After a great weekend at Fredericksberg, TX (T-82) Hangar Hotel, my bride and I flew to Hondo (HDO) for some cheap fuel and the start of our last leg home (BYY). 5 miles out and climbing I got a whiff of something hot & asked Jean: ?Do you smell something?? she said ?yes.? A quick 180 back to HDO. After looking and sniffing till our snuffers were worn out, finding nothing we decided that we must have flown over some factory or something on the ground causing the hot smell. OK off we go again. Around the same place as the first time, the odor returned. I scanned the engine page (full glass panel GRT (don?t need no stinking round gauges)) everything looked good Yep, must be something on the ground. We were cruising 7500ft 150 kts just to the south of San Antonio when the proverbial S? hit the fan. My panel went black. Jean asks ?What are we going to do?? My immediate response (fly this airplane). There were three things still working happily in the plane, 0-320 purring like a kitten, 496 fat and happy, and a compass pointing our way. First priority: turn off all electrical (which was already not working), second explain to my bride what we were going to do, talking loudly because our ear muffs were really EAR MUFFS no powered voice any more. Conversation went something like this: Mom we can go back to HDO and be 200nm from home with a broken plane or we can fly home (BYY) and fix it there. Remember we built our plane with backups, Look at the 496 it doesn?t care if the plane doesn?t have power, if that fails the compass was made by the Lord it will always work. The engine has two mags for its own power.
Her Response: ?OK! Let?s go home.? I must have sounded cool, calm, and collected which doesn?t explain the button holes in my seat.
Somewhere on our way home I explained that we were going to land faster than normal with no flaps, no altitude and no air speed. We would be going across the runway to downwind and I needed extra help looking for other aircraft in pattern.
After using all the runway to land, here?s what I found: Odyssey battery 9.8 volts after trying to charge it. Alternator Van?s 60 amp. dead.
After running different scenarios through my head I still don?t know what died first.
My panel is going to have two round holes in it (grin) an altimeter and an air speed. Best of all my bride still wants to go flying with me.
G.P.
RV-9
Her Response: ?OK! Let?s go home.? I must have sounded cool, calm, and collected which doesn?t explain the button holes in my seat.
Somewhere on our way home I explained that we were going to land faster than normal with no flaps, no altitude and no air speed. We would be going across the runway to downwind and I needed extra help looking for other aircraft in pattern.
After using all the runway to land, here?s what I found: Odyssey battery 9.8 volts after trying to charge it. Alternator Van?s 60 amp. dead.
After running different scenarios through my head I still don?t know what died first.
My panel is going to have two round holes in it (grin) an altimeter and an air speed. Best of all my bride still wants to go flying with me.
G.P.
RV-9