jpower
Cleared for Takeoff
Well, I went flying this morning, though it wasn't before I had some excitement. Okay, not that much excitement.
I finished the preflight on our lovely (rental) 1980 172P, and we jumped in and started up with no issues, but then, when we were taxiing out, the low voltage light started to flicker a little bit, then went solid. I said "ughhh" and continued to runup, where I was hopeful that we might get more juice. Unfortunately the light didn't go out, and when I checked the ammeter, it was a needle-width or two over into discharge. I taxied back and swapped planes, and the guy behind the counter said they'd look into it.
Is this an alternator failure? I would have expected that there would be more discharge than one or two needle-widths if the ammeter had completely kicked the bucket, but then again, I've never had this happen, so I'm really not sure.
Also, the first time I flew that plane (last Friday), the radios were awfully quiet, and they seemed about the same on the radio check today. The intercom was totally normal and radio checks came back loud and clear on both 1 and 2, but even with the volume on the radio and my headset full up, the transmissions others made were pretty faint. I assume the two issues are unrelated, because I would think that transmitting would be the first thing to go because it's more power hungry, but nobody seemed to have any trouble hearing us then. What could cause that? Radios going bad?
Thoughts?
I finished the preflight on our lovely (rental) 1980 172P, and we jumped in and started up with no issues, but then, when we were taxiing out, the low voltage light started to flicker a little bit, then went solid. I said "ughhh" and continued to runup, where I was hopeful that we might get more juice. Unfortunately the light didn't go out, and when I checked the ammeter, it was a needle-width or two over into discharge. I taxied back and swapped planes, and the guy behind the counter said they'd look into it.
Is this an alternator failure? I would have expected that there would be more discharge than one or two needle-widths if the ammeter had completely kicked the bucket, but then again, I've never had this happen, so I'm really not sure.
Also, the first time I flew that plane (last Friday), the radios were awfully quiet, and they seemed about the same on the radio check today. The intercom was totally normal and radio checks came back loud and clear on both 1 and 2, but even with the volume on the radio and my headset full up, the transmissions others made were pretty faint. I assume the two issues are unrelated, because I would think that transmitting would be the first thing to go because it's more power hungry, but nobody seemed to have any trouble hearing us then. What could cause that? Radios going bad?
Thoughts?
