NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
Piper 24 pilot reported complete electrical failure after takeoff resulting in an immediate return to the airport.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
During takeoff and upon raising the landing gear, I had a complete electrical power failure. All radios, including the code squawker, were lost. I was in Delta airspace, under Bravo airspace. After visually clearing the airspace, I decided to make left traffic back to the runway. During downwind, I assessed that I did still have landing gear in the down position. I did not have power to deploy flaps. I also saw that the runway was without approaching or takeoff traffic. After passing the key position, I again verified that there was not any traffic in the the right or left pattern in front of me or on final. There was not any traffic on the runway either. I began my approach to land. While in base, I noticed a small piston airplane approaching the hold short line of Runway XX, which was my intended runway for a [priority] landing. As I turned final, the small piston airplane, crossed the hold short line. I began to evaluate a possible go-around, but immediately, the other aircraft turned around and headed away from the runway. He was never on the runway and was now departing away from the runway and back towards the taxiway. I decided that it was safe to proceed and land. I safely landed.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Aircraft Equipment Problem
- Conflict
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
- Ground Incursion
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Aircraft · Human Factors
- Primary Problem
- Aircraft
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.