My First Real Emergency - Saturday

First - great job on the way you and your CFI handled the emergency. As others have noted - declaring an emergency or at least saying mayday would have been a good idea, if that engine had suddenly gotten worse you might have NEEDED the runway to be clear.

But to your above quote:
'You flew at night even after you preflighted and found the landing light was inoperative? Did you rent the airplane?

Take a look at 91.205 (c) - your instructor should not have taken that airplane. YES, you CAN fly without a landing light, and it's good to know how to land in case you find that your light dies between the time you preflighted and the time you needed it.

I can hear comments like "Come on, you don't really NEED a landing light" - but it's a bad habit to go fly with stuff on the airplane that doesn't work without doing the stuff required in 91.213, and in this particular case, since your airplane was operated for hire, an electric landing light is required for night operations - which means it needs to be working.

I didn't think rental was a for hire operation.
 
Not at all. If you even think there might be an emergency, it's better to declare just in case. Here's a great article on the subject that, IMO, every pilot should read: http://www.avweb.com/news/pilotlounge/182061-1.html

But I also wouldn't tell them that everyone else will automatically get out of the way.



Nope, wrong, no way, can we please stop spouting this myth?

There is no paperwork or justification required after declaring an emergency, even at a towered airport.

When you're riding in the ops van behind your airplane being towed off the runway, they ask what your name is and where the plane is based. End of story. The "Big, Bad, FAA" myth has probably killed dozens of pilots. Can we stop it now, please?

YUP!!
I have never actually declared an emergency. I did have a partial loss of power after take off at a towered field. I "just" told the tower I wasn't developing full power and was returning to the airport.
The tower responded "cleared to land any runway". Never talked to them about it again in an official manner. I did telephone the tower after I got back and said thanks.

BTW, great job to the OP.
 
Exactly.

Look, if the fan stops (and you only have one) the pucker factor is very high.

(See my own power failure emergency here)

Saying "Emergency!" into 122.800 is nice, and might help, but it's not as important as flying the airplane until you arrive at a soft touchdown and rollout place.

In addition, saying "Emergency!" one or two or ten times does not absolve the stricken aircraft of see and avoid.

Given the nature of non-towered field ops, on a busy day at the airport I can assure you at least one pilot in the pattern didn't hear the transmission.

So while I teach Glide, Grass, Gas, Gasp (Get to Vg, find a spot, troubleshoot, announce the emergency), the announcement is lowest priority.

If the fan quits altogether, unless I'm at cruising altitude whatever I say on the radio is whatever I say. I agree, find someplace to land and get set up to do it. If time permits, scream for help on the way down. Maybe they'll send someone to find you.

If I have have partial power and can keep it in the air sufficient to control the outcome (like the OP), I'm screaming a mayday to whomever will listen. No, the NORDO guy in his prewar taildragger won't hear me, but someone might who might otherwise get in my way.
 
The only time I had an in-flight issue was right after takeoff. I just told tower "returning to land". Tower said "Make right or left traffic, your discretion, cleared to land."

I HAVE witnessed 2 actual in-flight emergencies, both times I was on the ground with a hand-held. Both times tower rolled the trucks - once when asked, the other time tower did it as a precaution. Each time, the only paperwork involved (as far as I could tell) was when the pilot signed a release form so the fire department could leave. I think the tower would have called for the equipment, regardless of being asked, the first time the word "Emergency" came over the radio.
 
I didn't think rental was a for hire operation.

me neither

It's not. But flight instruction where the same person/organization is providing the instructor and the plane is, and that's what the situation was with the burned-out landing light.

I was gonna jump on that one too, 'til I thought about it for a sec.
 
If you prang your aircraft, yes you will be talking to the FAA. But that's for pranging your aircraft, not yelling "mayday" in the pattern.

And thus, there's nothing to be done about declaring an emergency. So do it.

By the way, the one time I did declare an emergency, I did make it safely to the ramp on my own power and that was the end of the story. And that was at a towered airport.

Exactly. Once you're on the ground, everyone breathes a sigh of relief and goes about their business.

I am unaware of a FAR that would require notification of the FAA for declaring an emergency over CTAF or to another non-ATC facility. If you could kindly show me the applicable one I will kindly eat my words.

