RivetBangers.com

Ok. So there I was, letting down about 6nm from my home aerodrome, when all of a sudden I start to hear a very deep pitched increase in loudness of my engine.

After the initial "Oh s**t!!!", I began to trouble shoot. No increased vibration, all engine parameters in the green, no loss of power. What the heck?

I concluded that I either blew out an exhaust gasket or one of my exhaust hangars had busticated.

I landed without incident, also noted that I had not soiled my underwear, and proceeded to remove the cowl to check things over. Everything was secure and no squawks were noted. Again, what the heck.

Then I remembered that after a fight a while ago I had forgotten to turn off my ANR headset. I returned several hours later to find that the headset was still working, so I have been blissfully flying along with a low headset battery.

What had happened was that battery went tango uniform on me and it cutting out, with the subsequent increase in perceived cabin noise, is what freaked me out.

One good thing out of all this was that I flew the plane after the onset of "the incident" and worked the problem. Turned out to be a good exercise.

But boy, do I feel stupid!

unannounced simulated emergencies are the best kind

Hehehe! I had that happen to me in a Malibu one time! Sure gets your attention when you're used to the quiet! Good training...

Don't feel stupid about that at all Jeff, you kept your cool, did some trouble shooting to determine there was no obvious immediate threat, all the time still flying the plane, landed, and then figured it out. By posting this, I bet someone will remember it in the future when it happens to them (or me).
Just goes to show how tuned in we are to sound while flying.