you posted on progress. Meantime, please keep posting those short field destinations - I'd like to go that direction myself if I can. Stay safe. Greg.
great video Terry! please dont throw away your old breakers, send them to me for my simulator cockpit ;) looking forward to the next one fella keep it up
I'll try and remember to keep any old u/s stuff for you. Thanks for the valued support.
Know your aircraft - or at least be able to contact someone who knows the aircraft. Reminds me of an incident with a Phantom many years ago (1970s). The Phantom was prone to cracking of the outer wing. Aircraft flying over Germany, navigator heard a bang. Looking out saw a crack in an outer wing. Shortly afterwards another bang and most of the outer wing fell off. Aircraft was controllable with a lot of stick correction to keep level. Discussion between pilot and duty pilot at local airfield (no engineer involved). Agreed to do simulated landing at altitude. Undercarriage down - OK. Flaps down, aircraft starts uncorrectable roll, eventually crew eject. Putting the flaps down caused complete loss of the main hydraulic system because of the loss of leading edge flaps. It is probable that the aircraft could have recovered for a flapless landing. Pilot and duty pilot didn't know the consequences of their actions.
Well done Terry, good decisions all round. Especially good that you know your aircraft electrical systems so well. I had an almost identical problem at the end of Sept. I noticed the voltage dropping in checks on climb out and went back to the field. The battery voltage had got down 9.3V by the time I landed. I ended up grounded for a month working with Rotax engineer James Bentley. James having to drive down many times from Top Farm. Turned out to be an intermittent bad connection on the circuit breaker. All seemed normal in engine run up, as the Rotax IS engine doesn't start charging until it passes 2500 RPM. The green arc during warm up is below that, so it is perfectly normal to have a current draw from the battery until taxiing.
Cheers Dennis. Those Klixon breakers are a pain as they are sealed units and they do suffer from the damp.
Great video, Terry. I especially liked the engine diagrams and explanations. Well done for keeping it calm!
Cheers Scott so appreciated. 👍👍👍
Love the detail info on how it all works Terry, it’s very helpful to get a better understanding of what stops and what slowly fails when something happens with the electrical system on an aircraft. Great video
Thanks Chris, I was really worried about a fire, hence keeping it close to the deck. :-)
With my old A/C engineers hat on, before you got to the end I was suspecting that CB. First thing to check,and the corrosion on the chrome retaining rings of the circuit breakers shows your aircraft like others in this country suffer condensation when not in use. It effects all exposed components and connections. You did the right thing as well.
Thanks Max, the engineers showed me the faulty breaker under load on the temperature gauge and it was reading over 500oF !!!
Thanks, very valuable video 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Thanks Eko
Great decisions made Terry. You understood the risks and your aircraft, great video!!
Thank you Robin.
Good call Terry!! Bet that 10 mins "short trip" felt like an hour though mate!? 👍😀
Thanks Andy.
You can buy some time by turning off everything not required to complete the flight. Landing light, nav aids, power for your cameras, etc.
Great advice
Good call Terry.. you had a viable plan and stuck to it. Well done!
Cheers Graham
Hi Terry, thanks for sharing.
Like other commenters, based on the video I think you did the right thing, immediately planning to return to North Weald and then when you confirmed that the plane was flying OK, flying a short distance to get technical support.
The only thing I would have done differently is not to fly low as you said you did, but to fly as high as I could do (CAS permitting). For the simple reason that the higher you are the more choice you have about which field you are landing in. Low and you may be stuck with an unsuitable field. I was low on my one and only engine failure and didn’t have a good field choice ….
I see from other replies you said that you flew low because the circuit breaker was very hot and you’d been worried about risk of a fire. If I’d have had that happened to me I think it would have been best to return back to base straight away and not continue the flight.
Thank you Geoffrey. I was worried about an electrical fire which was why I wanted to be as low to get on the deck ASAP if that happened. Would far prefer an engine failure to that. I really do appreciate your always kind and excellent comments Sir.
Yeah an electrical fire would not be fun. I had the smoothing capacitor on the voltage regulator blow on my plane, fortunately on the ground when I was warming up, but the smell and sight of smoke coming from under the dashboard beneath my legs was very scary. Glad it happened on the ground
Well handled. Once you knew the engine wasn't going to fail as it doesn't rely on the battery, taking it the short distance to the maintenance base was a good call.