I don't know what you're talking about, I never said any such thing. :dunno:
 
If the fan quits altogether, unless I'm at cruising altitude whatever I say on the radio is whatever I say. I agree, find someplace to land and get set up to do it. If time permits, scream for help on the way down. Maybe they'll send someone to find you.

If I have have partial power and can keep it in the air sufficient to control the outcome (like the OP), I'm screaming a mayday to whomever will listen. No, the NORDO guy in his prewar taildragger won't hear me, but someone might who might otherwise get in my way.
I agree with this 100%. I was was soloing at KMIV and someone declared an emergency for a gear problem. I just went back out to the practice area and got another 0.5 in flight time while the pilot in question got it straightened out over the airport- because I heard the call.

I got the plane in late for the next student, but everyone knew what was going on. It got resolved well when someone told him the emergency gear expension procedure (I might be wrong, but shouldn't he have known that? His POH was in the back of the plane)

KimberlyAnne- good job handling it!
 
The idea is to fill your bucket of experience before your buck of luck is emptied. Kimberly is well on the way to success.

Whether the CFI did something Kimberly couldn't have done herself is not exactly the question because it ignores the value of experience.

However, good job all around.

Kimberly, what decision would you while coming around to final (low) the other aircraft holding short had not been so cooperative?


I think what you are trying to ask is what if that other aircraft did not take off?

If he was still holding short and not moving I think I would have tried to reach him again via the radio (remember my CFI took over radios since it was an emergency). If he still held short and I was on very short final - I suppose I would aim for the second half of the runway so that even if he taxi'd on to the runway he would see me and abort.

If what you are asking is related to him being on the runway itself then I would again have to plan a landing point based on where he was and what he was doing (moving, not moving, taking off, etc). I do not think a go around would have been possible and it was busy so landing on a taxiway may or may not have been an option.

Alternatively, we could circle in the "final" leg area until he cleared the runway and then land as soon as he left. I am lucky enough that my airport is surrounded by fields, golf courses, etc. if I REALLY needed them.

Kimberly
 
At least it was something out of your control...on my first solo I also had a climbing problem.......because.....I forgot to put the flaps up...


I always forget to put my flaps up (not even funny anymore). This is after short and soft field takeoffs. We don't do touch and go's (only full stops) so I have plenty of time to clean up my plane on the taxi back to the runway. But now that I am towards the end of my training, he takes advantage of every takeoff and landing and asks for short or soft because they are not as easy as "normal".

Kimberly
 
I will have to ask my instructor about the landing light, he doesn't seem like the type who would break any rules. Obviously, if I was ALONE and pre-flighted my plane and there was no landing light I would not take it out for a flight, especially with passengers.

I sort of shrugged it off and was just that much more pleased with my landings knowing I did them "in the dark".

Now if my other lights did not work on pre-flight, that would have been different since they are there to show other pilots that I'm flying around in the night sky and what direction I'm going.

The "landing light" is for me, to help me land. I have seen it referenced elsewhere (forgot what book of study) though as an alternative to rocking your wings - using it as a sign of "OK" or "Yes, I understand" . . . . I think when working without radios at a towered airport at night or when being intercepted?

Kimberly
 
The other thing that's missing from the equation is that often times, pilots are reluctant to declare an emergency because they don't want to deal with talking to the FAA afterwards. "Declaring" an emergency has a slightly different meaning at a towered airport vs. a non towered airport. At a towered airport, you're telling ATC you havea problem and you need priority handling and, and afterwards you are probably going to have to justify it at some point. At a non-towered airport, you are simply telling all the traffic that happens to be tuned in and listening that you have a problem and please yield to you. If you make it down safely, you won't be talking to the FAA anyway.

So there is no good reason to not declare an emergency to ATC or a tower if you have one, and no reason at all not to declare an emergency over CTAF at a non-towered airport.

I've declared three emergencies so far (all to ATC) and never had to do anything more than tell the ATC QA guy (when he called the next day) that I felt I'd gotten great service. Unless there's an accident/incident, there is rarely any follow-up. Everybody feels good when the emergency is over and goes back to normal life.
 
I will have to ask my instructor about the landing light, he doesn't seem like the type who would break any rules. Obviously, if I was ALONE and pre-flighted my plane and there was no landing light I would not take it out for a flight, especially with passengers.

