The other one on board was a very experienced pilot who featured in a couple of videos of The Flying Reporter. Here for example:
So yes, two very experienced pilots. But we all know that experience doesn’t really correlate with accident rates, so it is actually not a very relevant point.
boscomantico wrote:
But we all know that experience doesn’t really correlate with accident rates, so it is actually not a very relevant point.
True, but something doesn’t quite stack up here. Unless they had the mother of all aircraft batteries installed, there’s no way they could have made it across Spain w/o alternator. Of course it’s entirely possible that they reset it, it worked and then conked out again at the worst possible moment.
What exactly is an “alternator reset”?
Peter wrote:
What exactly is an “alternator reset”?
Cycle it to get it back online.
I meant what does it actually do?
I am also lost with the alternator reset.
It removes power from your regulator and then reinstates it hopefully getting the alternator back online.
I think this is a term more accurately used on large aircraft.
What is there not to know in this process?
I test it before every flight…
BTW I have no clue what , if anything this alternator thing has to do with the accident.
I have kind of designed my flying so I do not depend gravely on my alternator. My main AI has 30 mins self-contained backup battery, my backup AI is vacuum (despite advise from most everyone to eliminate vacuum from the aircraft) and I have independent nav on my ipad apps (GArmin Pilot and SkyDemon) for three hours. I have backup mechanical engine instruments and a backup portable COM radio with a connection to my COM1 antenna.
THis PA-28 does not look so different…if they had a vacuum AI (so it looks) and some independent GPS navigation, then the alternator loss, by itself and if it did happen, did not have to mean loss of control or awareness…something else must have happened. Surely they did not cross all of Spain radio-less? Spain’s investigation committe has not published their brief description yet. When they do, it may contain a reference to loss-of-comm if it did happen.
Cycling the Alt side of the master switch resets the various over/undervoltage sensors, and thus restores the field current. Certainly works on our club C210 where the alternator drops offline if your idle RPM get too low. I’m not an electronics / electronics guru, so @Peter should actually know that much better than I ever will ;-))
Antonio wrote:
I test it before every flight…
So do I.
