New Plane - Surprise Problem Forces Abort Back To Base - Check Yo Checklists

Thanks to all the comments from experienced pilots and instructors, a number of you are quite rightfully warning of 'GetThereItis' after I decided to fly home, however there's a number of things that make the decision safer than implied - things I didn't mention in the video (I should have asked some of you guys first). Firstly, the field we stopped at was 8miles from home, this was a 5 minute flight. There's a small cluster of airfields near Gnoss field - Petaluma, Sonoma Skypark, Schelville - all very close together. The problem first announced itself while we were getting setup to land at Skypark, at the time I decided to continue with the plan to land rather than trying to diagnose it in the air, once on the ground we did some checks and decided the aircraft was operating correctly but only on battery power. We estimated base on the 16Ah battery we had at least half an hour of power left. We did decide that if the fuel pump wouldn't work for takeoff we'd abort at the field, since that's required for takeoff checklist. While on the ground we asked ourselves would the flight be legal. While it had power the aircraft was still compliant with FAR 91.205 and the POH had a minimum equipment list which did not specify a working power source. The airspace was just outside the Mode-C veil for SFO, meaning a transponder & ADS-B out wasn't required. Finally, we looked over at alternate resources that would be available in the event the power went out, the center GPS unit includes an internal backup battery and it could display ground speed, altitude and heading. And at low altitude my phone was working and able to display ADS-B traffic, so we'd still be able to get traffic alerts.

NGL if I was an air traffic controller and heard Scott Manley on the radio it would kinda wierd me out at first. And once I got over that I'd have to resist the continual urge to tell him to "Fly Safe".

Glad you are safe Scott. But please remember “it is better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground.”

"you are doing math???" the instructor getting manley'd cracked me up hahaha

You had the benefit that I did over four decades ago - having an instructor along when you had your first "something is wrong". In my case I was working on my instrument rating and flying from El Monte to Santa Monica (in the Los Angeles area). It was solid IFR, and the clearance was essentially follow V186 westbound until intercepting the ILS at Santa Monica. Of course ATC Burbank approach was vectoring around the corner. That was fine until we had a total voice radio failure. Once we really determined that neither radio was working, we continued to follow our clearance, dialed up 7700 for a minute then 7600. We made blind transmissions of status in case transmit was working (it wasn't). When we got close to Santa Monica, the runway appeared out of the clouds, and very shortly a bright green light from the tower - DAMN that light looked good! A few years later I had another far more scary in flight emergency - but it turned out OK. Glad it worked OK for you.

I always say "Once you take off, you will land, it's all a matter of style (and whether or not you can reuse the equipment)"

Love your channel Scott! I'm also a pilot - low hours as well - I want to recommend a tip that will help your experience, enjoyment and performance as a pilot... loosen your grip on the stick. fly with your fingers and your wrists. Especially in a light sport. You'll then experience a 'think and it happens' control input and wont over input your control and will feel the bird a lot better. Hope this helps. Love your energy and passion! Cheers bud.

Hi Scott, I maintain a bunch of aircraft for a flight club here in the Bay Area, I know you are catching a lot of flak in the comments for flying with a mechanical failure but I agree with their sentiment. I would for sure tell one of our members not to fly with an alternator failure. You just never know if it is a simple issue like brushes going bad or something bigger like a broken terminal coming off the battery side. It needs to be looked over before making a ferry flight. We all make mistakes, this is just my two cents

Glad you got back safe Scott. Still perhaps it would have been wiser to put off the return flight, park it and take a cab home until you figured out the issue. The risk of flying without comms or surveillance equipment, let alone instruments, even such a short familiar hop, would have been enough to dissuade me in the high-traffic area I fly in. Always better to err on the side of caution. From a fellow private pilot.

I have to tend to agree with everyone else here, Scott. If I notice that the alternator is suddenly not charging the battery, I'm leaving it on the ground, no matter how short of a flight I have back home. Anywho, I'm just glad the reason for your problem was as simple as an erroneous checklist!

In aviation, losing power is not losing electrical power. Any pilot that says he’s losing power he’ll mean that his losing engine power.

That’s the most Lanceair looking non-Lanceair I’ve ever seen…

I had something very similar on a motorbike. It had two settings for the headlight, low and high. With the headlight on low the battery would gradually run down, but it would charge up with some daytime riding with the headlight off. But ... then I discovered that the battery did NOT run down with the headlight on high. Duh!!?? And it took reference to the wiring diagram to discover that the headlight switch didn't only switch the bulb, but also in the high setting it switched in an additional winding in the generator so generated more power .... not mentioned anywhere in the words in the manual.

Geez, hard to avoid that unlabeled, undocumented trap. Although I'm surprised you weren't worried about a possible electrical fire, that's always a big concern for me when an electrical system is showing unexplained abnormal behavior.

I’ve trained a lot of pilots on electronic pfds. I’m super excited to see you flying, but I see you making a mistake that a lot of others make. Be sure to keep your head in a swivel. Your instructor did a good job of looking out for traffic, while your head was locked into the display. This may have been intentional, but be careful not to get focused inside too much. I’ve lost at least one friend to a midair. I love your plane. Stay safe!!

You might want to check your documentation. The POH available on the internet has "Starter key INST. " and "Starter key Hold START, after engine started release to CHARGE " in the engine starting checklist. Also, it's hard to see what it is, but one of the lamps above the PFD might be the "CHARGE" warning lamp, trying to alert you that something's not working. It also seems that the instructor was not familiar with this specific type of plane, otherwise he would have caught the mistake. Apart from that, starting a flight with the real possibility of losing all instrumentation is one of the decisions that would have people ask "how stupid can you be" after an accident. You were lucky that nothing happened, but it was not a smart decision. But I'm sure you can learn a lot from this flight.

Should brief no-flaps landing if you're not sure you're gonna have an airspeed indicator. Keep flying safe, Scott

I'm going to voice a caution here, sounds like you took a problem into the air from the safety of ground. Because you wanted it at your home base. Kinda sounds like getthereitis. Could it have been safer to park up, take some time, investigate, and if unsolved at least charge the battery externally to 100% for the short flight to minimise risk? Low hours, ekectrical problem, and flap speed/slippy plane probably meets Mike Pateys '3 issues no-go' threshold?

Feels like the key positions not being labeled should have been something you fixed immediately. Sorta feels mandatory. Live and learn!

You got a bad case of "get-there-itis" on this flight. You prioritised getting to your destination over safety. If you had lost electricals (and therefore all flight instruments) during your return flight - especially in an aircraft you're still getting used to - you could have ended up in a deadly situation real fast. Fly safe, Scott. Even if that means that you don't fly that day!