First time I declared an emergency…

[Candy man]

Yesterday I flew round trip from Ohio State KOSU to Elkhart Indiana KEKM Both are towered airports. I was dropping a friend off to pickup a car that was repaired after he hit a deer on the way to Chicago. It was a really cold morning, about 14 degrees but the visibility was 35 miles, about as good as it ever gets around here. The flight there was totally uneventful, I dropped my passenger, spent 15 minutes or so on the ground and started a still warm airplane for the trip back. Not long after take off I heard a beeping sound, it was coming from the phone charger, it apparently warns you below 12 volts. One other time a few months back I had negative amps on my jpi on a short trip, but never had that problem again. I was an hour from home on a beautiful day with either a bad alternator or a bad regulator.  My concerns was the radio and the gear. My options were attempt to complete the trip, cancel my IFR flight plan and head VFR to Delaware Ohio KDLZ an uncontrolled field 15 miles north of Columbus. Or land as soon as “practicable”. I knew the airplane would fly without the battery so I decided to head to KOSU, and monitor how quickly my battery was losing volts. I also decided I would inform ATC once I was closer to home. The thought process for this one was crazy. If something went really wrong I didn’t want the postmortem discussion to be “ how many suitable airports I passed on my way home” insane but that’s what I thought. I really didn’t think I was in danger of having a major problem outside of communication. I shut off all extra electrical equipment that I didn’t need, the second radio, as well as all lights and the autopilot. I had also considering canceling IFR at that time and shutting off the avionics master and turning back on when closer to home. I also considered turning off the master because unplugging something and plugging it back in seems to fix 90% of the things that don’t work in my world, but I was scared to do that as I’ve never turned off a master in flight. I started watching the volts very closely on the jpi and was loosing .1 volts every 23 mins, I knew this rate may speed up so I decided no matter where I was I was dropping the gear at 11 volts. When I was about 35 miles fro Ohio State on with Columbus approach I requested the phone number for the OSU tower in case I lost comm because I was having an alternator issue. They asked “ if I’d like to declare an emergency” I responded not at this time, the plane and I are fine it’s only precautionary in case I lose my radio. They replied “ stand by” returned a minute later and said they “we’re declaring an emergency for me” Really? I didn’t want to bother anybody and thought having the phone number for the tower as well as them informed of my possible situation I’d be able to call them through my headset and land with cellular communication. ATC also offered me an airport 4 miles away and I declined again saying I was fine and this was precautionary. I was cleared to land about 13 miles out they were not allowing another plane to do a practice ILS and holding traffic from departing for longer than normal. I could hear them refer to the “emergency aircraft” during the rest of my flight. I landed uneventfully with 11.5 volts left on the battery, and only after I landed did I notice fire EMS and other flashing lights by the FBO.  Did I do everything correctly? I’m on the ground unharmed, the plane is undamaged, and I was never scared or worried. I will be purchasing a handheld, and was wondering do I need to fill out paperwork or inform the FAA? Love the community and thought I’d share my story. By the way, recommendations on handhelds?

 

Lawrence

[201er]

A Cirrus would have probably pulled the chute. Good job getting it back in one piece.

Had the same scenario going to Florida minus making a real emergency out of it.

 

[toto]

1 hour ago, Candy man said:

Did I do everything correctly? I’m on the ground unharmed, the plane is undamaged, and I was never scared or worried.

You made a decision, had a plan, executed it, and both you and the airplane are safe. Sounds like a great outcome to me.

[EricJ]

Sounds to me like you did great!   Fingers crossed it's something simple like the field wire came off.

 

[Rick Junkin]

1 hour ago, Candy man said:

Did I do everything correctly? I’m on the ground unharmed, the plane is undamaged, and I was never scared or worried. I will be purchasing a handheld, and was wondering do I need to fill out paperwork or inform the FAA?

I agree with @toto - Good assessment of the situation, you considered the risks, had a plan to mitigate risk and deal with potential outcomes with the opportunity to complete your mission with a risk level acceptable to you. Another pilot may have done it differently as there is more than one right answer with varying risk tolerances. You executed your well considered plan to a successful outcome. Well done.