It was why I kept low Vince, I didn't mention it on the video but when I put my hand around the back of the breaker it was red hot, scary stuff, in hindsight I should have just landed the first time.
@@ShortField Ah! That makes difference! Yes, if you knew that 20A breaker was cooking, you should have landed immediately.
Good presentation, with an unusually pleasant Essex accent :)
I used to cycle to North Weald from Romford, as a boy, for some pretty exciting airshows. So, a bit of nostalgia for me. Thanks.
🤣 I've never had my accent referred to as 'pleasant' 🤣🤣 Yes North Weald is an great place to be based, lots of different types there like warbirds, jets, heli's, Gyros, microlights but sadly no airshows anymore due to the rise of Stansteds traffic. Thanks for the kind comments.
@@ShortField I guess you land at Stapleford sometimes, it being so nearby. But what about Debden, and Earls Colne? All places I had wild solo adventures, close to 60 years ago...
@@thecrow3380 local airfields I mostly visit are Andrewsfield, Raine Farm, do go to Earls Colne, Stow Maries, Nayland and Clacton but there's actually loads of them in the area. Ironically at only 4 miles from North Weald, I never visit Stapleford 🙂
I think it was perfectly reasonable to continue in this case. I would have climb higher though to get into glide range of airfields as soon as possible.
Thanks for sharing
Franz, it would have been nice to go higher, but the route between the two airfield is in the Stansted CTA. Max height is 2500' and ground level varies 270-300'. Not much choice!
I kept low because of the potential of an electrical fire, I didn't mention it on the video but when I put my hand around the back of the breaker it was red hot, scary stuff, in hindsight I should have just landed the first time.
@@ShortField yeah that might change things. Thanks for the additional information. Always great to see and understand the decision making when people are in real life emergencies/situations.
Keep up the great content!
@@dennismurphy746 then that’s a different story of course!
Well I'm a bit stumped. I have quite a few hours of Glider time and although never PIC I have at least 40 or more hours in the right seat of a friends 172. The worst thing I have encountered was as we took off one day in the 172 we heard a loud banging. We went around and landed to discover that one of us, not me, had not secured their seatbelt and the end was hanging outside the door, banging on the fuselage in the wind. I have now watched only three of this gentlemen's video and due to pilot error he has had two major incidents both which could have resulted in his death. Missed putting down his flaps for take off and barely cleared the trees in a down wind takeoff and being caught above the cloud layer as a VFR pilot. Not to mention three equipment failures. One engine, one Circuit Breaker and one flat tire. Way to many issues in my way of thinking.
A thousand hours without issue would make a boring video.
Great video Terry. Glad it wasn’t anything too major and that you are safe buddy.
Cheers Matt
Without much experience, my gut would have been:
Absolutely land as soon as practical.
For the following reasons:
Battery performance unknown.
Risk of electrical fire ( they can bring you down dead in seconds)
Could have been caused by alternator spike. If that goes...
Just generally, any issues that could affect sustained flight is dangerous.
I tend to think of worst case scenarios; your one more failure away from disaster, as most in-flight emergencies require more than one thing to go wrong.
Glad you made it back safe, though!
I agree Russell, the breaker was really hot, I made a bad choice, another lesson learnt. Thank you sir.
Did you figure out what it was in the end?
@@russellking747 yes it was a rusty breaker that was making intermittent poor contact.
newer systems that don't use breakers might be more elegant. And if you are not sure if the engine will cut out and you want to reach anther airport you can build altitude within reach of the first until you have enough to glide to the second. You just need a superior climb than your glide ratio that way you can always go back. Of course with an electrical problem there is a risk of fire. A camera or two in the engine bay could perhaps be handy. Also for the so called impossible turn you can kink to one side right after takeoff that way you always have a natural loop back, lessening the glide demands for a turn back. Most decent planes can turn back when their climb comfortably exceeds their glide but a plane like a bonanza which for some reason has awful climb angle is difficult to return with. could be why it earned its nickname.
Good decisions throughout the flight Terry, all about understanding the risk and making informed decisions at each point 👍
Was a bit risky Mike that breaker got really hot.
Another excellent video Terry. You not only clearly described the problem faced, but also explained the whole issue perfectly with additional visual representations… brilliant, and why your video’s are top drawer!
Having suffered two alternator problems in the Rockwell, I understand the stress involved in identifying the electrical problem and then arriving at the correct course of action (with the many voices in your head telling you different things).
