Radio Failure

[Matthew McColl]

Hi all,

I was flying the good ol' Mooney from Palomar to Hawthorne, to get used to it's IFR perks.
It was all going well until, about 20 miles from Seal Beach, I had a lost Comms, which was two-way.
I have seen that the procedure for IFR is A-V-E-F; Assigned route (I had none), Vectors (No, Sir), Expected (Wasn't told), and - finally- Filed. Now, as the SANN 7 Tec route files the Localiser approach for Hawthorne. I didn't deem it necessary to hold as I was cleared for my whole route when I got IFR clearance. So I squawked 7600 after trying 5 times to get radio contact with no luck. I'm still in the blue as to what has happened to my comms at this point, so I shot the approach and got it down in 1 piece (with no less than a greaser ).

So, all I really wanted is:
1. What happened to my radios, there was no warranty .
2. Did I do the right thing by shooting the approach as filed, and what would you have done differently?

Thanks, Matthew.

[Kyle.Sanders]

When you lost comms, were you in VMC and was there a nearby airport that was VMC? If so (to both), I would have squawked 7600 and diverted to the nearest VMC airport.

If IMC- sounds to me like you did it right. Even if not flying a TEC or mandatory route, I like filing a popular IAF for the destination airport as the last waypoint (especially when /A), as this allows easy transition into an approach if I am to loose comms.

Great video on the subject https://youtu.be/r4ME38J7n7k

[Keith Smith]

If it's Xplane and its the Carenado Mooney, my recollection is that there was an oversight in the creation of that panel. As a result, it's missing a handy dandy feature call an "alternator"

As a result, your battery is dying. The PE plugin monitors bus voltage and if it drops below a certain threshold, the radio cuts out as a result. It's a feature.

Check your voltage through data input&output, see if you're holding a charge once the engine is running.

[Matthew McColl]

This is embarrassing... This guy forgot to switch the alternator on, then. Oops.
Oh well, lesson learnt. Apart from cause the problem in the first place, did I do anything wrong in terms of how I executed the rest of the flight.
Also, there were no VMC airports on the vicinity.

[Keith Smith]

You implied there was no 'assigned' route. If you were operating on an IFR clearance, then you did have an assigned route. Prior to the failure, if the approach controller had said to "expect Localizer runway 25 approach," then you have an "expected" item to add to the list which kicks in at SLI (where the assigned routing ended).

You ended up doing the right thing, but it sounds like it was a result of your _filed_ route, which is lowest on the priority list. Thankfully, what you filed for and what you were cleared for were effectively the same at this point, so it covered up the issue.

[Matthew McColl]

Okie Dokie,
I wasn't given an expected so I went off of what I had filed, or the assigned.
Had I not filed the approach and not been given one to expect, considering I was in IMC, would I have held at the IAF to try to figure out the problem?

[Keith Smith]

Oh I misunderstood, you were talking about the approach to fly rather than the route leading up to SLI, I apologize. There is no way to file for a specific approach.

Once you arrive at the IAF or feeder for any approach that you want to fly, you fly the approach. You would not hold at the IAF waiting for things to get better.

Keep in mind, when you're nordo, ATC is giving you a wide berth...nobody is going to be shooting any approaches at HHR once you're approaching SLI. If you suddenly held at SLI, it would only tie up the airspace for a longer period of time, wouldn't help you as a pilot, and wouldn't get you on the ground. Get to the IAF and shoot an approach....any approach (unless you've been told to expect a specific instrument approach in which case you'd do that one, unless you had a tremendous reason for not being able to fly said approach and needed to do another one).

[Matthew McColl]

Ok, So the 'HHR RY25 LOC' part of the SANN7 TEC ROUTE isn't actually filing the approach?

[Kyle.Sanders]

I'm looking on the NFDC site and don't see what you mean. The route is OCN V23 SLI SLI340 WELLZ

[Shawn Goldsworthy]

I'm looking on the NFDC site and don't see what you mean. The route is OCN V23 SLI SLI340 WELLZ

The routing from the actual A/FD is "OCN V23 SLI SLI340R WELLZ HHR RY25 LOC ". myflightroute.com agrees - which is where most people are getting their TEC route info from.

The fact that the HHR RY 25 LOC is in the routing, is in no way an approach clearance. It's just a part of the route. After WELLZ, track the LOC to the airport. Unless you hear "cleared localizer runway 25 approach", you can't descend on the approach. In the event of lost comms though, I would absolutely fly the approach to the runway from SLI, even if "HHR RY 25 LOC" wasn't part of the route.