A Friends First Flight - My First Actual Issue

Since I've been attending Lewis University I have met many different kinds of people from all walks of life. One of these people is Thomas Rickhoff, a chemistry major and someone who knows the names and missions of every space shuttle ever launched. Since Tom found out I was a student pilot a few years back, he has been begging me to take him flying the moment I became a private pilot. Well, unfortunately, I was not able to take him flying immediately after getting my ticket punched but one day last month I was able to set up a flight block to finally take him on his first small airplane ride.

There are two funny/interesting to note about this particular event. The first is that Tom has anxiety issues that he takes medication for. Those reading this can rest assured that I have Tom's permission to talk about that on here. And truly, this is not a knock on Tom because we all have issues, but Tom's anxiety is persistent enough that if he thinks about not taking his anxiety medication, he has a panic attack and take his anxiety medication. Now why is this funny/interesting to note? Well, after we departed the pattern I took Tom over to our south practice area and demonstrated some maneuvers that private pilots train for on a regular basis. Slow flight, stalls, steep turns, s-turns, a turn around a point, and even an engine out. After that I offered to do what I usually do when I take a new person flying and that is to fly over there house (if they live in the area) so they can see it from the air. Most people love this for the pictures or the story. Well on the way over to take this picture, and the second thing to note about this very 'special' flight, was that my alternator fails and my annunciator begins to scream "Low Volts" at me.

Below are five videos that Tom took of the flight. I actually didn't know he was recording; I only thought that he was taking pictures until I saw that he put them on YouTube. The FAA & NTSB should encourage such a thing, though, because if we were involved in any sort of accident they would know exactly what happened. Note: The video does not have the best angles but he recorded every stage, so you should be able to formulate a good idea of what's happening.

Going Through the Start-up Checklist

Take-off from Lewis University Airport

Explaining/Demonstrating Engine-out Procedures

Popping Buses/Troubleshooting Low Volts Warning

Landing Back at Lewis University Airport

I do wish to add something to conclude this post. Tom actually gave me the best compliment I've ever received in terms of my ability to fly. When the annunciator started displaying the Low Volts warning, I didn't want to say anything to Tom because I'm not sure if he realized it (despite the warning being both on the screen and audible through our headphones). When he heard the woman's voice stating our issue, he turned to me and asked if "this was an in flight emergency". I responded by telling him that it was an urgent matter that prohibits us from continuing our flight and that we would have to return to the airport immediately but it was in no way a danger to the flight as our engines would keep running even without electrical power. As I began to explain to him why the two magnetos on the airplane would keep the engine running, he cuts me off and says: "Don't worry, I trust you and I know you're going to get us home safely". Pretty meaningful coming from someone who has severe panic attacks. So thanks for both the video and the vote of confidence, Tom!

"The first flight was relatively uneventful. Just one emergency, and another minor problem. A canopy-unsafe light illuminated at Mach 1.2 on the way t o1.5 at 50,000 feet, and later, during a fly-by requested by Johnson, fuel siphoning occurred. Not bad, as initial test flights go." - Robert Gilliland, SR-71 Test Pilot