Radio trouble? been there as well!
Leaving Lubbock, Texas, in a rented Cessna with a nervous passenger and an Instrument Rating, I felt relatively calm at the beginning of our return trip to St. Petersburg, Florida. As I would be flying IFR with flight following, all I had to do was to do what ATC told me to do!
Right. Except that after takeoff, and ascending into smooth IFR, everything went exceptionally quiet. Under Houston enroute control, usually they do communicate with other aircraft from time to time. After a silent five minutes or so, I got nervous, and made a call. "Houston, Cessna 43788". No reply. Tried again, still no joy. SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH THE RADIO!
This is a very stimulating experience for a fairly inexperienced Instrument Rated Pilot. All at once, you are exposed! All that training, what to do in case of radio failure, you are scrabbling around in your brain, trying to remember it. O yes. First of all, FLY THE PLAN! You filed a flight plan, now you are stuck with it and everyone else will have to get out of your way.....
That is, if you can remember what numbers to put in on the transponder.....don't want to do that wrong or they will think you have been hijacked....
Meanwhile, trying not to upset my nervous passenger, I am twiddling various knobs on the radio, without effect, and then I checked whether the headset was plugged in properly.....THAT WAS THE PROBLEM! It had come loose, no telling how far back, how many messages Houston had been trying to send me.
So I radioed Houston. "Houston, Cessna 43788". They came back loud, calm and clear. Pass your message. "Houston, Cessna 43788 was off radio for a while, did I miss anything?"
"No, ma'am, we never missed you at all. Maintain 7,000 feet and continue, have a nice day!"
Not the end of our adventures on that day, but how many ways of getting into trouble can be experienced on a single trip? Lots! Stay calm and fly your plan!
Last edited by mary meagher; 25th Feb 2013 at 08:59.