I sort of shrugged it off and was just that much more pleased with my landings knowing I did them "in the dark".

Now if my other lights did not work on pre-flight, that would have been different since they are there to show other pilots that I'm flying around in the night sky and what direction I'm going.

The "landing light" is for me, to help me land. I have seen it referenced elsewhere (forgot what book of study) though as an alternative to rocking your wings - using it as a sign of "OK" or "Yes, I understand" . . . . I think when working without radios at a towered airport at night or when being intercepted?

Kimberly

Yes, you can use the landing light to signal.
 
I didn't think rental was a for hire operation.
It's not - getting instruction from the same place that provides the airplane IS operating for hire.

Thus, I can't teach a student in our school's airplanes if they don't have a 100 hour. The student CAN rent the airplane for solo without a current 100-hour inspection. I CAN teach a student in HIS airplane without a 100-hour (or landing light).
 
It's not - getting instruction from the same place that provides the airplane IS operating for hire.

Thus, I can't teach a student in our school's airplanes if they don't have a 100 hour. The student CAN rent the airplane for solo without a current 100-hour inspection. I CAN teach a student in HIS airplane without a 100-hour (or landing light).


He doesn't work for the school / the business who I pay for the plane rental - I pay each separately (just an FYI). He is independent, not sure if they even have an agreement in writing, never asked.

Kimberly
 
He doesn't work for the school / the business who I pay for the plane rental - I pay each separately (just an FYI). He is independent, not sure if they even have an agreement in writing, never asked.

Kimberly
AH - then in that case, you're fine... no violation occured - and your CFI hopefully knew that. I would bet the rental business has an agreement to let him instruct in their planes, for insurance purposes if nothing else, but that's not a financial linkage. If you're writing two checks to two different people for the airplane and the pilot, it's not for-hire (to you, anyway).
 
i don't think that providing a plane for flight instruction is considered "for hire". yes, if you provide a a plane for flight instruction then it requires a 100 hr inspection. The fact that the 100 hr rule says "for hire" OR "provided for flight instruction" indicates to me that providing a plane for flight instruction is not "for hire"
 
AH - then in that case, you're fine... no violation occured - and your CFI hopefully knew that. I would bet the rental business has an agreement to let him instruct in their planes, for insurance purposes if nothing else, but that's not a financial linkage. If you're writing two checks to two different people for the airplane and the pilot, it's not for-hire (to you, anyway).


Yes, and a lot went wrong on that flight (my radio skills are pretty bad and my VOR skills too). So the fact that I landed, full stall, rather softly, was about the only saving grace. He had me report "airport in sight" to stop VFR flight following with ATC and in fact I had seen a beacon in the distance! It was not until he pointed out the runway lights that I realized we'd had a mis-communication. And the fun did not stop there.... so the landing in the dark thing was just about the only positive memory I have of that flight. If I had not bought the red light head lamp I did the entire flight would have been in the dark or with a white light inner cockpit overhead light, the instruments don't light up.... which would have destroyed my night vision. I needed my night vision for that in the dark landing.


Oh and hell yeah I felt like a dork wearing a giant head-mounted red LED headlamp but that thing saved the day.

Kimberly
 
yep, headlights rock for night flying. love mine.
 
i don't think that providing a plane for flight instruction is considered "for hire". yes, if you provide a a plane for flight instruction then it requires a 100 hr inspection. The fact that the 100 hr rule says "for hire" OR "provided for flight instruction" indicates to me that providing a plane for flight instruction is not "for hire"


My plane actually gets a 50 hour, 100 hour, and more - though I still had a cracked cylinder, radios non-op, nosewheel / strut leaking fluid, seat flying back / slipping from position, and a balding left tire which needed replacing. Oh and the pitot heat has been in-op since forever, and all the lights may or may not work.....

LOL (sort of)




Kimberly
 
My plane actually gets a 50 hour, 100 hour, and more - though I still had a cracked cylinder, radios non-op, nosewheel / strut leaking fluid, seat flying back / slipping from position, and a balding left tire which needed replacing. Oh and the pitot heat has been in-op since forever, and all the lights may or may not work.....

