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"Center Mooney 5612Q is declaring an emergency, generator failure and my HSI gyro is slowing"

J0nathan225

By J0nathan225
in General Mooney Talk

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J0nathan225 Rising Star

J0nathan225

Posted
Posted

Well had an experience today. After departing 9A5 I got up to 11000 feet and soon after (while IMC) my G2 showed low voltage and ammeter was reading 0, no load on generator. Checked circuit breaker it was not popped, I reset it twice anyways. All I got was a momentary spike on the ammeter then low voltage again. Time to turn off that, oh and that, lights? not required, bye bye com 2. I look over to my wife, it's her first time in the clouds, she's reading her book peacefully. "Center Mooney 5612Q is declaring an emergency I need vectors for the rnav into KMRN" (YES my location was perfect or so I thought). Well that got my wife's attention! More to follow:... We're driving to Virginia for my brother's wedding, I will reflect and have a healthy serving of scotch and continue my story, but we are on the ground so I can't complain. 

Jon.

  • Like 6
  • Confused 1
KLRDMD Grand Master

KLRDMD

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, J0nathan225 said:

Well had an experience today. After departing 9A5 I got up to 11000 feet and soon after (while IMC) my G2 showed low voltage and ammeter was reading 0, no load on generator. Checked circuit breaker it was not popped, I reset it twice anyways. All I got was a momentary spike on the ammeter then low voltage again. Time to turn off that, oh and that, lights? not required, bye bye com 2. I look over to my wife, it's her first time in the clouds, she's reading her book peacefully. "Center Mooney 5612Q is declaring an emergency I need vectors for the rnav into KMRN" (YES my location was perfect or so I thought). Well that got my wife's attention! More to follow:... We're driving to Virginia for my brother's wedding, I will reflect and have a healthy serving of scotch and continue my story, but we are on the ground so I can't complain.

Shouldn't the HSI run on just battery power for quite some time ? Or maybe the total electrical load sucked every electron out of the battery very quickly ? It sounds like there was a lot of electrical load at the time of the failure.

carusoam Grand Master

carusoam

Posted
Posted

Great work Johnathen...

Good to still have you here.

Typical MSer, reporting details from a safe place.

have a safe drive...

Best regards,

-a-

:)

See if somebody can post a FlightAware track...

FloridaMan Grand Master

FloridaMan

Posted
Posted

If it ends up being a wire or the alternator, do yourself a favor. Have all wires replaced, not repaired and install a plane power alternator. You will continue to have these issues if wires or alternator are old. 

Not addressing this the FIRST time it happened resulted in a second time, which resulted in a post-maintenance engine failure that ended up with me on the ground and not on a runway. 

jaylw314 Grand Master

jaylw314

Posted
Posted

@J0nathan225, glad you are down safe.  Have an extra drink on me tonight!

For that matter, tell your wife to have an extra drink on me tonight.  If that was her first time in IMC and she kept her cool, she deserves it!

  • Like 2
201er Grand Master

201er

Posted
Posted

Well if you are here telling us, you must have done something right! Great job. Curious why you opted to shoot an approach rather than divert somewhere VFR? Any options?

midlifeflyer Grand Master

midlifeflyer

Posted
Posted

I will pass on what a friend (coincidentally a Mooney pilot) said to my wife after our adventure losing power in the clouds over the Rockies that same day:

"Well, you can cross that one off." 

It was exactly what she needed to hear.  (Not sarcasm).

Good job!

gsxrpilot Grand Master

gsxrpilot

Posted
Posted
42 minutes ago, Boilermonkey said:

Couldn't find the ATC.  Do you remember what freq. you were on?

Looks like he was on with Atlanta Center... but there are several frequencies.

 

Hank Grand Master

Hank

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, gsxrpilot said:

Looks like he was on with Atlanta Center... but there are several frequencies.

 

It's generally 125.5 here in Lower Alabama, not sure about that far north. Sometimes going to central NC, I'll have 3 or 4 frequencies for ATL Approach. 

FlyChickie Apprentice

FlyChickie

Posted
Posted

Congratulations on a job well done! From one Mooney wife to another, tell her "Well done" as well. However, I did find it funny to "cross off" an off-field landing from a list of things to do - some sort of comic relief was necessary.  If anything, I know we did it once and he could do it again if necessary.  Enjoy the wedding festivities!

  • Like 2
mike_elliott Grand Master

mike_elliott

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, J0nathan225 said:

Well had an experience today. After departing 9A5 I got up to 11000 feet and soon after (while IMC) my G2 showed low voltage and ammeter was reading 0, no load on generator. Checked circuit breaker it was not popped, I reset it twice anyways. All I got was a momentary spike on the ammeter then low voltage again. Time to turn off that, oh and that, lights? not required, bye bye com 2. I look over to my wife, it's her first time in the clouds, she's reading her book peacefully. "Center Mooney 5612Q is declaring an emergency I need vectors for the rnav into KMRN" (YES my location was perfect or so I thought). Well that got my wife's attention! More to follow:... We're driving to Virginia for my brother's wedding, I will reflect and have a healthy serving of scotch and continue my story, but we are on the ground so I can't complain. 

Jon.

Glad you are ok. Check the field wire to make sure it isnt broken. They tend to do that on the early Mooneys. Was Carlos's guys in there messing with anything? Lynn will get you fixed up.

Bob_Belville Grand Master

Bob_Belville

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, AGL Aviation said:

Oh goodness! Glad you got to the ground ok! I hate you didn’t make it to us! You landed in Davidson County? If you need some help you let us know!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

@J0nathan225, hey Jon, let us know if we can help.  (This is DrBill's E that Jon had me ferry to AGL while he was overseas.)

  • Like 1
Seth Grand Master

Seth

Posted
Posted

Good job recognizing the issue, acting in a measured fashion, and quickly getting on the ground.  Declaring the emergency made perfect sense.

 

Did ATC even ask for paperwork or follow up?

-Seth

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