You did just great, kiddo! You had perfectly sound reasoning for you decision making that day (even with the heated circuit breaker you stayed low in case of fire) and I would have made the exact same decisions👌🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Your always inciteful comments are so appreciated Kev. Thank you as always.
@@ShortField
My pleasure Terry. Please keep them coming 👍🏻
A great video sir & I think you handled the situation nicely 😊👍🏼
Thank you
Interesting video Terry 👍 Particularly that you can hear the alternator when it clicked back in, presumably that's the higher output to bring the battery voltage back up? Also: Does your Dynon (120?) EMS have an audio-out to your intercom? That's useful. We're currently chasing an alternator noise in the 'phones... although it could be just the buzz of excitement at getting back in the air! 😆
Cheers Steve, I have a breakout cable for audio. I think that lead from the alternator needs properly supressing.
Very helpful Terry as always. Thanks
Thank you Heid
Great video , thank you. I'll never push a breaker twice after your advice.
btw you are better than Netflix for a binge watch :-)
Safe Skies
Thank you so much David 👍👍😂
Hi Terry,
I think you did okay, you risk assessed and you know the aircraft, you initially turned back instead of pushing on. You got yourself back to the airfield, then pushed the CB (as you say push it once, it's popped for a reason). It went back in, all seemed well, you headed for the workshop via another grass strip, all good (I suppose the decision re height is open to interpretation and/or one's POV - but there were plenty of big green fields so from Eg 1000' all would be well. Other circumstances would dictate gaining height?). You landed fine. I suppose doubt crept in with the flaps which may have become an issue at a shorter strip if you'd believed the flap indicator etc - so that's a learning point in terms of calmness and procedures.
I was looking at the chrome lock rings around the CBs, I thought I spotted corrosion. If there's corrosion there (I pondered) would there be corrosion within too. Your engineers did it right and tracked down the source of the fault.
The most cautious approach would have been to return to base, get down and telephone the engineers to come to you. You risk assessed and all was well though✌️👍😊
It was why I kept low, I didn't mention it on the video but when I put my hand around the back of the breaker it was red hot, scary stuff, in hindsight I should have just landed the first time.
@@ShortField I agree, if it was hot, thats a short/resistance and could have caught fire. Moral of the story lies there then, but everyday is a school day, so I wouldn't be too hard on yourself 💜✌️👍
Great video Terry, it highlighted the potential for electrical things to go wrong, and so the importance of a fire extinguisher 🧯.
An inflight fire would the most terrifying experience ever.
Don't even want to think about that Steve, but it was why I kept low, in case the thing did catch light.
I always include the breakers when I scan the panel.
Honestly, I would have put it down on your home field not knowing why it popped. You mentioned that your mechanics were a short flight away and I’m guessing they would not have charged you that much to drive to your home field to troubleshoot.
I’m glad your flight was relatively uneventful
Yes I think you are right Brad, in hindsight I should have just landed, I think costs and hassle factor over rid safety.
I think you did exactly the right thing.
I bet that 12 minute flight felt a lot longer though.
Yes Ian, I certainly had hot pants that day.
Harley Davidson motorcycles have the same charging/power system. Stator, Voltage Regulator and Battery.
A motorcycle of the air. Thanks for the comment and view sir.
I've been an electrical technician for the last 50 years but fly an aircraft with no electrical system. That's not completely correct. My airplane a JC3-65 Piper Cub, has a starter system installed which includes a battery, master switch and a fuse. My starter system can be completely disconected and the aircraft hand started. As an electrical technician I find your more modern aircraft almost completely dependent on power with the exception of the engine not requiring battery. You knew you could continue flying without power at least long enough to return to the airport. Knowing this you didn't panic and immediately land it in a farmer's field. 20 amps is enough to generate quite a bit of heat when there's a dead short. Heat generated by a short-circuit could cause your aircraft to catch afire. Your trouble shooting was done quite well. Reseting the breaker is something anyone would do. If the breaker is out and will not stay in something is wrong and the problem should be taken care of as soon as possible, which you did. If you'd landed in a farmerr's field and could not start the engine for a departure how long would it have taken to remove the airplen from the farmer's field and how much expense? Remove wings, hire a truck with a trailer, deliver the aircraft to the airport and pay not only for the failed part before it could ffly again? Your approach to the problem was simple, almost immediate and not terribly expensive, my type of repair.
