Narrative:

I began my first cross country solo flight as a student pilot the morning of apr/thu/98, with slightly less than ideal WX conditions, but nothing that should cause trouble. The plan was to fly VFR in the flight school's C152 from N99 to W29, and then swing around to ilg for 3 lndgs in class D controled airspace, and then return home to brandywine. I was more than adequately trained and prepared for the solo, and was quite comfortable with the idea. Shortly after leaving brandywine, the low voltage light came on, and I noticed a very slight negative charge reading, indicating current being drawn from the battery. I wasn't worried, I had been assured many times that the electrical system of a C152 was entirely separate from the engine, and on my last flight in the same airplane my instructor and I had had the same problem. At that time, he more or less ignored the problem, probably because it was a minor drain and we were headed back anyway. So when the low voltage light came on, I more or less ignored it, figuring there wasn't much I could do and I was already half way to my destination. I did turn off my landing lights, which seemed to help a bit, but due to the haze and limited visibility I didn't feel safe turning off the navigation lights or the beacon. I reached baybridge with no further trouble, and departed for wilmington. I considered going straight back due to the low voltage light, but I didn't think I had enough fuel to safely make it all the way back to brandywine. So I decided to proceed with the original plan and head to wilmington, with plans to fuel up there and call the flight school to request advice on the low voltage problem. The trip to wilmington was uneventful, although while on a downwind leg for a landing the tower asked me to squawk identify, which I did, and was told that as far as they could tell I had no transponder at all. I proceeded with the landing, taxied to the ramp, shut down the engine and had the plane refueled. When I tried to start it up again, I found the battery was mostly dead. I called the flight school, and was advised to get a jump and fly the plane back so they could figure out what was wrong, and to try cycling the alternator (a process I'd never heard of prior to this) if it acted up again. I took off without incident, and advised the tower shortly before takeoff that I was having some electrical difficulties, just in case it became an issue. Approximately 15 mi north of wilmington (half way to brandywine), I flew into rain and even more haze, which lowered my visibility beyond what I considered safe, even in a fully operational aircraft. About this time I also realized that my lights were now fully out, and the VOR navigation equipment I was using as a backup to my own visual references wasn't responding. I tried the radio, it was completely dead, as was the transponder. In these conditions, there was no way I could safely find brandywine, and with the visibility decreasing and all my lights out, I began to fear a possible collision. I turned around without further delay and proceeded to head back to wilmington, although I wasn't entirely sure how far off course I had gotten and thus exactly which direction wilmington was. I was nervous. I thought I could find wilmington again, but all my electrical equipment was dead, the visibility was bad, and I was beginning to hit a bit of turbulence. Amongst all this excitement, I entirely forgot the flight school's advice of cycling the alternator. I took a few deep breaths, calmed down, and headed southeast, knowing that I'd hit the delaware river eventually and could follow it down to a bridge right next to wilmington airport. I managed to find the airport rather quickly with this approach, and cautiously entered the pattern a few hundred ft above normal pattern altitude, in the hopes it'd help me avoid any other aircraft in the pattern. By now I was sure the control tower must see me and know something was wrong, and I looked to the control tower for light signals, but I wasn't entirely sure where to look -- above the tower, beneath it? I was later told that the lights are hand-held and I should have been looking directly into the tower, but I hadn't even speculated this as a possibility at the time (I was envisioning some form of strobe lights). So I didn't see any light signals, but was fairly sure they were probably there somewhere. I considered rocking the wings to let them know I was in trouble, but remembered something I had read in a private pilot manual and decided against it. The manual states that a pilot with inoperable communication equipment at a controled airfield should rock his wings to acknowledge the tower's light signals. I didn't think it'd be safe to rock the wings at this point, because I had not seen the tower's light signals, and I didn't want to risk acknowledging a light signal by accident, and then potentially doing something else. So I continued into a nice, slow landing, pulled off the runway as fast as I could, and cautiously taxied to the ramp. I was met by airport security and gave them the full story. I told him I had no transponder, no radio -- no way of communicating with the tower whatsoever, and I didn't have enough visibility or familiarity with the area to safely find an uncontrolled airport to land at. And with all my lights out, the danger of a potential collision was further increased. The airline personnel said I should have rocked my wings, but had they been giving me a red light, this would've acknowledged it, even though I was still proceeding in for a landing. I decided it better to just proceed in for an obvious and slow landing, and give them time to account for it. I was issued an airport management warning for not rocking my wings.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: STUDENT PLT OF A C152, ON FIRST SOLO XCOUNTRY FLT, LOST ALL ELECTRICAL PWR, INCLUDING COM AND VOR RADIOS, AND LANDED AT A TWR CTLED ARPT WITHOUT AUTH SINCE HE WAS NOT FAMILIAR WITH TWR CTL LIGHT SIGNALS.

