Alternator Failure Flashcards
How can all possible emergencies and abnormalities of the electrical system be easily detected?
Simply by frequently checking the ammeter and warning annunciator panel.
But the exact determination of the failure is difficult to discover. The electrical failures of the aircraft will be due to the failure of one or both alternators.
What do we check first?
First, we check the light to determine if it is due to one or both alternators
You only must look at both ammeters.
Accordingly, if we see that only one has failed, we must perform the following procedure:
1
Affected Alternator: “OFF”.
2
Alternator circuit breaker: “CHECK IN”.
3
Affected Alternator: “ON”.
4
Affected Ammeter: “CHECK” (if there is no indication, recycle the alternator 3 or 4 more times).
If the low voltage light is still on:
1
Alternator: “OFF”.
2
Non-essential electrical equipment: “OFF”.
3
Land at the nearest possible airport.
If the emergency is due to both alternators failing, you should:
1
Avionics master: “OFF”.
2
Non-essential electrical equipment: “OFF”.
3
Both alternators: “OFF”.
4
circuit breakers: “CHECK IN”.
4
Restart the alternators ONE BY ONE
5
Ammeters: “CHECK” (if there is no indication, recycle the alternators 3 or 4 more times).
6
If at this point if we have recovered the two alternators
we will proceed to land at the nearest possible airport.
7
If we have only recovered one of the alternators:
we will turn off the inoperative alternator, reduce electrical loads to a minimum and proceed to land at the nearest possible airport.
8
f we have not recovered either of the alternators:
turn off both alternators, reduce electrical loads to a minimum and proceed to land at the nearest possible airport. (Assuming that the maximum time left on the battery is half an hour).
NOTE
NOTE: Due to the limited battery life, you should look into the possibility of lowering the landing gear as soon as possible, this is because if we want to lower the gear (as in normal operation) there exists a possibility that there will not be enough battery to do so and as a result we would have to perform an emergency extension of the gear – which would aggravate the situation.