LOL (sort of)




Kimberly


You know maybe you do want to look into flight training elsewhere. :rofl::rofl:
 
My plane actually gets a 50 hour, 100 hour, and more - though I still had a cracked cylinder, radios non-op, nosewheel / strut leaking fluid, seat flying back / slipping from position, and a balding left tire which needed replacing. Oh and the pitot heat has been in-op since forever, and all the lights may or may not work.....

LOL (sort of)



Kimberly
New term: Pencil whipped.
 
And (though this is much later in training than you), I'll tell you about my real life emergency. I had my PPL and was training for the IR. In actual, my AI failed. That would scare the poopoo out of most people (OK, it scared me poopoo-less, too!), but my CFII was very calm. He said, fly with the turn and bank. Keep the ball in the center. Use the other instruments. Meanwhile, he calmly requested a descent of 1000 feet which got us out of the clouds.

I will never forget this experience and my incredible CFII's professionalism and calm. I learned about flying from THAT!

Ben, Good job!

How'd you catch it? Did you have the vacuum gauge in your scan, or did a flag pop on the AI, or?

I had the vacuum pump fail on me on the way to Gaston's, but the G1000 immediately "chimed" to alert me. Would have been hard to miss.
 
Oh and hell yeah I felt like a dork wearing a giant head-mounted red LED headlamp but that thing saved the day.

I wear mine at night and do not feel like a dork...and I dare anyone to stand in my 6'1" face and tell me so.:rofl:
 
I am unaware of a FAR that would require notification of the FAA for declaring an emergency over CTAF or to another non-ATC facility. If you could kindly show me the applicable one I will kindly eat my words.

Can't find it right now, but I seem to recall one about reporting required under conditions such as:
Required crewmember incapacitation
Flight Control Failure in-flight
In-flight fire

The 2nd and 3rd would definately warrant declaration of an emergency and also thus a MANDATORY report.
 
How'd you catch it? Did you have the vacuum gauge in your scan, or did a flag pop on the AI, or?

I had the vacuum pump fail on me on the way to Gaston's, but the G1000 immediately "chimed" to alert me. Would have been hard to miss.

I had the primary AI go "brown end up" out over West Texas one day on an IFR flight. Complete non-issue. 15,000 feet inbound to San Antonio. It just rolled right over. Autopilot on GPSS kept me chugging right along & conditions were VFR back in San Antone.
 
I wear mine at night and do not feel like a dork...and I dare anyone to stand in my 6'1" face and tell me so.:rofl:
I'll admit to feeling a little dorky the first time I wore mine, but that feeling went away quickly as it proved to be just about the most worthwhile $20 I've ever spent in aviation.

I don't think any other pilots will think you're a dork. Someone in the flying club I belong to even mentioned to me last winter that I gave him the idea to get one, and he really likes it.
 
My instrument instructor and I had a similar situation recently. We took the club 182 on an instrument x/c, and the plane was performing decently the whole trip, until we were on the RNAV 28R approach into KMYF. When i throttled back to start the descent, we heard a strange noise/vibration. All the engine gauges were in the green, but the noise persisted on the approach. After we taxied back, i was the first person out of the airplane, and noticed "brown stuff" on the strut. I ran my fingers through it and realized it was oil. Walked around the plane, and noticed it was streaked all down the left side of the plane from cowling to tailcone. Upon walking to the nose, i noticed an almost dinner plate size puddle under the exhaust pipe (dripping down the side of the pipe). We pushed the plane back and called the owner, and it went in for MX. The diagnosis was a hole in the oil pan. This didn't sit well, becasue that plane is pretty tightly cowled, so where would the hole have come from.... All in all, we pumped 4 QT of oil overboard. I asked my II if we would have been able to make the runway from where we noticed the noise, and she said doubtful, we would have set down on the golf course. in almost 200 hrs of flying, this is the first time i've had a major issue..
 
And thus, there's nothing to be done about declaring an emergency. So do it.



Exactly. Once you're on the ground, everyone breathes a sigh of relief and goes about their business.



I don't know what you're talking about, I never said any such thing. :dunno:

I think maybe you didn't quite understand my previous statement - I was trying to make the same argument you were making. Agree with you on all points.
 
If you prang your aircraft, yes you will be talking to the FAA. But that's for pranging your aircraft, not yelling "mayday" in the pattern.

