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Suddenly Everything is Dark
A flight that will never be forgotten!
If you have been flying as long as I have you must have taken a flight that you had some reservations about or perhaps several of them. This is about two different legs, same trip that really had some unusual outcomes. The first leg was a departure of Felps Field in Spokane, WA in a newly converted Malibu Jetprop DLX. One thing after another, delayed the departure until dusk that evening, with slush on the runway 32°(not a good choice). The tops were reported at 4000’, but turned out to be 17,000 and shortly after breakout the temperature was -40° (no need to put °F or °C at -40° they are the same), so it is too cold to remove the ice that had accumulated on the boots. (They could burst at this temperature) the first stop Rapid City, SD where the surface temperature is a burning -11°c. interception of the glide slope the gear was lowered, however the normal thud was not heard and of course no green lights. After a couple of more cycles I was pretty sure the gear was frozen in the up position which had happened on a PA46 aircraft previously. I advised the tower we had a slight problem and would not be landing right away, climbing back up 2000’AGL I tried more cycles with some pretty radical shaking and G-loading, no luck.
Finally I went to the free fall position and was able to shake the two mains out and finally a couple of abrupt stalls and pushovers and all three greens came on and we landed without incident (this was done a ten o’clock at night with a cloud cover).
On to Minnesota the next morning with continued flight on down to Sarasota, FL where lots of circum navigation of thunderstorms would be necessary. On two occasions the gear was dropped in order to quickly get down to Va (maneuvering speed). The stormscope was mostly covered with dots and each dark hole we turned to quickly lit up again. As some luck still prevailed the tops were only about FL220 at the highest so we can keep the aircraft in one piece even though the ride is very rough. Descending through the cumulus there was a lightening in all quadrants and a breakout occurred at about the 5000’ level. Right after breaking out a total electrical failure occurred and nothing would reset generator, standby alternator, and battery, all off line never to come back. We were still about twenty miles out in the Gulf of Mexico and a little smoke enters the cabin. Not much you can do here since all electrical is already dead. There was on board a cell phone, one hand held radio aboard except no one knew for sure where they located. As I was flying with the co-pilots AI using a small mag light held in my mouth the Florida shoreline came into view, but was slightly tilted.
Hey, I have been in Florida too long and I know it is flat, this AI is electrical and it is winding down. Now back to the left side AI, the only instrument working in the aircraft, the plan was to fly to the first rotating beacon and pray the runway lights may be on, or perhaps enough light to make out that dark strip. A prayer is answered as the runway is lighted (now I have to think who turned them on and are they still in the pattern).
After a couple circuits, no aircraft in sight I preceded to slow down for the manual gear extension, there will be no green lights this time. This aircraft must be slowed to 90kias or less or the nose gear will not come down and lock. I choose to get as close to stall speed as possible before this was accomplished since you do not get a second chance.
Like the night before I kept thinking about that new $500,000 turbine and prop chewing asphalt, but also thinking about survival first. After pulling the extension a couple stalls, kick some rudder left/right, a touchdown was made and the wheels were down and locked. Radar had tracked us to the vicinity of the airport, notified the local police and the airport manager who both showed up within minutes. The airport manager had rejected the city’s request to turn the runway lights off at night; hence we were third aircraft to be saved by such. It should also be noted that the existing conditions that caused, one the gear to freeze up, two, the total electrical failure have been corrected in the Jet Prop and can no longer occur.
My thanks goes out to the manager of that Crystal River Airport who had kept the home lights on, treated us very cordial, even offered us a ride to a local hotel after making reservations. Always trust your inner thought and do not make that trip you do not feel right about. Both of these legs could have been completed in better weather and in daylight hours. There should never be a trip that cannot be delayed or cancelled altogether.
Lester J. Kyle, Jr.
Lester Kyle owns Lester Kyle’s Aircraft Training in Vero Beach, Florida and has acquired 16,000 plus hours instructing as an ATP. |