Okay, we all have the stories, the cool things we did, the low passes, the dumb thumb moves. . . .

Just wanted to share this one


The Scene: Friday night at Joe Nall, JUST pranged the Frenzy being stupid and doing foolish things. . TOTALLY PO'd at myself and just disgusted, got one plane disabled cause I had to borrow an ignition, another that needs a receiver swap, the donor for the receiver is not gong to fly till I get the receiver back from repair, and now I broke my Frenzy!!!

Guess what .. I'M GOIN HOME!!!!!
Gonna sleep in MY bed tonight . .in Air Conditioning, just 2 hours away. . it's 10:30.

Soooo. . .. start packing and getting things put away .. this takes a lot longer than you think. . about 12:30 everything is packed. . I get Jeeum to guide me back to hook up the trailer. Hook up lights. . smack the ground cable bolt on the trailer to get a better connection and the lights are now bright and working. . ease out of the space. . head over the hill. . stop at the gate to check all the connections one last time. . .and point the nose of the Van home.

About 5 miles onto I-85 North the stereo suddenly glitches at me. . like glitches to the point of turning OFF. . . HUH??? It's 1 a.m. . . . it's raining . . . wipers are not moving too fast. . .hmmm. . this cannot be good. Shut off the wipers and the lights get brighter. . . . . . . . . .

Rut roh!!!!!

Pull over and shut her down to check under the hood. . yup. . everything is connected but there's a funny "lost the electrons" smell. . .this is looking worse folks. Get back in and hit the key. . . . click click click click click goes the starter!!!

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!

I am NOT going to sit here all freaking nite long. . . .I am NOT going to call a tow truck .. I am NOT going to call for help.

NO NO NO NO NO NO ! ! ! ! ! ! !!

So I sits. . and I thinks a bit. . Hmm. . Got a 350 amp Lawn Mower battery in the trailer that I use for my flightline electric fuel pump. . maybe it can jump this thing off. So I open the back of the trailer, cut the battery loose from the straps holding it to the fuel bottle, grab the jumper cables. . . VROOM ! ! ! ! ! ! she starts. Quick slam the hood and put the battery and cables in the van and I'm OFF!!!!! No stereo. . .no wipers. . .killed the auxilury cooling fan for the radiator. . just marker lights and the engines electric fuel pump and ignition (carb motor. . KISS I say).

Hello Mr. Semi Tractor trailer. . I'll just follow you. . .you have NICE headlight and marker lights. . easy to follow in the rain and dark.

So there I am, at Zero feet, 70 mph, headed North at 2 a.m. in the rain and dark. The faceplate for the stereo is my voltage indicator. I figure when it goes dark I'm about down to 10 volts in the battery. I make it about 30 miles and OOPS. . the faceplate starts to flicker. . then goes dead ..

DAMMIT!!! . . .Sigh . .pull over at an exit 5 miles later. . .what to do?? do NOT shut off engine. . . .

It's about 40 miles to the Exit where I work (Pep Boys, Exit 21) in Gastonia . .it's about 60 miles to another Pep Boys in Charlotte (Exit 41), and 70 miles to home (Exit 49). . . DAMMIT. .i am NOT giving UP!!!!! I grab the lawn tractor battery, set it on the dashboard, run the jumper cables out the door and to the main battery. . hook up (electrical sparks. . .damned thing was DOWN). Slam the hood and door .. turn off ALL the lights .. and get back on the road. . .Hello again. . another Semi to follow. I tuck in about 40 feet off his bumper and lock in place. . getting buffeted but people can see me (I hope).

There I am. .watching that stereo faceplate again .. just waiting for it to blink. I make it to Exit 21. . still going strong. .Cool. . let's rock. . 5 miles later RUTROH. . stereo is flashing at me. Dilemma. . do I turn around while I can. . or press on?

Damn the torpedos. . Full speed ahead!!!!

I make it to Exit 41. . . still going strong. . people are honking at me and pointing to the lights. . I just smile and wave back. Get passed by a COP!!!!! Whew. . he's a local guy from 70 miles away. . he doesn't bother me. Make it to Exit 49. . 2 miles from home ! !

YAY!!! . .. oops .. engine is starting to lose power. . electric fuel pump is probably barely pumping now. EASY on the gas .. just kinda roll along and take it easy.. Last corner before the home stretch . .I'm stuck at a light for what seems like forever. It turns green, barely touch the gas. . the engine stumbles, catches. . and we are moving .. slowly. . then it goes downhill and I coast. Pull in and ease to the back and roll into the trailers parking spot and shut er down!!!!

PHEW!!!!!!!!!! Talk about nerve wracking!!!!

Unhook the trailer. . put the van in Neutral and coast down to the front door. . hook up the battery charger. . I SWEAR I could hear the van sigh with relief (I know I did). Man. .this is way too much Drama. .I gotta get some sleep. . It's 4 a.m.


Post Mortem: Next morning everything is charged up. . and I start to look for the source of all my woes. This is what happened:

About 10 months ago I swapped in a late model 360 with 105 amp alternator .. the fusible link for the OLD alternator was only 70 amps (DOH!!!!!!!) Since I had been charging planes for 4 days off the battery, the alternator was charging it. . but also running all the lights, trailer lights, wipers, stereo, auxilury cooling fan and Defroster fan at the same time, and was probably pulling 90-95 amps from the alternator. Poor lil fuse link gave up the ghost.

It has since been rewired with a 120 amp inline fuse direct to the battery.

Now. . pass me a beer. . I need one after reliving THAT story.

lucky that ya made it home

man that sucks,, atleast ya made it
mike

Last year leaving JOENALL 2005 my WHITE 1998 Tahoe lost the fuel pump, in ENOREE, 1mile away from the NALL, I live near Fayetteville NC< I still had a 5 hour drive,, I would have burnt it if I didn't have so much stuff in it, ,,,,,,

Great story, Kris. Sounds like quite an adventure.

I love those " made it home" stories....thanks

Kris, after reading this, I think you might have been walking the wrong side of the line again. Glad you made it home safe.

Hey Kris,

That story was exhausting to read. It was nice to meet you this year at the Nall. Mike, Fred, and I woke up Sat morning and wondered where you had run off too. I'm glad to hear you made it home and I am looking forward to see the next version on the Frenzy. The plane looks very odd but it flies well. You might try to lower the horizonal stab a little to help on the knife edge coupling.

Catch you later,

David "Wring It Out" James

Story had me on the edge of my seat wondering if you were going to make it!!

Originally Posted by wizard

Kris, after reading this, I think you might have been walking the wrong side of the line again. Glad you made it home safe.

If you don't live on the edge, Wiz . .you'll never know how much fun it is to fall off ! ! !

Whats that olde saying . .Mechanics drive old POS cars and never work on them much . .because we KNOW how far we can push them ! ! !