The only thing I suggest is remembering to squawk 7600 in the event you do go NORDO and your telephone plan doesn't work. I had a similar situation and even with very low battery power with everything else turned off my transponder worked and alerted the tower to give me light gun signals.

I'd file an ASRS/ NASA report https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/report/caveat.html?formType=general but you don't need to file anything with the FAA unless the FAA contacts you and requests one. There are some good threads here on what happens when an emergency is declared and what paperwork it generates and for whom. The tower folks will probably be filing something as other traffic was delayed/impacted although I don't recall if that only applies if scheduled air traffic is affected.

Added: I have this handheld https://www.sportys.com/pj2-handheld-com-radio.html, the PJ2 from Sporty's. Its bulkier than other radios but is inexpensive and dirt simple to operate. You plug your headset directly into it. I keep it readily accessible in the right seat back pocket. Range will be limited with a handheld but you can certainly talk to tower or broadcast on CTAF. Here's an article from AVweb you may find useful https://www.avweb.com/avionics/avionics-bootcamp-handheld-transceivers/.

Cheers,
Rick

[Candy man]

33 minutes ago, Junkman said:

The only thing I suggest is remembering to squawk 7600 in the event you do go NORDO and your telephone plan doesn't work. I had a similar situation and even with very low battery power with everything else turned off my transponder worked and alerted the tower to give me light gun signals.

 

Thanks for the positive responses, my knee board has emergency squawk codes and light gun signals on it, in 30 years of flying I’ve never actually seen a light gun light, and I was worried about losing radio and transponder. Maybe next time I’m with and instructor and they’re not busy I’ll have them do a light gun demo. Funny how much stuff you learn in training and never see.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Candy man

[Rwsavory]

You did a good job.

I would recommend the Sportys handheld.  It has built-in jacks for your headset.  Also, if you don't already have one, the next time you have avionics work done have them install a socket connected to your com antenna to plug in your radio.

[N201MKTurbo]

You do remember you had an emergency extension system for occasions like this and the towers still have light signals for situations like this. So even if your battery would have totally died, you have the resources to get on the ground unscathed. If an instrument approach was necessary, I would head for the nearest runway.

If your battery is dying, your last transmission should be that you are turning the power off and will be NORDO. That way they will be expecting you.

Edited January 9, 2022 by N201MKTurbo

[carusoam]

Great work Lawrence!

Nice to have ATC coordinating things like that…

When my M20C lost its generator…. I was VFR.  The low voltage signal was the radios starting to flash because voltage was too low for the display to work… sudden realization that the ammeter is indicating no charge… and there was no volt meter to read….

 

The good news…

The original voltage regulator… isn’t very modern… it was the Delco sticks and stones and springs version….

Zeftronics builds a perfect replacement that includes LEDs wired to the instrument panel to inform the pilot when it no longer wants to charge things… 

Great pirep for your ‘emergency’... congrats on using the system effectively.

Thanks for sharing the details!

Best regards,

 

-a-

[DXB]

5 hours ago, Candy man said:

