Learning Experiences

A hard landing triggers an ELT

Every flight offers a unique experience and plenty of opportunities for learning, particularly for private pilots who do not fly every day or do not fly for a living. One mild day, I took off in a Cessna 172 from Princeton, New Jersey. It was a good VFR day without much wind. Wanting to shoot an ILS approach into Allentown, Pennsylvania, I flew to the Solberg VOR and radioed Allentown Approach. The controller asked me to fly west toward Allentown and said that I would be vectored to the ILS Runway 13 approach into Lehigh Valley International Airport.

I anticipated that I would be flying past Allentown and making a 180-degree turn to intercept the localizer. There was some traffic on the way, and I was given a few turns to avoid it. Finally, I was assigned a course to intercept the localizer. At the start of the approach, I could not see the runway, although it was a good VFR day. I continued to fly with both the localizer and the glideslope needles centered. Slowly the runway came into view as I approached the outer marker.

I announced my intention to make a full-stop landing. It's a good practice to stop at airports other than your own. There is something different about each airport--in fact, each runway. Each landing is different as well.

I thought that it should be an easy landing, given the weather conditions--good visibility, not much wind. I put in the last 20 degrees of flaps pretty late. This caused the airplane to float in ground effect for a few seconds longer. Growing impatient, I pulled back the yoke hastily and prematurely. I was very much on the centerline, but made a slightly hard landing.

I noticed that the radios went dead. While still on the runway, I tried to bring the radios back to life, but nothing worked. I moved off the runway to the first taxiway on the right and thought about setting the transponder code to indicate "lost communications." I could not immediately recall whether the code was 7500, 7600, or 7700. A quick-reference card gave me the answer and I set the transponder to 7600. Spotting the general aviation terminal, I taxied toward it.

I shut down the engine and started to look for help. Being a Sunday, there were no mechanics. In the meantime, word got to me through the fixed-base operator that my airplane's emergency locator transmitter (ELT) had been triggered. The ELT is supposed to activate when there is a crash--something like an airbag popping out in a car crash. A slightly hard landing can sometimes trigger an ELT, which transmits an audible signal on emergency radio frequencies such as 121.5 MHz.

The tower was getting annoyed at the persistent beeps from the ELT. I was told to do something about it, but I did not know what to do. I could see the ELT at the back of the airplane, but had no clue on how to disarm it. Now I had two problems at hand. I had to resolve both of them, and fly back safely to Princeton. Good thing that I was on the ground and I could think calmly.

Since there was no help available, I called my FBO back at Princeton, where I was able to reach an instructor. He told me that in this airplane, the radio had a loose contact that came off on a hard landing. All I had to do was push the radio back far as I could so that it could make the contact again. He also instructed me on how to reset the ELT. In the meantime, I got word again that the tower was getting frustrated with my airplane's ELT signals.

On the Cessna 172 I was flying, the ELT is an orange box in the rear of the airplane. I could reach it through the baggage door. Once I was able to crawl to it, I saw a switch on the box. It could be on any of the three positions--On, Auto, or Off. I switched it Off and then switched it back to Auto. I called the tower to confirm that the ELT signal was indeed off. They confirmed it.

I then started the engine and pushed the radio back as much as I could. And then I switched it on. Bingo, it came to life! I called ground control and confirmed that both of my problems were solved. I got a clearance to fly VFR back to Princeton. Once back at Princeton, I made the best landing of my life. The radio stayed on, and the ELT did not go off! It is a good practice to monitor 121.5 MHz before engine shutdown to check if the ELT has been activated. I tied down the airplane and went home, taking some good memories and some good learning with me.

By Prasad Ganti

"Learning Experiences" is presented to enhance safety by providing a forum for students and pilots to learn from the experiences of others. It is intended to provoke thought and discussion, acknowledging that actions taken by the authors were not necessarily the best choices under the circumstances. We encourage you to discuss any questions you have about a particular scenario with your flight instructor.