R22 Total Electrical Failure (Anybody else see this ever?)
Hi there everybody; this is my very first post. Some background:
I am a CFII who has taken a check-ride in a Schweizer Cbi, C, CB, R22, and R44. I have about 400 hrs total time, 50 in each Robinson, but most time in the Cbi. Graduated a NESCAC college with an Economics degree (useless in this Economy and furthermore, everybody I know working at JPMorgan this or Goldman Sachs that are pretty miserable.)
My flight school did hire me, NEHA (great school), but unfortunately there isn't enough work for me to make a living so I was driving a Taxi when my old mentor called me and asked me if I wanted to do this epic ferry flight.
I ferried an R22 HP from a seller in Rochester, NY to Long Beach, CA. I flew solo until Kansas City, MO, where I picked up a private pilot going for his commercial license. It would have taken twice as long without the Garmin 796, and I can't say enough about that unit, but let's talk about that later.
The failure:
Everything was working beautifully until thunderstorms in texas delayed a departure. As I was paying for fuel, the desk was slow, so my student was sitting in the helicopter with the strobe on and the Garmin sucking power from the 12V outlet. When we started, after switching on the alternator, the ammeter showed well into the positive, as would be expected from a battery that was a little discharged. Everything normal, let's go.
As we flew, the Ammeter started to return to its usual, neutral position, as expected, as the battery charged up.
The problem is that when it returned to its usual position, and the alternator light came on. When I cycled the alternator, the ammeter dipped into the negative, and then back to neutral when I flipped it back on.
Okay, so the alternator is doing its job, as in, it's creating juice for the battery, right?
I decide to unplug the Garmin and let it run on its own battery for awhile to be gentle to the aircraft battery while it charged. The alternator light stayed on but--because I witnessed the ammeter deflect left, and then back to neutral when I cycled the alternator--I ignored the light, being confident that the alternator was in fact working.
This is the part where I admit my mistake. Never ignore a warning light.
As we were flying through the desert in New Mexico, I noticed suddenly that the rotor and engine tachs where at the very top, indicating RPM too high. I was annoyed that I didn't notice sooner. There was no change in sound; that was why it took me so long, I figured out later. So I think [governor malfunction].
I rolled off throttle, over-riding the governor back to the top of the green, but the noise sounded low, and the low RPM horn went off, so I immediately rolled back up and thought "I will trust the low RPM horn and my gut feeling in regards to the sound of the RPM. Better to overspeed a rotor system than stall it." So now I'm thinking [tachometer malfunction]
I put it down in the middle of the desert (we are ETE 5 minutes to our next leg, a tiny airport). I roll the throttle all the way into detent thinking that, perhaps if I roll all the way off, then back up, it might straighten the tachs out. As we're sitting there, everything dies. So now I'm thinking [battery is dead and I am an asshole for thinking I knew better than the alternator warning light]
We don't have food, water, cell service, or power to call for help on the radio, and I am desperately trying to do a great job on my first big job, so that they can recommend me, or perhaps even hire me.
I make the decision to continue flying for 5 minutes to the airport. Using the sound as my new tachometers, I lift off and go to the next airport. Nervous about stalling the rotor, I keep it on the high side. The buyer of the aircraft later told me that overspeeds usually only cause damage when people severely screw up an autorotation. He's happy. The aircraft in the middle of the desert in a town that doesn't even have taxi service or a place to rent a car would have been a logistical nightmare. He later flew out and swapped out the voltage regulator, alternator, and aircraft battery. Everything worked fine. We got an identical battery at a hardware store to get it to the next airport. Identical is a strong word, and I still need to look up if...hypothetically..., somebody put in a tractor-trailer battery of the same size to get to an airport with mechanics.
We're thinking it's the voltage regulator, as the tachs jumped around for one moment causing me to take controls from the student on the last leg from an airport with no mechanics to an airport WITH mechanics. Today mechanics will bring out a multi-meter and troubleshoot.
Anybody else experience anything like this? Anybody want to critique the decisions I made? Despite being a CFII, I humbly call myself new to flying. Maybe in ten years I'll stop saying "I'm new to this."
Thanks!
-Colin
colincolby DOT com for my resume. I am willing to move anywhere world-wide immediately to be a full time pilot or instructor. If anybody knows anybody out there looking, I'd appreciate a referral.