It would help if the breakers really did make a "popping" like that 🤣I fully understand none of this is instructional but If you were less experienced would you have tried to gain height?
I was thinking if it happened to me at my lower experience level I would have returned or tried to fly higher, if i was stuck in-between places. Or is the thought process - more time to get back down = means more time for the engine to stop and other problems. Fire risk too I suppose. Currently reading my handbook cover to cover.
Once I was happy the engine was not going to stop my second worry was FIRE! That's why staying low for me was much more comfortable.
@@ShortField Makes sense. 👍Thanks.
Decission making seems sound to me. Sometimes breakers just pop for no readily apparent reasons. That's why you reset but once only. As long as the engine will keep running (not necessarily a given depending on your ignition system) then electrical /altenator failure isn't a major issue.
Thank you
I think you took a good pilot's decision, to continue and fix the problem. What I don't understand is your decision to continue in a relatively low height. In case you have a malfunction of the engine, your alternatives are quickly vanishing. And please do not forget, there is always the danger of losing flaps and trim. In such a situation every pilot appreciates every inch of altitude that will provide more options for landing.
Thank you SIr.
My first thought, which I always pay attention to, after dealing with the emergency considerations, was altitude.
In any circumstance like this I always look for whatever will solve for the equation of glide ratio to an emergency field location. Of course, I always will try to factor in and consider future difficulty of getting it looked at. If I can get to that maintenance facility, great. Otherwise it’s gonna cost me an extra grand or so just to get someone to drive out in a truck and do they even have all the equipment necessary that they really need as opposed to the facility? This would all take me about three seconds. Don’t know what I would’ve done.
Great points thank you.
I think you made the right decision.
Not 100% sure it was, that breaker got very hot.
Great video as always Terry : instructive and your calm trouble shooting was spot on . Luckily you knew your a/c intimately.
Had you been a ‘newer’ pilot given the major supply being protected would you have considered a PAN call ?
Thanks Pete, I don't know had I needed assistance maybe but there wasn't much anyone on the deck could help me with so I didn't bother. If I thought I could have lost comms I would have.
Great video and very important information, thank you.
Thank you as always. Love your contribution so appreciated.
Great vid Terry - shows your real time decision making with an interesting debrief afterwards, with more info in the comments (CB temp) which adds to the number of variables that we don’t know about.
This has added to my flying knowledge, so thank you!
Out of interest, how do you do the animated graphics with the Rotax and the circuit pattern etc?
Thanks Richard (sorry missed your kind comment). The graphics are done in Blender and After Effects.
Good choice & great video, I received your card! Thank you so much!
You are so welcome!
Awesome 👏
Nicely handled. I do however have one question. You said you were staying low level. If you did have an engine or other issue, wouldn't height give you more thinking time? Just a question for healthy discussion.
Thanks Giles. Not worried about engine failure, however fire was more of a possibility and if that had happened I wanted to be on the deck ASAP. I didn't mention it in the video but when the engineers found the fault with the breaker they did so with a thermal camera and it was showing 300+oF. Glad I didn't know that at the time and if I did I would not have continued the flight. It was a bad choice.
@@ShortField ahh, makes sense. Sometimes just flying the situation rather than trying to diagnose it. I remember the VC10 flight engineers where taught to react to the situation, rather then work it out. At least it's fixed now.
It did show to me the down side of modern electric bias aircraft. With my steam guage and mechanical aircraft, I gan loose generator and still fly on route. You delt with the situation well, the only thing I would do different, is I would fly higher so giving me more time and options to select my out landing (I assume your fear was electrical fire but they normal smell and take time to develop).
There is that to it. Yes fire is way scarier than engine failure. Thanks for the contribution Algy.
I'm not going to question your decision to continue, it was clearly a well thought out decision that had taken into consideration the risks involved, and weighed them against the benefits of continuing on to the other airfield, as well as the ability to mitigate those risks.
What I will question however is your decision to reset the breaker a second time after you were already on the ground. You said yourself that you'll only ever reset a breaker once, and then went on to break that rule. The reason I question it particularly in this case is it seems from a risk vs reward perspective, there was a lot of risk, with pretty much no reward. Best case scenario, you push the breaker in and everything is fine, you don't really gain much from that surely? You're on the ground safely at this point, if you lose battery power now, so what? On the flip side, worst case scenario is there's something more serious wrong with the electrical system that's causing the trips, and by resetting that breaker you're risking an electrical fire. I'll give you it's not overly likely, but it seems like quite the unnecessary risk when you're already on the ground safe, and you could've just left it popped, handed it over to the maintenance folks, and let them deal with it. Maybe I'm missing something though?
