TRACK DEVIATION ON APCH GA SMA. EQUIPMENT MALFUNCTION.

Narrative

IT WAS A NIGHT FLT FROM LAS VEGAS IN 6/88 AND A PAX AND I TOOK OFF FROM MC CARRAN FIELD AT XA19 PM ON AN IFR FLT PLAN BOUND FOR PALOMAR ARPT; CARLSBAD; CA. EVERYTHING WENT WELL FOR A WHILE AND THEN THE MIC ON THE HEADSET STOPPED FUNCTIONING. WE HAD A SPARE MIC SO I SUBSTITUTED THIS AND IT WORKED FINE. THE SECOND RADIO HAD A BAD SWITCH AND IT WORKED INTERMITTENTLY; SO I USED OUR HAND HELD PORTABLE RADIO WHICH HAD RADIAL READOUTS AND IT WORKED FINE UNTIL THE BATTERY WENT LOW. THE NIGHT WAS QUITE CLEAR AND VIS WAS UNLIMITED UNTIL WE REACHED PALOMAR WHERE THERE SEEMED TO BE AN OVCST. I ASKED FOR ILS R24 APCH AND ASKED THE WOMAN CTLR FOR HELP IN IDENTING THE INTXNS BECAUSE OF THE INTERMITTENT SECOND RADIO; AND SHE GAVE ME VECTORS TO THE FINAL APCH COURSE. I SET MY #1 RADIO TO 108.7; THE ILS COURSE; AND FOLLOWED HER VECTORS. SHE NOTIFIED ME WHEN I WAS ON THE LOC COURSE; BUT MY NEEDLE ON MY HSI DIRECTED ME TO THE RIGHT AND WOULD NOT CENTER. THE CTLR ASKED ME TO ABANDON THE APCH AND TRY THE VOR APCH INSTEAD. I COMPLIED AND SHOT THE VOR A APCH INSTEAD AND WHEN I TURNED INBND TO THE ARPT IT WAS VFR. I STILL REMAINED INCREDULOUS ABOUT THE INACCURACY OF THE LOC BECAUSE I HAD BEEN USING MY #1 RADIO; A MODEL X; THAT WAS OLD BUT VERY RELIABLE IN THE PAST; AND IT HAD BEEN CHKED JUST BEFORE THE FLT AT PALOMAR ON THE VOT 109.0 AND IT WAS PERFECT. IT HAD BEEN TRACKING QUITE WELL ON THE VOR'S THAT I WAS USING ENRTE. COULD THE CTLR HAVE BEEN OFF? I FLEW MY PAX BACK TO VEGAS THE NEXT DAY AND ON THE RETURN TRIP SHOT THE ILS APCH INTO MC CLELLAN PALOMAR WITH THE CTLR MONITORING ME AND MUCH TO MY SURPRISE; THE SAME THING HAPPENED--I CONTINUED TO GET THE STRONG FLY RIGHT INDICATION ON THE HSI. I NOW KNEW FOR SURE THAT I HAD A DEFECTIVE RADIO AND BECAME EXTREMELY GRATEFUL FOR THE FACT THAT THERE IS RADAR MONITORING OF APCHS AT PALOMAR. IN LOOKING BACK I COULD HAVE CHKED THE LOC COURSE WITH MY #2 RADIO; BUT I DID NOT REALLY THINK OF THIS. I THINK THAT IN FUTURE ILS APCHS; I WILL NOW SET MY #2 RADIO TO THE LOC COURSE. WE ARE ALSO REPLACING OUR OLD MODEL X WITH A NEW MODEL Y AND GETTING THE SWITCH FIXED ON THE #2 RADIO. WE ARE ALSO ADDING A NEW LORAN C TO OUR SMA. I HOPE THAT THIS RPT WILL BE OF SOME HELP TO YOU AS A SAFETY CONSIDERATION. POSSIBLE PLTS COULD BE WARNED NOT TO HAVE COMPLETE FAITH IN THEIR INSTRUMENTS AND MAYBE HAVE MORE TRUST IN THE CTLR--EVEN IF SHE IS A WOMAN!