Narrative: I BEGAN MY FIRST XCOUNTRY SOLO FLT AS A STUDENT PLT THE MORNING OF APR/THU/98, WITH SLIGHTLY LESS THAN IDEAL WX CONDITIONS, BUT NOTHING THAT SHOULD CAUSE TROUBLE. THE PLAN WAS TO FLY VFR IN THE FLT SCHOOL'S C152 FROM N99 TO W29, AND THEN SWING AROUND TO ILG FOR 3 LNDGS IN CLASS D CTLED AIRSPACE, AND THEN RETURN HOME TO BRANDYWINE. I WAS MORE THAN ADEQUATELY TRAINED AND PREPARED FOR THE SOLO, AND WAS QUITE COMFORTABLE WITH THE IDEA. SHORTLY AFTER LEAVING BRANDYWINE, THE LOW VOLTAGE LIGHT CAME ON, AND I NOTICED A VERY SLIGHT NEGATIVE CHARGE READING, INDICATING CURRENT BEING DRAWN FROM THE BATTERY. I WASN'T WORRIED, I HAD BEEN ASSURED MANY TIMES THAT THE ELECTRICAL SYS OF A C152 WAS ENTIRELY SEPARATE FROM THE ENG, AND ON MY LAST FLT IN THE SAME AIRPLANE MY INSTRUCTOR AND I HAD HAD THE SAME PROB. AT THAT TIME, HE MORE OR LESS IGNORED THE PROB, PROBABLY BECAUSE IT WAS A MINOR DRAIN AND WE WERE HEADED BACK ANYWAY. SO WHEN THE LOW VOLTAGE LIGHT CAME ON, I MORE OR LESS IGNORED IT, FIGURING THERE WASN'T MUCH I COULD DO AND I WAS ALREADY HALF WAY TO MY DEST. I DID TURN OFF MY LNDG LIGHTS, WHICH SEEMED TO HELP A BIT, BUT DUE TO THE HAZE AND LIMITED VISIBILITY I DIDN'T FEEL SAFE TURNING OFF THE NAV LIGHTS OR THE BEACON. I REACHED BAYBRIDGE WITH NO FURTHER TROUBLE, AND DEPARTED FOR WILMINGTON. I CONSIDERED GOING STRAIGHT BACK DUE TO THE LOW VOLTAGE LIGHT, BUT I DIDN'T THINK I HAD ENOUGH FUEL TO SAFELY MAKE IT ALL THE WAY BACK TO BRANDYWINE. SO I DECIDED TO PROCEED WITH THE ORIGINAL PLAN AND HEAD TO WILMINGTON, WITH PLANS TO FUEL UP THERE AND CALL THE FLT SCHOOL TO REQUEST ADVICE ON THE LOW VOLTAGE PROB. THE TRIP TO WILMINGTON WAS UNEVENTFUL, ALTHOUGH WHILE ON A DOWNWIND LEG FOR A LNDG THE TWR ASKED ME TO SQUAWK IDENT, WHICH I DID, AND WAS TOLD THAT AS FAR AS THEY COULD TELL I HAD NO XPONDER AT ALL. I PROCEEDED WITH THE LNDG, TAXIED TO THE RAMP, SHUT DOWN THE ENG AND HAD THE PLANE REFUELED. WHEN I TRIED TO START IT UP AGAIN, I FOUND THE BATTERY WAS MOSTLY DEAD. I CALLED THE FLT SCHOOL, AND WAS ADVISED TO GET A JUMP AND FLY THE PLANE BACK SO THEY COULD FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS WRONG, AND TO TRY CYCLING THE ALTERNATOR (A PROCESS I'D NEVER HEARD OF PRIOR TO THIS) IF IT ACTED UP AGAIN. I TOOK OFF WITHOUT INCIDENT, AND ADVISED THE TWR SHORTLY BEFORE TKOF THAT I WAS HAVING SOME ELECTRICAL DIFFICULTIES, JUST IN CASE IT BECAME AN ISSUE. APPROX 15 MI N OF WILMINGTON (HALF WAY TO BRANDYWINE), I FLEW INTO RAIN AND EVEN MORE HAZE, WHICH LOWERED MY VISIBILITY BEYOND WHAT I CONSIDERED SAFE, EVEN IN A FULLY OPERATIONAL ACFT. ABOUT THIS TIME I ALSO REALIZED THAT MY LIGHTS WERE NOW FULLY OUT, AND THE VOR NAV EQUIP I WAS USING AS A BACKUP TO MY OWN VISUAL REFS WASN'T RESPONDING. I TRIED THE RADIO, IT WAS COMPLETELY DEAD, AS WAS THE XPONDER. IN THESE CONDITIONS, THERE WAS NO WAY I COULD SAFELY FIND BRANDYWINE, AND WITH THE VISIBILITY