Emergency Landing at KALO
George Marshall September 13 2009 04:03:36 PM
What I thought was going to be a normal training flight turned into anything but normal. The flight began out of Air Lake, MN where I flew my sister-in-law's Cessna Cardinal in for her to fly back with me sitting right seat as the instructor. The agenda for the day was to head back to Iowa for some instrument training via Mason City then Waterloo and finally end up in Vinton. The flight there was about 1 1/2 hours with the return flight expected to be upwards of three hours with all of the side trips we were going to take. Everything went as plan and we were off Air Lake in VFR conditions. While enroute she received her IFR clearance with a climb out to 7000'. That altitude took us straight into IMC conditions with near zero visibility. We initially had our clearance to Waterloo but quickly amended that for Mason City, then Waterloo and onto Vinton.While talking with Rochester Approach I noticed a very brief flicker on the newly installed comm 1 radio. It was a new Garmin 430W installed just a week prior to the flight. Within seconds, the 430 went black. My initial thought was a comm failure and immediately began troubleshooting the issue as such. Given that it was the latest component installed in the aircraft it gave me greater reason to believe it was the 430. Within the span of about 20 seconds, the second comm radio started flickering and finally quit as well. We began squawking 7600 to indicate a comm issue and started to troubleshoot the issue further. However, given we had no radios our troubleshooting went from a comm failure to a full-blown electrical failure. All non-essential equipment was shut down while looking for VFR conditions to get us out of IMC. As luck would have it a hole appeared below us with a clear view of the fields below us and she started a circling decent down below the cloud layer. The handheld comm radio that she had was stowed in the flight bag directly behind her. Upon assembling it - which required putting on the anntenna and inserting batteries (which I later discovered was done incorrectly) there was no joy on the handheld - it appeared dead. I reached for my handheld comm radio and began declaring our emergency. Unfortunately the radio appeared very marginal when transmitting. More than likely it was due to the fact the radio was not charged properly and it subsequently quit on us. So far this has not been a good sign with 2 built in comms and 2 handhelds failing we were flying silently.
As soon as we got in the VFR conditions we flew a direct heading for a field that she knew would be able to provide the needed services on the Cardinal. Fortunately she had a battery powered Garmin on the yoke to provide guidance. With more than 40 minutes remaining in our flight I continued to try and get any equipment to work without success.
As we approached Waterloo we passed directly over the tower looking for light signals. Turning midfield on a left downwind and then to base I continued to look for light signals from the tower. On final we made one last check of everything (insuring not to attempt to deploy flaps in the event they failed and we had to go around). Despite the lack of light signals (at least what I could see) we diligently scanned for traffic and decided to make the landing.
The no flap landing was well executed without issues. Upon clearing the runway and stopping at the hold short line we received the green light from tower to proceed with our taxi. Just opposite us was an emergency response team at the ready with lights going and everything. In addition we were told that a United flight had to be delayed due to the excitement we created while waiting for us to land.
Overall, Becky (the pilot) did an excellent job and remained calm and collected during the event. Some of the lessons I took out this experience wasL
1. If you have a comm failure, or at least what you think is a comm failure, begin to look at the bigger picture (ie. electical).
2. Power consumption is quick. From the start of the first signs of a failure to total failure it was less than 5 min.
3. Always make sure you have a fully charged handheld comm radio.
4. If your going to use someone else's comm radio back sure you understand how to operate it.
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Rode in a Tesla
George Marshall September 12 2009 09:24:15 PM
I met up with my older brother Andy for the IRENEW expo in Norway, IA and had the pleasant surprise of a ride in a Tesla electric car. Don't be fooled, just because it's an electric car doesn't mean it's slow or clunky. This puppy hit the 1/4 mile in under 13 seconds. We were at 60 in under 4 seconds and over 100 mph in no time zipping past the cornfields of Norway.- Comments [0]
Forgot the Pledge of Allegiance
George Marshall August 31 2009 12:33:26 PM
After an entire week of school being in session they are still working out problems. When I asked my older son to recall his first week of school there was no mention of the pledge of allegiance. It took an e-mail from me to remind the school that they have not been reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. It must not be considered important anymore. The teacher I sent the e-mail to said she would resolve it.- Comments [0]
The Moose is on the loose!
George Marshall August 26 2009 12:41:39 PM
We got word from a friend that there was a moose down in the creek not too far from where we live. So I put Allison and Nate in the truck and headed out to see it. It's not too common to see moose down on the front range. They decided to relocate him.- Comments [0]
Overload of Michael Jackson coverage
George Marshall July 8 2009 09:53:37 AM
What a strange course we're on. Seven soldiers have died for our country during the time of all this overextended media blitz on this drug addict and we hardly heard a word. Enough already! What the hell is wrong with our society. According to MSN.com, 50% more people watched the memorial than the watched the presidential inauguration. Does that reflect more on Jackson or Obama? Puke.
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Top Ethical Companies
George Marshall April 13 2009 11:44:42 AM
Unfortunately I didn't find IBM on the list.- Comments [0]
Hella Plug to Cigarette Lighter Plug
George Marshall March 18 2009 11:34:58 PM
I made a hella plug to cigarette lighter adapter so if we can use any of our adapters while we're out camping:- Comments [0]
License Plates for Camper
George Marshall March 18 2009 11:18:24 PM
I had to find a solution on how to put license plates on the camper. The problem is that the place where they intended for the license plates to go didn't have any holes.Normally I would just drill some holes and call it good but, I am planning on putting a jerry can holder in the back and it may interfere with where the plates are. I wouldn't want to put holes in the tailgate and later have to relocate it to the jerry can holder.
My solution was to buy a pair of those magnetic license plate holders that the dealers use for temporary dealer plates.
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Birthday Gift Idea
George Marshall March 10 2009 04:28:07 PM
If anyone is short on ideas of what to get me for my birthday: http://www.gibbstech.co.uk/- Comments [0]