AOOA Airmanship Forum
I recently learned from an aviation colleague of a case of exceptionally good airmanship when one of “our” PPLs experienced an in-flight battery power failure in his Beechcraft Bonanza A36 in late November when flying between Mulembo Airstrip and Lusaka KKIA.
Chris Tett (a VFR PPL) has helpfully allowed the AOOA to relate the story on his behalf, and so, largely in his own words, Chris relates thus.
“On Sunday 29th November we flew from Mulembo to Livingstone via Lusaka so that we could refuel in Lusaka and take a ‘weather check’ before continuing to Livingstone.
During the flight over Mkushi, I noticed my battery voltage was dropping, so I turned off all electrical equipment except my Garmin GPS which is also my radio and made the decision to continue to Lusaka.
On left downwind runway 10 and having being handed over to Tower by Area Control, I activated the gear down control. All power was immediately lost and the gear down & locked indicator lights remained blank!
Seconds later the radio came back to life (but the gear down & locked indicator lights were still blank) so I was able to inform Tower that I had lost electrical power and wanted to extend my downwind leg so that I could manually lower my landing gear. Approval was given by Tower but then I lost all electrical power again and it did not come back on again.
I began to try and manually lower the landing gear as per the procedures in the POH, but I could not line up the handle in the ‘gap’ to wind down and extend the gear. Upon my request and under my guidance Sam (my wife) managed to line up the handle while I flew straight and level, and I was then able to lower the gear successfully (there is a manual gear-down indicator on these models), although of course the indicator lights were still extinguished.
We took out my backup handheld radio and established communication again with Tower. I requested a fly-by so they could check that the landing gear was fully down. Permission was granted and Tower confirmed that my landing gear did indeed appear fully extended. I now flew a right hand downwind runway 10 and was given permission to land. Emergency services were on standby next to the runway to give assistance if necessary.
The landing ‘flare’ was the longest I have every executed but in reality it was normal and we landed without incident. Tower gave permission for us to taxi direct to the maintenance hangars and we were escorted all the way there. On arrival and shut down we informed emergency services that apart from the electrical failure all ops were normal.
I would like to say a big thank you to ATC. The handheld radio is difficult to hear in the cockpit and I am sure difficult for ATC to hear me. However, they handled the situation with immense professionalism and patience to give me the time and space to get myself properly prepared to put the plane down safely on the runway in a normal landing.
I would like to thank everyone who assisted me throughout this event and beyond in enabling me to get back flying safely again and on to our destination at Livingstone.”
This brief account, apart from demonstrating a high level of proficiency on the part of Chris, contains a number of airmanship “gems” that I would like to highlight.
Notice the pilot’s attention to detail of the original flight plan indicating the pilot’s wish to route from Mulembo to Livingstone via Lusaka to refuel and check weather - at this time of the year going into the rainy season, this is good planning.
The pilot observed the dropping battery voltage and responded correctly and efficiently; the decision to continue to Lusaka was a perfectly rational, safe and operationally efficient one for the circumstances, especially with what would have been a short flight duration remaining.
Lowering the undercarriage requires significant electrical power in an A36’s electrically powered mechanism, so when gear down was selected this almost immediately threw the gear’s electrical system off-line before it could extend; however, the pilot efficiently transferred his attention to emergency manual lowering of undercarriage procedures by which time with the now lower draw on electrical power allowed the radio to come back to life long enough for the pilot to request clearance to execute precisely what was needed which was an extended left hand downwind leg runway 10 to manually extend the gear; however, this call was enough to throw the entire electrical system off-line and completely disable the radio.
Lowering the A36’s landing gear manually is a tricky exercise at the best of times, with the crank-handle mechanism positioned between and behind pilot’s and co-pilot’s seats almost out of sight, making it difficult to unfold and engage correctly; but without undue drama the pilot “flew the aircraft” while enlisting under his direction the assistance of a passenger in the co-pilot’s seat to unfold and position (line up) the crank-handle correctly for him to activate and lower the gear.
Now, with radio communication completely lost, the next steps would be critical to safely execute an approach and landing, but fortunately the pilot carries an emergency handheld radio which he was able to deploy and communicate with ATC requesting a fly-by for the gear extension to be checked by Tower, which was granted, and confirmation from Tower of landing gear fully extended was routinely provided
The approach and landing, although likely to be nerve-racking, were then completed uneventfully but with the pilot’s knowledge that KKIA’s emergency services were on stand-by if needed; not only that, but the Tower judiciously authorized the pilot to taxi directly to the maintenance hangar after landing, with an escort of emergency services.
Finally, upon parking and closing down the aircraft, the pilot made sure he communicated “ops normal” and his sincere gratitude to ATC for their assistance, and to check whether or not any further actions might be required.
This all makes such a great story for pilots to muse over, discuss, and examine from a safety “tutorial” point of view, and I have to commend all concerned, from the pilot to ATC and other “airmen or airwomen” on hand, for their exceptional application of technical knowledge and procedural proficiency, good airmanship, use of available resources, and just plain good old courtesy and common sense to this successful flight outcome.
Richard Jeffery/AOOA President (CPL/DCP/DE)