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FROM THE FORUMS
Information sharing among COPA members
Lost Comm
and ATC Revisited
Brian Turrisi, CPPP Instructor
Here is an interesting story that a pilot at my airport had this afternoon in a Columbia 400. He asked me for advice on how to handle this. The weather has been IMC here all day. The flight was filed to a destination 120 miles away at 8,000 feet. Clearance was “climb and maintain 2,000 feet; expect 8,000 in 10 minutes. Departure frequency is Savannah on 125.3. Transponder 4753.”
So, he takes off and when told to switch to Savannah, he cannot transmit on either COM 1 or 2. He troubleshoots everything and cannot communicate, and it appears he has a stuck mic. He switches to COM 2, changes headsets, cycles the PTT buttons on both yokes and nothing fixes it, so he squawks 7600.
He decides to come around and shoot the approach to land and never went above 2,000 feet. The initial altitude for the approach is no lower than 1,900. He lands successfully, and exiting the runway the radio starts to work again. Now here is the interesting part and why he asked me for advice. The tower says to copy a phone number to Savannah for “possible pilot deviation.”
We all know the lost comm rules but when it happens right after takeoff (within 5-7 minutes)? What is the best strategy in IFR weather? I say he did everything right. The phone call said he did not “follow his clearance.” Did they want him flying 120 miles in the soup with no radio? He considered it an emergency and wanted to land ASAP. Of course, with no radio you cannot declare without changing to 7700.
What would you have done? Is this just ATC “passing the buck” and having the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decide what was right?
I will give you all a follow-up when I hear back from him on the “conversation”!!
Shyam Jha - CSIP, COPA Board Member
This is what he should have done. Change the squawk code before deviating from the clearance.
Mitchel Sellers, COPA Board Member | Vice President
This is an interesting one for sure. Either way, ATC had no real idea what he was going to do. If he continued, the approach he executed would be pilot’s choice. But what he did was the same, pilot’s choice and contrary to the clearance. Squawking before deviating is good. Did he try a cellphone to tower/approach? That low, it could be considered. What was the MEA around there?
cirruspilots.org
BRIAN TURRISI, M.D. is a Platinum CSIP based at Hilton Head, South Carolina (KHXD), with over 5,000 hours teaching in Cirrus aircraft of all vintages. He has owned four Cirrus aircraft of his own over the last 20 years accumulating almost 10,000 total hours. Feel free to contact Brian about this article or any questions concerning Cirrus flying at [email protected] or (301) 461-0589.
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JULY 2023 COPA Pilot
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