Depends on what you mean by prang. Having an engine failure itself is not a reportable accident. I can tell you I talked to NOBODY from the FAA the one time I had a total engine failure (I did have to help the kindly State Trouper fill out the Commonwealth of Virginia Aviation Accident Report form he had). The one time I had a problem at a controlled field, I gave my name and phone number to the National Guard CFR chief (mixed use field) for his report. That was the end of it both times.

Now there are certain things like gear ups or fuel exhaustion that are sure to trigger a 709 ride (no matter what excuse you give).
 
i don't think that providing a plane for flight instruction is considered "for hire". yes, if you provide a a plane for flight instruction then it requires a 100 hr inspection. The fact that the 100 hr rule says "for hire" OR "provided for flight instruction" indicates to me that providing a plane for flight instruction is not "for hire"

That's a possibility, and I see where you reached that conclusion. It doesn't jibe with the anecdotal evidence from every flight school I've been involved with, but I'll concede that it could be a popular "myth" rather than a fact that giving flight instruction (providing the airplane and the instructor) is a "for hire" operation.
 
I'll admit to feeling a little dorky the first time I wore mine, but that feeling went away quickly as it proved to be just about the most worthwhile $20 I've ever spent in aviation.

I don't think any other pilots will think you're a dork. Someone in the flying club I belong to even mentioned to me last winter that I gave him the idea to get one, and he really likes it.


OK, fine . . . but perhaps the combination of (CFI said to do this):

Neck lanyard - long - with laminated "sure pro" checklist for plane around my neck. Also on lanyard - laminated hand made flashcards done by me with all the runway numbers, TPAs, CTAFs etc for the surrounding 5 or so airports within a few miles of my home airport. Just imagine me fumbling through this paperwork around my neck at runup.... dorky and it is attached to my chest!

Attached to neck lanyard on the string part, dangling - pen and pencil for XC writing stuff down in case I drop one on the floor or one stops working I have another

Giant dorky headlight

Post its

So yeah I feel like a walking office supply cabinet..... not cool.


Kimberly
 
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We need a picture of that!

Actually, once you get into things all that stuff goes away because it just sticks in your head. Even flying IFR now I pretty much only use my pen and paper (which is pretty much my entire flight bag now) for initial clearance. Everything else just goes in the noggin.
 
We need a picture of that!

Actually, once you get into things all that stuff goes away because it just sticks in your head. Even flying IFR now I pretty much only use my pen and paper (which is pretty much my entire flight bag now) for initial clearance. Everything else just goes in the noggin.

Oh yeah that's right I forgot about all the clipboards and sectionals and stuff on my lap. Oh and my bright pink $15 CASIO stopwatch / watch I got at Walmart for the XC's because it has the time, and the stopwatch, and it even has a light for night flying. But it still looks like those old dorky CASIO watches from the 80's. And my E6B and headset and gosh all that crap. Seriously everything but the kitchen sink.

And not a chance in hell I'm taking a photo of me wearing dorky stuff! I hate my photo being taken anyways, I literally hide from cameras (I'm used to being the photographer, not the photographed).
 
Oh yeah that's right I forgot about all the clipboards and sectionals and stuff on my lap. Oh and my bright pink $15 CASIO stopwatch / watch I got at Walmart for the XC's because it has the time, and the stopwatch, and it even has a light for night flying. But it still looks like those old dorky CASIO watches from the 80's. And my E6B and headset and gosh all that crap. Seriously everything but the kitchen sink.
I got my stopwatch from the goodies we handed out at trade shows.

And not a chance in hell I'm taking a photo of me wearing dorky stuff! I hate my photo being taken anyways, I literally hide from cameras (I'm used to being the photographer, not the photographed).
Is that you in your avatar?
 
Neck lanyard...
Giant dorky headlight...
Post its...
So yeah I feel like a walking office supply cabinet..... not cool.

There's no shame in that; whatever gets the job done. I made my own checklist and navlog kneeboards, too. I'm especially proud of my clip-on headlamp, though...
 

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I got my stopwatch from the goodies we handed out at trade shows.


Is that you in your avatar?


Of course it is me in my avatar! But that was a special occasion, you know, when they make you dress up for formal night on the cruise ship and they practically force you to get your picture taken.

Kimberly
 
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