Okay friends....lets accept it, flying is fun but brings in lots of challenges & risk as well.....lot of things can go wrong.....however that's what training is all about.....
During my training I got my share of 'oops' moment......and today I would share that with you and the action I took. We all know what needs to be done as taught in our training, but I wanted to share my thoughts about it. Though no one of them resulted in any incident or accident, but did taught me a valuable lessons....hopefully it will teach you something as well....I do wish that you don't encounter any of this situation.....ever
During my training I got my share of 'oops' moment......and today I would share that with you and the action I took. We all know what needs to be done as taught in our training, but I wanted to share my thoughts about it. Though no one of them resulted in any incident or accident, but did taught me a valuable lessons....hopefully it will teach you something as well....I do wish that you don't encounter any of this situation.....ever
- Carburetor ice (carb ice) -- It happened in the chilly month of December, I was flying with my instructor and we were going to KKIC from KRHV for a cross country tour in C152 (we were in touch with NORCAL). I was working on my private. The weather in CA during that month is cold (though not as cold as east coast but its cold). We were cruising at 6500 MSL with 2200rpm. The outside temperature was around 1 degree Celsius. Around Salinas suddenly we noticed a drop in RPM by about 200 rpm i.e. to 2000 rpm. I felt & heard it immediately, however it stabilized at 2000rpm. Since till this point I had just read about carb ice and never actually encountered it. I told my instructor who was busy in his mobile. And he immediately suggested to put full throttle and mixture & also turn on the carb heat. Then while carb heat did its job he said climb higher, just in case we loose engine, the cushion of altitude will give us some chance to plan. I did question him that since climbing higher meaning lower temp and increasing the carb ice issue. But he said its a trade off...since the carb heat is doing its job, you expect to get some relief but in case it doesn't then you have the luxury of altitude to plan your descent. Other action we took was instead of proceeding ahead we started circling above salinas just in case we need to land. Norcal noticed that and gave us a call. We informed them of the situation and told them that so far we are taking precautionary steps. Slowly the rpm started climbing up & returned normal and we decided not to proceed ahead as we knew that temperature over KIC was even low, so chances are still there. anyway long story short, we informed norcal about our decision to head back. Kept the carb heat partially on for a while and returned safely. Lessons learned: Anticipate carb ice in cold conditions. Keep an eye & ear on the engine and take action immediately by putting full throttle, mixture and carb heat. After that try to gain altitude if possible. Couple of days later I went solo and returned without any issues...Happy flying....
- Son of a gun, its a plane -- Well this was exactly what my instructor said when some daredevil aerobatic aircraft zoomed passed us. This happened when we were practicing steep turn in a C152 before my checkride near KCVH - Hollister. I always had issues with steep turn but on this occasion I was doing good. In between half 3/4 th of the turn on left side I suddenly see an aircraft zooming past from right to left by about 100ft or less. My instructor also saw it and said "son of a gun, its a plane" Immediately I stopped the steep turn and gently pointed my nose down to descend. However we could not catch any glimpse of the tail number or type of aircraft but my instructor thought it appeared as an aerobatic aircraft. Jeez, that was scary......anyway we were done and my instructor was happy with whatever steep turn I had done we returned. Lessons learned: Well scanning before performing any maneuvers is very important. However if a daredevil is hell bent, I don't think you can do much more than just swear. have a safe flight......
- Low voltage in Battery -- This happened in the month of June when I was flying with my instructor in C172 for instrument rating. Our flight was take off from KRHV, make VOR-A approach to Oakdale, GPS approach into Tracy and then ILS into livermore. The approach to Oakdale was successful and I landed. Immediately put full throttle, flaps up and started our takeoff. However as soon as were airborne, I noticed the electrical red light coming up on the low voltage indicator with battery showing towards a -ve side. This was an indication of low battery voltage or in other words the battery is not charging or discharging. Since our engine was running fine and as the alternator, it was okay. The idea was that after takeoff we will follow the missed approach route from oakdale and then contact norcal and ask them to vector us for GPS tracy. Once I informed my instructor, he suggested that lets troubleshoot that problem before we decide to make another approach. We continued to circle the fields next to oakdale to troubleshoot. Initially switch on/off the battery to see if that helps. No it didn't. Then we took the bold move of switching off both alternator and battery (which means the radios will be off). But that also didn't help. At this point we decided to return back to Reid hill view without making further approaches and get it checked. We informed Norcal about our intention and explained the problem. They asked if we needed help and we politely declined. Since engine was running and as the instruments it was okay. On the way back, my instructor pulled out the POH and started looking at emergency procedures. Well it pretty much had the same process of turning on/off. While on the way we decided to conserve the battery. So we informed Norcal that we will go radio blind i.e. will switch off radio and other non essential equipment like GPS (as we knew the valley well to navigate) till we are close to the airport. Norcal suggested that its fine and they will let reid hill know about our situation. And then there was silence for about 30 minutes or so. Till we came close to the mission peak mountain. At that point we switched on the radio and informed norcal. The low voltage was still on. Contacted KRHV, since they knew about the situation, they asked if we need help. We said no and requested landing. Landing was smooth, no incident in putting the flaps down. Thanked KRHV for the help and went straight to the hanger and squawed it. Lessons learned: Keep scanning your instruments for any error. If I had been alone maybe I would have landed in nearby airport and requested help. Since I had my instructor along with me, it was good and I could use his help to troubleshoot.
