Roadblocks in the Sky Part 2

Looking for those silver linings.

With the Arrow down for maintenance for the umpteenth time, I was starting to get anxious. Monday, the day before my stage check, I had done a practice flight and I really hadn’t impressed myself. Now I had lost another much-needed chance to practice, and I had no idea if the plane would be back in service early enough to get in one last flight before the checkride. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to be close.

I left the airport and went home to do some more reading for the oral. My hard work of studying ahead for my EMT class had paid off, so I didn’t have to spend the afternoon slogging through medical reading. I still had to go to class though. I’ve been quite blessed to be able to take EMT training this semester for very little expense, but the drawback for me has been two “late” nights a week (I consider going to be after 10:00 p.m. to be late for me). I was not looking forward to another late night, especially this week, and especially since my sister had been sneezing and hacking away at home with a full-blown cold. I tend to get sick much easier if I don’t get to bed early enough, and of course that’s just what I needed this week.

Somehow, though, I had a sense that God was going to work something special out. I wasn’t disappointed. Arriving at class, I joined the shuffle of students as we got together in the classroom to get our group assignments for the evening. Rob the instructor gave the order of events. “Alright guys, we’ve got four stations to rotate through like usual, but we’re going to make them quick rotations tonight. We’ll do a half hour at each station, so if you’re moving quickly, we’ll get out of here early tonight.” A collective cheer went up, and I smiled. Lord, You have a plan.

The second best thing to flying a real airplane.

Wednesday I did my best to concentrate on reading the Federal Aviation Regulations and getting my flight plan in order, but I kept having the nagging thought of What if the plane isn’t ready until tomorrow? I finally came to the conclusion that if I couldn’t practice today, I definitely didn’t want to get my practice in tomorrow with the examiner in the right seat. I would have to be able to fly today, otherwise it would be best to postpone.

Sometime after lunch I felt my pocket vibrate. I pulled out my phone and saw my instructor’s name on the screen. “Hello, Beau?”

“Hi Michael. Just wanted to let you know the part’s in and we’re getting ready to pull the plane out of the hangar.” My pulse quickened. “That means I’m coming out there to fly it. See you in a few minutes!”

A look of blithe, short-lived optimism as I head out.

This was what I had been waiting for. The last piece to fall into place—and I was sincerely hoping it wouldn’t fall right back out, perhaps in the form of another component on the plane failing. I grabbed my flight bag and headed out the door.

The baby blue-colored plane was waiting for me as it sat on the ramp in the afternoon sun. Everything about the exterior appeared to check out, so I climbed in to get the machine going and see how it was working. Following a normal takeoff, the gear retracted, all the appropriate lights extinguished and we were on our way.

First off I picked up a heading to simulate flying my cross-country assignment to Mammoth. After a few minutes of following the heading and identifying checkpoints along the way it was time to practice diverting to another airport. I picked Placerville and quickly plotted a new course and estimated the ETA. With the new numbers I turned to the airport and got ready to do some pattern work.

It's considered rude when this gauge waves at you.

On climbout after the first touch-and-go I raised the landing gear and then began hearing some high pitching whining in my headphones. I checked the electric loadmeter. The needle was pulsating, indicating something was using electrical current. Probably the landing gear motor cycling for some reason. I lowered and raised the gear again and the noise disappeared. Hmmm, not sure if I like that.

I flew several more patterns at Placerville, with intermittent repeats of the oscillating whine in my headset, before I headed to Mather airport in Sacramento to do some landings there. Coming up on a 2-mile final for runway 22R, I got my clearance from the tower and prepared the plane for landing. I grasped the landing gear handle and selected the down position. Nothing. No familiar hum of the gear motor with the usual bumping sensations of the wheels dropping down.The landing gear was not extending. I must say that was a unique feeling for me as a pilot, to expect a very necessary mechanical operation to occur, and to have it fail right to perform right before my very eyes.

I wasn’t the least bit frightened however. Most airplanes have a backup system for extending the landing gear, and in the case of the Piper Arrow, the wheels aren’t even locked up in the retracted position—they’re just held up by hydraulic pressure. Simply pulling the pump circuit breaker and pushing a lever to dump the pressure lets the gear fall right out.

Of course I was interested in doing a little bit of troubleshooting to try and get the system working again, so after using the backup system I reset the circuit breaker and tried. The hum of the landing gear mechanism sounded and I felt the vibration of the wheels swinging back up into place. Alright, let’s lower them again. Normal operation again. Very strange. The apprehension was building again in my mind. No, the plane wasn’t dangerous; but I was starting to doubt whether the plane itself could pass the checkride.

Getting back on the ground at Auburn I pulled out my phone and gave Beau a call. He had an answer for each of my concerns. “Are you sure you got the landing gear handle all the way in the detent? I didn’t get it in once and I thought the gear system had failed.” Well, I wasn’t quite sure. I guess I didn’t try it twice before using the backup system. And as far as the gear pump cycling repeatedly, well just recycle the gear if that happens. I shrugged as I hung up the call. Not much left we can do. Tomorrow is showtime!

The old chart joke: what is that grey line? Yes, Rick asked me.

Thursday morning was another beautiful California fall day. I had been up well before sunrise, getting in my morning run, devotions, breakfast, and obtaining my weather briefing. Rick was going to meet me at 0800 at Mach 5. I collected my things and myself, took one last look at my to-do list to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything, and then stepped out the door. This was it.

Bob was coming in from the hangar when he saw me enter the Mach 5 office. Rick was at the counter making himself a cup of coffee. “Aha—your victim is here!” Bob joked. “No, not victim. This is my partner,” Rick corrected him. I liked the sound of that better.

Beau popped in to say hi and then we were left by ourselves in one of the empty classrooms. Rick began with the requisite preliminaries. “As you know, there are three possible outcomes to a checkride: 1—you pass; 2—you get a letter of disapproval; 3—you get a letter of discontinuance. The letter of discontinuance is kind of like a ‘timeout’. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed, it just means that for some reason—maybe the plane breaks—you had to stop the test and you will continue it later. Sound good?” I nodded. “Ok then,” Rick said, looking at the clock. “Let’s say that the exam has officially started now.”

The next two hours didn’t feel like two hours. The time went by quickly as Rick checked me off on the different topics in the oral one by one. My confidence levels were ready to go through the roof by the time we were finishing the oral exam. Then Beau poked his head in. “Did they tell you?” he said with an uncomfortable look on his face.

Always a first for everything - including getting one of these

Oh no, tell us what? “Another instructor and student were out flying the Arrow and the landing gear pump started cycling again. Well it cycled so much that it overloaded the electrical system and blew the circuit breaker, so they had to come back.” It was an unreal feeling, to be listening to this latest piece of news. “Bob is calling around right now to find a replacement power pack, but it'll take a few days to get it.” Not again. Rick started rummaging in his duffel case, as I sat there in quiet incredulity. He pulled out a form and began filling it out. The letters at the top of the piece of paper spelled out that third possible outcome. Letter of Discontinuance.