With that said, I would say overall the situation seemed very well dealt with, you stayed calm, thought your options through, and you walked away safe, with a re-usable aircraft, good stuff!
I won't admit to doing everything correctly in this situation, but I do know my aircraft and was happy that although risky continuing was relatively safe. Great point and totally valid. Thank you.
Can’t help feeling that a pan-pan call might have been in order especially when it went the second time. Just my 2p
Probably right Stuart but there was little anyone on the ground could help with so didn't bother.
True but it means you would get expedited in the circuit if you needed it
Could you explain your reasoning behind staying low level? I'd have thought it best to gain height to give yourself time and gliding range if a further fault occured? Thanks, I'm an NPPL student so learning at the moment.
I wasn't worried about engine failure I was however more concerned about an electrical fire, which is why I stayed at 1,000ft. Good luck with the training Lewis.
@@ShortField aah that makes sense. Thanks.
If you were in a traditional magneto aircraft would of just said go to the maintenance facility without hesitation and just turn off non essential electronics. Rotax I would have to study more due to the ignition system but seems like you knew it and the consequences.
Cheers Glenn, it's a weird system but has been proven ultra reliable.
Subbed. LOVE the content.
Awesome, thank you!
a "ducati" regulator , thats scary , unless they are now reliable
Rotax engines have some surprising components :-)
Hey Terry. Glad you are safe. I’m just kind of putting behind an long and painfully electric problem in my SC. The wiring diagram of mine is a bit different than yours but.. I don’t like that noise. I suggest to keep an eye on all this and keep in mind the problem you have with the AP. I don’t believe in glitches or magical explanations but I know that the ESD, etc. are real.
Something that I have done in that stressful situations I enter high just in case something happens. I know that the generator was working fine and that you were using batt for instruments but, why no just glide and land? I saw you used power in very short final.
I like to keep in mind is that if something bad happens is going to get worse. PPL have died because the “bad” thing get better and they decided continue flying then, the “bad thing” get worse in the middle of nowhere with no options around.
I know that you are very knowledgeable in the SC and I would like to ask you a couple of questions in private. There is any chance we can connect by email, etc? Thanks!
Thank you Carlos, I stayed low, not because of engine failure but in case of fire. Ping me an email it's in the About Section of my channel.
@@ShortField thanks and blue skies Terry! Keep safe! Lately, here in the us, we have had a sad time due to accidents in GA airplanes. I’ll be in touch! And… plsss keep sharing…
I have quite some trouble in understanding the English spoken on the mic, so one question: Was it a short-circuit on the battery?
Over all the thing that I would have been scared of the most would be a fire in board...
I was thinking the same, I have a factory built sportCruiser, and under EASA rules, it has to have an extinguisher. Electrical fires in flight are uncommon but, with any means of tackling it,,, it’s probably curtains.
It was why I kept low, I didn't mention it on the video but when I put my hand around the back of the breaker it was red hot, scary.
Just as an observation I was wondering if you had a portable hand-held VHF radio? The way it is instruct in the states is that the plane will still fly even with no power the engine will still run. As you said and pointed out it would run on battery so we would turn off all electronics like radios, even turning everything electric off and switch to your stand-by instruments to conserve power. So when you were over the airport you could elect to turn everything on and still have enough power. However watching your video I was wondering if not being able to talk to anyone was your main concern for turning back?
Recently at my school, someone a CFI flying a c152 has a low power light come on and instead of just coming back to our home airport a Charlie airport he landed at an airport closer. Because they were worried the radio would fail. So I was curious if that played into your decision or if it was a safery concern.
Great observation, I didn't really think that through, at no point did I think I would lose all electrical power immediately but you are correct a hand held would have been a great back up.
@@ShortField I figured as much thank you for replying. Something to keep in mind, if you come into another pinch such as this again, if your Bose headset is the one with Bluetooth. You would be able to connect your phone to your headset and call up the Approach/Tower. The headset has it's own power source. I assume Cell-phones work up in the air in England if they do in the US. I keep that in mind as a -If all else fails-
@@InstrumentPilotBartram UK cell-phone reception in the air in the UK is not reliable, where I am based in the south east it's fine but travel across country above 5,000ft and it's very patchy.
