Narrative:

Flying IFR [at] 11;000 ft. Altitude number 1 failed. I notified ATC. Amp drain was 6 amps. I ran through the checklist for altitude 1 failure per the cirrus manual twice. Altitude number 1 would not reset. I reduced the electrical load as much as I could include turning down the brightness on the pfd and mfd. I was over water when my mfd failed. OAT was +2 C; and I couldn't use pitot heat because of the additional electrical drain. I could also tell that my comms were intermittent. At that point I declared an emergency and requested direct to hpn. (The original routing was an arrival which would have added time). ATC was helpful and gave me direct. ATC gave me a descent which got me in warmer conditions and gave me vectors to the field. At about 4;000 ft. I broke out of the clouds and as I crossed the coast; I had the field in sight. ATC cleared me for the visual. My comms kept dropping out and I requested a change to tower. That was approved; and my communications with the tower was broken at best. They cleared me to land; which I did without incident; but with no flaps. After landing; I taxied to the ramp and was greeted by the fire truck and filled in a form noting that I had had an electrical failure. During the declaration process; ATC wanted to know a/C type; sob and fuel in pounds. I was a bit shaken at that point and incorrectly stated 60 pounds; when it was 60 gals. The airplane is now in for maintenance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SR22 pilot reported he lost the Number 1 alternator. Reporter declared an emergency and landed safely.

Narrative: Flying IFR [at] 11;000 FT. ALT Number 1 failed. I notified ATC. AMP drain was 6 AMPS. I ran through the checklist for ALT 1 failure per the Cirrus manual twice. ALT Number 1 would not reset. I reduced the electrical load as much as I could include turning down the brightness on the PFD and MFD. I was over water when my MFD failed. OAT was +2 C; and I couldn't use pitot heat because of the additional electrical drain. I could also tell that my comms were intermittent. At that point I declared an emergency and requested direct to HPN. (The original routing was an arrival which would have added time). ATC was helpful and gave me direct. ATC gave me a descent which got me in warmer conditions and gave me vectors to the field. At about 4;000 FT. I broke out of the clouds and as I crossed the coast; I had the field in sight. ATC cleared me for the visual. My comms kept dropping out and I requested a change to Tower. That was approved; and my communications with the Tower was broken at best. They cleared me to land; which I did without incident; but with no flaps. After landing; I taxied to the ramp and was greeted by the fire truck and filled in a form noting that I had had an electrical failure. During the declaration process; ATC wanted to know A/C type; SOB and fuel in pounds. I was a bit shaken at that point and incorrectly stated 60 pounds; when it was 60 gals. The airplane is now in for maintenance.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.