In 2003, mechanical and maintenance were the major cause of 15% of all GA accidents, and 7.5% of fatal accidents

Typically, one mistake or failure—a precipitating event—leads to another in a cascading series of malfunctions and mistakes, culminatiing in an accident. This is called the accident chain.

By any calculation, the average pilot could fly many, many lifetimes without having an accident of any sort, let alone a much more rare fatal mishap.

In 2003, electrical/ignition failures accounted for 3% of all accidents, and 0% of fatal accidents.

2004 Nall Report

  
 

CIRRUS Monthly Proficiency Program
3 part series on IFR operations
August – Part 1: Electrical Systems



How to handle an electrical failure

Step 1

  • Recognize that you have a failure by properly identifying that an ALT annunciator has illuminated.

Step 2

  • Verify that you have an ALT failure. Toggle the amp switch above the volt/amp meter of the problem alternator and view the amp load on that alternator.
  • If the amp meter shows zero, you can confirm that you do have an alternator failure. If it is an ALT 1 failure, you can also verify that it is an ALT 1 failure by toggling the switch to the BATT position, which will show a negative amp indication.
  • You can also switch to the engine-monitoring page on the MFD and verify the voltage on the Essential Distribution Bus and Main Distribution Bus.
  • The Main Distribution Bus should read approximately 28 volts, while the Essential Distribution Bus should read approximately 28.75 volts.

Step 3

  • Analyze the situation by taking the appropriate action as outlined in the airplane checklist/POH.

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