@@ShortField Interesting so foreflight isn't that much of a help then interesting. I switched from Verizon to Google Fi and well the saying is where doesn't Google work. That is good to know. My Ultimate, not likely to happen aviation goal is to fly to England over Greenland, and land at Norwich in Norfolk. As I am originally from Norfolk so as I left from Norwich to move here in the states, there is a bit of poetic justice I think to flying my self and landing back at Norwich to visit family. Anyhow I wont bore you further, thank you for responding
My first thought, which I always pay attention to, after dealing with the emergency considerations, was altitude.
In any circumstance like this I always look for whatever will solve for the equation of glide ratio to an emergency field location. Of course, I always will try to factor in and consider future difficulty of getting it looked at. If I can get to that maintenance facility, great. Otherwise it’s gonna cost me an extra grand or so just to get someone to drive out in a truck and do they even have all the equipment necessary that they really need as opposed to the facility? This would all take me about three seconds. Don’t know what I would’ve done.
Cheers Seth. Yes I agree with your comments 100% but (and I didn't mention it in the video) I was really worried about fire, this little aircraft has a really low stall speed along with a BRS system so I wasn't worried about engine failure, however I was worried about an electrical fire. When the engineers were hunting the fault they put a thermal cameral on the loaded breaker and it was red hot, I was pretty lucky, I should have just landed straight away and call someone up from the MO to come by car. Luckily I got to live, so I will learn. Appreciate your excellent comment sir.
What was the reason to stay low level? Surely height is your friend- I would have climbed a couple of K on cruise climb just for some margin…
My thoughts were if I had a fire I’d want to get down as soon as possible.
Hi there, great videos! I do have a serious question. If you had to land in one of the fields below, and made it down safely, does someone come and pick up the plane, or do you are able to fix it do you take off from the field again? Thank you.
Thanks Curtis. If we ended up in the field hopefully it would just be a fire crew and a recovery team and not a herst.
@@ShortField thank you so much for the speedy reply!!
I would have landed then done a complete visual inspection of the entire circuit also using my nose and fingers to find a hot wire abrading to ground. Then push the breaker back in and run it on the ground for a while to see what happens. The breaker would have popped I would have checked it again and finding no evidence of an impending fire I would have flown it to the maintenance facility just as you did.
The proximity to the maintenance shop should not have been a part of the initial decision making (get there itus).
Of course it's easy for me to sit here on beautiful Sunday morning in the Mojave desert with my cup of coffee and say this... In real life I might have done the same thing you did.
An in-flight fire would make for an exciting video.😩
Oh I agree, once on the ground the engineers did show me the breaker on a temperature meter whilst running in a controlled environment and it was reading over 500oF. I was pretty lucky and I was thinking about that which is why I stayed low to get it on the deck asap should there be a fire.
How much did the diagnosis & replacement cost?
Think it came to about £300 / 340 euros / $360
You got lucky, mate. Should have put it down immediately. A thousand things COULD have happened that just happened to not occur. I see you taking LOTS of chances and your luck meter is depleting fast. Just hope I'm not under you when it hits zero.
Yes flying light aircraft, like driving cars means something will go wrong or you will make a mistake at some point sometime. Thanks for the comment, let me know where you are so I don't fly over you?
How do you have so many near-misses😅
Practice 😅
Good decision
Cheers buddy appreciate that.
@@ShortField you clearly diagnosed the situation as appropriate. In the training world we use TDODAR to use as a tool. Time. Diagnosis. Options. Decide. Actions. Review.
Although not verbalised, you actioned every step with the safest outcome. You’ve clearly got a lot of experience and made the best decision on your experience level which is high for your type and environment.
Again, great job. I’ll happily defend any keyboard warriors!
@@mikeparsons84 thank you
You did well. Except for staying low. Being high gives you more leeway
Thanks Luc, more worried about fire than an engine failure.
@@ShortField in this particular case you mean? I understand you want to be on the ground asap when your plane is on fire. But shouldn’t the circuit breaker have taken care of that potential problem?
Where is your checklist ? you must go over the checklist especially in a failure !!@!!
Well see, here's your problem. You didn't do a barrel roll. Yeeeaahhh..., that would'a fixed your right up 'cause it would have given the corrosion a chance to fall off.
I'll remember that for next time :-)
Correct decision: get on the ground!
How much height have you. If enough go home.
Should have,