As I depressed the microphone button, the lighted LED frequency numbers on my comm radio immediately dimmed and started to scramble to different numbers off frequency. I reset the frequency and tried again. Same result. I was unable to communicate because I did not have enough electrical power.
So, there I was, a young 21-year-old man with little flying experience, now concerned that one could not simply pull over, get out, raise the hood, and try to figure out what was wrong. The good news was that the problem did not appear to be getting worse, therefore it seemed like I had time. I did not have an autopilot and letting go of the controls in an old Cessna 150 is like letting go of a kite string, but I had to try to do something.
We were all enjoying the smooth flight and the wonderful views of the ground and clear skies along the way. A few minutes later, exactly 10 DME north of Waco Regional according to my new DME, my propeller speed instantly shot up from 2450 RPMs to the dial’s peg. The sound of the prop increased with it and immediately got my attention.