Yesterday I flew round trip from Ohio State KOSU to Elkhart Indiana KEKM Both are towered airports. I was dropping a friend off to pickup a car that was repaired after he hit a deer on the way to Chicago. It was a really cold morning, about 14 degrees but the visibility was 35 miles, about as good as it ever gets around here. The flight there was totally uneventful, I dropped my passenger, spent 15 minutes or so on the ground and started a still warm airplane for the trip back. Not long after take off I heard a beeping sound, it was coming from the phone charger, it apparently warns you below 12 volts. One other time a few months back I had negative amps on my jpi on a short trip, but never had that problem again. I was an hour from home on a beautiful day with either a bad alternator or a bad regulator.  My concerns was the radio and the gear. My options were attempt to complete the trip, cancel my IFR flight plan and head VFR to Delaware Ohio KDLZ an uncontrolled field 15 miles north of Columbus. Or land as soon as “practicable”. I knew the airplane would fly without the battery so I decided to head to KOSU, and monitor how quickly my battery was losing volts. I also decided I would inform ATC once I was closer to home. The thought process for this one was crazy. If something went really wrong I didn’t want the postmortem discussion to be “ how many suitable airports I passed on my way home” insane but that’s what I thought. I really didn’t think I was in danger of having a major problem outside of communication. I shut off all extra electrical equipment that I didn’t need, the second radio, as well as all lights and the autopilot. I had also considering canceling IFR at that time and shutting off the avionics master and turning back on when closer to home. I also considered turning off the master because unplugging something and plugging it back in seems to fix 90% of the things that don’t work in my world, but I was scared to do that as I’ve never turned off a master in flight. I started watching the volts very closely on the jpi and was loosing .1 volts every 23 mins, I knew this rate may speed up so I decided no matter where I was I was dropping the gear at 11 volts. When I was about 35 miles fro Ohio State on with Columbus approach I requested the phone number for the OSU tower in case I lost comm because I was having an alternator issue. They asked “ if I’d like to declare an emergency” I responded not at this time, the plane and I are fine it’s only precautionary in case I lose my radio. They replied “ stand by” returned a minute later and said they “we’re declaring an emergency for me” Really? I didn’t want to bother anybody and thought having the phone number for the tower as well as them informed of my possible situation I’d be able to call them through my headset and land with cellular communication. ATC also offered me an airport 4 miles away and I declined again saying I was fine and this was precautionary. I was cleared to land about 13 miles out they were not allowing another plane to do a practice ILS and holding traffic from departing for longer than normal. I could hear them refer to the “emergency aircraft” during the rest of my flight. I landed uneventfully with 11.5 volts left on the battery, and only after I landed did I notice fire EMS and other flashing lights by the FBO.  Did I do everything correctly? I’m on the ground unharmed, the plane is undamaged, and I was never scared or worried. I will be purchasing a handheld, and was wondering do I need to fill out paperwork or inform the FAA? Love the community and thought I’d share my story. By the way, recommendations on handhelds?

 

Lawrence

Can't fault you for any decisions here. Like you I wouldn't have declared an emergency in easy VFR conditions.  I would cancel IFR, stay on flight following, and let ATC know immediately. Their declaring an emergency for you while you're in clear weather seems a little silly.  Turning master off and on is no big deal here.  One can also cycle the alt field (if you have a split master) as one step short of that and cycle the alternator breaker.  Handheld is a great idea, along with adaptor for headset and an extra battery pack for it to keep in your bag.  After a similar experience, I've gone so far as to have a connection for my handheld put into my panel to connect it to ship's antenna for much better transmission and reception. If weather was easy, I'd probably to continue to my destination or wherever it seemed easiest to get it fixed nearby, assuming I could get in without being too disruptive or deal with complex airspace after my radio died. 

In my case, I was also in easy weather but making my first flight into a DC SFRA FRZ airport - I really didn't want to deal with the risk of lost coms there, so I just put it down at the large nontowered airport directly that was under me in NJ when it happened and took a very expensive Uber to the nearest train station to get to my meeting in DC.  

[EricJ]

34 minutes ago, DXB said:

Their declaring an emergency for you while you're in clear weather seems a little silly.

They may have had their own reasons for doing so, like needing a live exercise or getting some sort of management or deployment credit for activating the ground crew.   It certainly doesn't hurt you as a pilot when they do that, and if it helps them or benefits them in any way, personally I'm fine with it.

 

[Candy man]

1 hour ago, DXB said:

Can't fault you for any decisions here. Like you I wouldn't have declared an emergency in easy VFR conditions.  I would cancel IFR, stay on flight following, and let ATC know immediately. Their declaring an emergency for you while you're in clear weather seems a little silly.  Turning master off and on is no big deal here.  One can also cycle the alt field (if you have a split master) as one step short of that and cycle the alternator breaker.  Handheld is a great idea, along with adaptor for headset and an extra battery pack for it to keep in your bag.  After a similar experience, I've gone so far as to have a connection for my handheld put into my panel to connect it to ship's antenna for much better transmission and reception. If weather was easy, I'd probably to continue to my destination or wherever it seemed easiest to get it fixed nearby, assuming I could get in without being too disruptive or deal with complex airspace after my radio died. 