DECREASING AND ALL MY LIGHTS OUT, I BEGAN TO FEAR A POSSIBLE COLLISION. I TURNED AROUND WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY AND PROCEEDED TO HEAD BACK TO WILMINGTON, ALTHOUGH I WASN'T ENTIRELY SURE HOW FAR OFF COURSE I HAD GOTTEN AND THUS EXACTLY WHICH DIRECTION WILMINGTON WAS. I WAS NERVOUS. I THOUGHT I COULD FIND WILMINGTON AGAIN, BUT ALL MY ELECTRICAL EQUIP WAS DEAD, THE VISIBILITY WAS BAD, AND I WAS BEGINNING TO HIT A BIT OF TURB. AMONGST ALL THIS EXCITEMENT, I ENTIRELY FORGOT THE FLT SCHOOL'S ADVICE OF CYCLING THE ALTERNATOR. I TOOK A FEW DEEP BREATHS, CALMED DOWN, AND HEADED SE, KNOWING THAT I'D HIT THE DELAWARE RIVER EVENTUALLY AND COULD FOLLOW IT DOWN TO A BRIDGE RIGHT NEXT TO WILMINGTON ARPT. I MANAGED TO FIND THE ARPT RATHER QUICKLY WITH THIS APCH, AND CAUTIOUSLY ENTERED THE PATTERN A FEW HUNDRED FT ABOVE NORMAL PATTERN ALT, IN THE HOPES IT'D HELP ME AVOID ANY OTHER ACFT IN THE PATTERN. BY NOW I WAS SURE THE CTL TWR MUST SEE ME AND KNOW SOMETHING WAS WRONG, AND I LOOKED TO THE CTL TWR FOR LIGHT SIGNALS, BUT I WASN'T ENTIRELY SURE WHERE TO LOOK -- ABOVE THE TWR, BENEATH IT? I WAS LATER TOLD THAT THE LIGHTS ARE HAND-HELD AND I SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO THE TWR, BUT I HADN'T EVEN SPECULATED THIS AS A POSSIBILITY AT THE TIME (I WAS ENVISIONING SOME FORM OF STROBE LIGHTS). SO I DIDN'T SEE ANY LIGHT SIGNALS, BUT WAS FAIRLY SURE THEY WERE PROBABLY THERE SOMEWHERE. I CONSIDERED ROCKING THE WINGS TO LET THEM KNOW I WAS IN TROUBLE, BUT REMEMBERED SOMETHING I HAD READ IN A PVT PLT MANUAL AND DECIDED AGAINST IT. THE MANUAL STATES THAT A PLT WITH INOPERABLE COM EQUIP AT A CTLED AIRFIELD SHOULD ROCK HIS WINGS TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE TWR'S LIGHT SIGNALS. I DIDN'T THINK IT'D BE SAFE TO ROCK THE WINGS AT THIS POINT, BECAUSE I HAD NOT SEEN THE TWR'S LIGHT SIGNALS, AND I DIDN'T WANT TO RISK ACKNOWLEDGING A LIGHT SIGNAL BY ACCIDENT, AND THEN POTENTIALLY DOING SOMETHING ELSE. SO I CONTINUED INTO A NICE, SLOW LNDG, PULLED OFF THE RWY AS FAST AS I COULD, AND CAUTIOUSLY TAXIED TO THE RAMP. I WAS MET BY ARPT SECURITY AND GAVE THEM THE FULL STORY. I TOLD HIM I HAD NO XPONDER, NO RADIO -- NO WAY OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE TWR WHATSOEVER, AND I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH VISIBILITY OR FAMILIARITY WITH THE AREA TO SAFELY FIND AN UNCTLED ARPT TO LAND AT. AND WITH ALL MY LIGHTS OUT, THE DANGER OF A POTENTIAL COLLISION WAS FURTHER INCREASED. THE AIRLINE PERSONNEL SAID I SHOULD HAVE ROCKED MY WINGS, BUT HAD THEY BEEN GIVING ME A RED LIGHT, THIS WOULD'VE ACKNOWLEDGED IT, EVEN THOUGH I WAS STILL PROCEEDING IN FOR A LNDG. I DECIDED IT BETTER TO JUST PROCEED IN FOR AN OBVIOUS AND SLOW LNDG, AND GIVE THEM TIME TO ACCOUNT FOR IT. I WAS ISSUED AN ARPT MGMNT WARNING FOR NOT ROCKING MY WINGS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.