gitmo234
Line Up and Wait
Interesting flying today. The wife and I flew about an hour up to the Philadelphia area. Flight there was uneventful. Had dinner with a friend I havent seen in over a year. He and his 4 year old son had never been in a small airplane before so we hopped and I took him on 3 trips in the pattern and shut her down.
We chatted a bit, said our goodbyes and hopped in the airplane...click click click.... the prop would barely turn over. It wasnt going to start.
Double checked everything went through the checklists a few times...still nothing. The airport closed early, nobody was around. I called my friend back and had him bring some jumper cables. I have never hand propped an airplane and I wasnt about to try without someone who was experienced teaching and I certainly wasnt letting my wife try.
We jumped the airplane just like you would a car (thank god the older cessnas had a gigantic cowling door with easy access. Once the engine started, I shut it down, disconnected everything, cleared the area, and she started again a bit sluggishly. I was in an a transponder required area, so the plan was to fly until out of that area and shut off all avionics until I was sure I could get home before dark and wouldnt need power to turn on the radios so I could access the lights.
Once I got up I realized we had plenty of time...more than an hour until sunset, and even then plenty of light to spare, so I kept the avionics on because I was reading a charge on the gauge. The radios sounded "grainy" here and there, rougher than usual, but the avionics stayed on for an hour flight without issue (other than sounding grainy) and I radio checked clearly with some distant flyers, all gave me LC.
So once on the ground I talked it over with another pilot I ran into, he said it sounded like I may have a bad battery vs a bad generator, the battery may just not be holding a charge.
Anyone else experience similar and have any input?
We chatted a bit, said our goodbyes and hopped in the airplane...click click click.... the prop would barely turn over. It wasnt going to start.
Double checked everything went through the checklists a few times...still nothing. The airport closed early, nobody was around. I called my friend back and had him bring some jumper cables. I have never hand propped an airplane and I wasnt about to try without someone who was experienced teaching and I certainly wasnt letting my wife try.
We jumped the airplane just like you would a car (thank god the older cessnas had a gigantic cowling door with easy access. Once the engine started, I shut it down, disconnected everything, cleared the area, and she started again a bit sluggishly. I was in an a transponder required area, so the plan was to fly until out of that area and shut off all avionics until I was sure I could get home before dark and wouldnt need power to turn on the radios so I could access the lights.
Once I got up I realized we had plenty of time...more than an hour until sunset, and even then plenty of light to spare, so I kept the avionics on because I was reading a charge on the gauge. The radios sounded "grainy" here and there, rougher than usual, but the avionics stayed on for an hour flight without issue (other than sounding grainy) and I radio checked clearly with some distant flyers, all gave me LC.
So once on the ground I talked it over with another pilot I ran into, he said it sounded like I may have a bad battery vs a bad generator, the battery may just not be holding a charge.
Anyone else experience similar and have any input?