In my case, I was also in easy weather but making my first flight into a DC SFRA FRZ airport - I really didn't want to deal with the risk of lost coms there, so I just put it down at the large nontowered airport directly that was under me in NJ when it happened and took a very expensive Uber to the nearest train station to get to my meeting in DC.  

My master isn’t split, it’s a toggle switch and I’ve been looking for a red toggle switch to replace it with. One more piece on cycling the master is I have the Surefly ignition, probably would have been fine, but one more piece of the puzzle

[Candy man]

3 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

You do remember you had an emergency extension system for occasions like this and the towers still have light signals for situations like this. So even if your battery would have totally died, you have the resources to get on the ground unscathed. If an instrument approach was necessary, I would head for the nearest runway.

If your battery is dying, your last transmission should be that you are turning the power off and will be NORDO. That way they will be expecting you.

I do know about the emergency gear extension, i really didn’t want to use it. Also concerning the manual extension, last year during annual with the plane on Jack’s I had the opportunity to cycle the gear manually, I had never done that before, it was “A GREAT LEARNING EXPERIENCE” I understood better how to do it, what’s involved , and about how long it takes. I encourage anybody with that opportunity to take it, yesterday part of my calmness was not worrying a lot if I had to cycle the gear. It would have been my first time at altitude, but not my first time.

Lawrence 

[DXB]

9 minutes ago, Candy man said:

My master isn’t split, it’s a toggle switch and I’ve been looking for a red toggle switch to replace it with. One more piece on cycling the master is I have the Surefly ignition, probably would have been fine, but one more piece of the puzzle

Surefly runs directly off the battery, not the master relay.

[toto]

1 hour ago, EricJ said:

They may have had their own reasons for doing so, like needing a live exercise or getting some sort of management or deployment credit for activating the ground crew.   It certainly doesn't hurt you as a pilot when they do that, and if it helps them or benefits them in any way, personally I'm fine with it.

 

I have had this happen under similar circumstances.  I spoke with the controller on the phone for a while after landing, and iirc he explained that declaring an emergency on behalf of the pilot allows the controller to focus on that one aircraft and potentially access more resources as needed.  He said that it required some paperwork on his end, but that it required nothing from me after an uneventful landing.

[65C_flier]

12 hours ago, DXB said:

Can't fault you for any decisions here. Like you I wouldn't have declared an emergency in easy VFR conditions.  I would cancel IFR, stay on flight following, and let ATC know immediately. Their declaring an emergency for you while you're in clear weather seems a little silly.  Turning master off and on is no big deal here.  One can also cycle the alt field (if you have a split master) as one step short of that and cycle the alternator breaker.  Handheld is a great idea, along with adaptor for headset and an extra battery pack for it to keep in your bag.  After a similar experience, I've gone so far as to have a connection for my handheld put into my panel to connect it to ship's antenna for much better transmission and reception. If weather was easy, I'd probably to continue to my destination or wherever it seemed easiest to get it fixed nearby, assuming I could get in without being too disruptive or deal with complex airspace after my radio died. 

In my case, I was also in easy weather but making my first flight into a DC SFRA FRZ airport - I really didn't want to deal with the risk of lost coms there, so I just put it down at the large nontowered airport directly that was under me in NJ when it happened and took a very expensive Uber to the nearest train station to get to my meeting in DC.  

Good discussion. I've had a similar problem 2.5hrs into a 5hr flight and decided to head back to the origin where my A&P lived. The most concerning thing for me was having my Aspen EFD1000 detect low voltage and swap to it's internal battery which rapidly depleted from 100% to shutdown in less than 30mins. Made me pretty thankful for the VFR day and standby vacuum powered AI.

 

I hadn't thought of a panel plug to ship's antenna for my hnadheld. Might look onto that.

