<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1400174, October 2016

C150 pilot reported an alternator failure at night resulting in reduced electrical capability. Pilot landed at nearest suitable airport.

Attributes
ACN	1400174
Time
Date	201610
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 150
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	AC Generator/Alternator
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 270 Flight Crew Type 30
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown

Narrative:

Alternator failure followed by lost electricity at night time en-route. ATC raised alert 1; no incident. Had flashlights and a handheld radio as backup.alternator was overhauled 80 hours ago; but due to fraudulent/insufficient overhaul; the driveshaft to alternator (part of the alternator that connects the drive gear to the alternator shaft) failed after a crack propagated enough to cause complete failure (beaching marks pointing to single spot with various levels of erosion; and a small area of fast tension failure suggests a long time crack propagation). VFR flight; takeoff daytime; landing at night; so ended up landing at night with no flaps. Led landing light still worked through landing because of low voltage/current requirements.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C150 pilot reported an alternator failure at night resulting in reduced electrical capability. Pilot landed at nearest suitable airport.

Narrative: Alternator failure followed by lost electricity at night time en-route. ATC raised Alert 1; no incident. Had flashlights and a handheld radio as backup.Alternator was overhauled 80 hours ago; but due to fraudulent/insufficient overhaul; the driveshaft to alternator (part of the alternator that connects the drive gear to the alternator shaft) failed after a crack propagated enough to cause complete failure (beaching marks pointing to single spot with various levels of erosion; and a small area of fast tension failure suggests a long time crack propagation). VFR flight; takeoff daytime; landing at night; so ended up landing at night with no flaps. LED landing light still worked through landing because of low voltage/current requirements.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.