CaseTractor

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.

JohnBurke

You've got something to contribute, bright spark? Or was that it?

Pretty damn hard to make a forced landing in the dark, and given a single generator with little backup, and generally a single vacuum system and increasingly mostly electric instruments that depend on that one electrical system, limited performance, generally minimal capability, if any in ice or weather, no radar, etc, one might consider the ramifications.

Night air has lift. It hides obstacles which become a factor when say, attempting a landing on an unlit runway with no cockpit lights, no radio, and no ground lighting. Or say, making a forced landing.

Have you not ever made one before?

sherpster

Lot of experts on here, I was just sharing a phrase Ive heard said on many a dark night. Obviously night air has lift, just a phrase to illuminate the dangers of night flying. Pun intended.

TiredSoul

Here’s my last contribution:
It was a pretty stupid attempt.

CBreezy

Lots of towers have their number listed. You could call them directly. Also, many RCOs have a number to call for clearances. You could call that number too. Center can clear you to land at any airport with coordination from their tower.

I had to use it once many years ago as a flight instructor when my radios didn't work. Called the tower, they cleared me to land.

JamesNoBrakes

It's a good idea to have the number for the FAA Regional Operations Center (ROC) for the area you fly in, heck, one ROC could connect you to another most likely. They can connect you quickly to anything FAA, such as a control tower, approach, etc. We try to give this information out as much as possible to airmen, printed up on little business cards. It's definitely not meant to be some internal-only thing.

UAL T38 Phlyer

1-800-WX BRIEF.

Tell the FSS your predicament, and ask for the number for the airport you want to land at.

Comforteagle76

I’m pretty sure the night air thing was a joke, bright spark...lol