Originally Posted by
Blackhawk
If you have a cell phone and reception, don't call your girlfriend. Call 911 and they will patch you through to ATC. Get vectored for a towered airport and cleared into the airspace to land.
Landing at night without cockpit lights? Yeah, shouldn't be a big deal. Landing without runway lights? Mmm... depending on the illumination (I have not checked on the night of the crash), can be difficult and probably warrants a "Pan Pan" emergency. I've flown in some places such as the Southwest US where, on moonless nights, you meet the FAA definition of IMC even if it's CAVU.
Finally, NVG flying and night unaided are two different animals.
Good input! I've been thinking about how to quickly and accurately get in touch with ATC from a cell phone while airborne. I don't have any better ideas, but how well would this work? Does anyone have any first hand experience to the feasibility?
Can a 911 dispatcher really "connect" you to any ATC facility you desire? Would they even be familiar enough to know how to search this?
At some altitude, say 3500 feet or so, what happens when you dial 911? What happens when you traverse one cell tower to another? I guess I just don't have enough faith in the training of emergency services to handle this unless they were GA familiar.
Another thought, call the fight service or clearance delivery numbers starting with 1-800-WBRIEF. They could at least possibly get you a direct line to a center's supervisory desk and go from there.
Another point to consider, as important as a backup handheld, if one is not available, a quality connection between your aviation headset and cell phone could be crucial. Test this capability to give you the peace of mind it works in a potential emergency. Is there a way it can work with the interphone off? ie battery in the headset?
Last point to consider, if IFR, some places have Surveillance approaches, some even have Precision Surveillance approaches that can get you to 200 and 1/2. This could be done via cell if truly NORDO and have a transponder. Could this work with electrical failure and "primary" only radar target?
If the alternator fails or belt breaks, shut down the master and save the battery for the home stretch. And then only turn on what's most necessary in the last possible minutes they are needed. A battery advertises, 45 min of juice, realistically probably half that at best.
I'm not second guessing anything, but want to add to the constructive conversation to help others should they be faced with an electrical failure emergency in difficult conditions.