[HIghpockets]

I will declare "Mayday" anytime I have a situation that jeopardizes the safety of my flight.  You did fine. An alternative would be "Pan, Pan, Pan". Personally, I like "Mayday"

because it immediately clears the frequency. I recommend the PJ2 hand held radio with an external antenna.

[cwaters]

I had the same thing recently around thanksgiving. low voltage light came on and we were about 45 min from home. Told ATC and they asked if we were declaring, told them not at this time and we make a stop at a airport enroute, ran the checklist and the light went off. We stayed on the ground for a little bit longer to confirm it was off then took off to cont our trip. got back on with ATC and let them know we were back and making our way home. The tower at our home airport seemed to hold traffic out longer than normal incase we lost comms but other than that we were fine with no emergency declared 

[Ragsf15e]

On 1/9/2022 at 9:43 AM, Candy man said:

 

Thanks for the positive responses, my knee board has emergency squawk codes and light gun signals on it, in 30 years of flying I’ve never actually seen a light gun light, and I was worried about losing radio and transponder. Maybe next time I’m with and instructor and they’re not busy I’ll have them do a light gun demo. Funny how much stuff you learn in training and never see.

Sometimes having an emergency declaration for you or by you can be a little distracting just because you keep hearing that word “emergency” but you’re thinking, “everything is going to be fine.”  It’s different.  In the military, we sort of got a bit more use to it because we were taught to basically declare an emergency for almost anything.  Especially if it made us do something different (use the phone in flight, shut off stuff, emergency gear extension, etc).  Even though we used it more, it’s still a bit distracting when you hear it.

Anyway, absolutely nothing wrong with declaring an emergency!  It just gives you priority and more people can focus on getting you in smoothly.  You don’t need to be on fire, trailing oil and coming in for a belly landing to be an emergency.  If something isn’t right, go for it!  
Like you though, on a vfr day, I would have waited to declare it until I was close to where I want to land…

[GeeBee]

Too often, pilot's are reluctant to declare an emergency. Use it. It's free and it ups your resources. The controllers prefer it because it allows them to spit up their work load. You not only get better service, but so does everyone else in the sky around you. 90% of the time, no one wants a report. 

 

[WaynePierce]

I only hope that if I ever experience what you did I would have the same reactions. No harm in ATC declaring for you, it takes the stigma out of it. I also on my very first annual with my "J" used the red handle. It was more work and took longer that I would have thought before the exercise.

310 pilot not too long ago posted on YouTube a video where they actually spoke to their Tower about the lights and had them use the lights on the ground and then again as they were approaching the airport. If I remember correctly the white light was the hardest to see because it was night time and the other white lights in the area.

Good job!

 

[Boilermonkey]

Having lost coms in IMC before...a handheld is not a great alternative for every circumstance. 

If you are actually in IMC and you loose electric you'll want to focus nearly all your attention on your scan, your iPad, any nav aid you have, and getting down whiteout loosing your orientation.  Trying to get a handheld out from a bag or whatever is a recipe for disaster.  

In this case where you knew the electric failure is coming, the idea of using a smartphone (hopefully coupled with Bluetooth to a headset) is a great alternative.  Whatever the plan is, get it hooked up before you loose electric, because after that you want to focus on flying.

In my case, I was already on an approach, landed, and then get a refresher course on light gun signals ;-) 

[ArtVandelay]

I have my own custom made checklist, I added light gun signals along with transponder 7000 codes…..just in case.

[Yetti]

Start with the simple stuff.   Belt tension.  Then go to the wiring.   Maybe even have a new wiring harness made....

One thing I learned is fly to the most options.

Emergency is good because you get priority handling.

Good outcome.  You passed the test.

[RobertGary1]

The first time I declared an emergency it kind of just came out. Didn’t really think about it. I guess because we think about it a lot. But I was throwing engine pieces and pointing at a busy airline airport pointing the opposite direction of runway traffic.  FSDO created a mountain of paperwork as a result  When I filed a foi later they told me they’d destroyed the file.