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A C172 pilot shut down his radios to conserve battery enroute to his home base following an alternator failure.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 947807 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201104 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | FDK.Airport |
| State Reference | MD |
| Environment | |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | Direct |
| 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 2.2 Flight Crew Total 266.8 Flight Crew Type 265.6 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural FAR |
Narrative:
The aircraft that I was flying suffered an apparent alternator failure while approximately 20-30 NM north of fdk. The G1000 avionics system automatically switched to the standby battery and the flight resumed without additional problems. A short time thereafter; however; the pfd and mfd screens began to dim. In an effort to preserve battery power while I returned to fdk; I switched off the avionics bus that controls the mfd; thereby also switching off the transponder. As I approached fdk; I turned the avionics bus back on; but the radio began to crackle and I began to lose radio communication. I decided at that point to turn off the avionics bus again so that I could preserve as much battery power as possible so that I could communicate on the fdk CTAF. As a result; I unfortunately did not have a transponder operating within 30 NM of a class B airport. I made this decision as a safety of flight issue by weighing the benefits of having effective radio communication against the failure to use a transponder in class east airspace at low altitude within 30 NM of a class B airport.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A C172 pilot shut down his radios to conserve battery enroute to his home base following an alternator failure.
Narrative: The aircraft that I was flying suffered an apparent alternator failure while approximately 20-30 NM north of FDK. The G1000 avionics system automatically switched to the standby battery and the flight resumed without additional problems. A short time thereafter; however; the PFD and MFD screens began to dim. In an effort to preserve battery power while I returned to FDK; I switched off the avionics bus that controls the MFD; thereby also switching off the transponder. As I approached FDK; I turned the avionics bus back on; but the radio began to crackle and I began to lose radio communication. I decided at that point to turn off the avionics bus again so that I could preserve as much battery power as possible so that I could communicate on the FDK CTAF. As a result; I unfortunately did not have a transponder operating within 30 NM of a class B airport. I made this decision as a safety of flight issue by weighing the benefits of having effective radio communication against the failure to use a transponder in class E airspace at low altitude within 30 NM of a class B airport.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.