Narrative:

This was a cross country flight. I departed and continued to an enroute checkpoint where I received a clearance to fly through the class B airspace also to receive flight following to my destination airport. After clearing the airspace I continued along with my flight plan at 6;500 ft. Along the flight I continued to monitor all the instruments to determine I was on course and scanned all the instruments to know that they were operating correctly. As well every 15 minutes of flight I would switch fuel tanks. The flight was operating as normal: my time/distance and headings I planned for were working out correctly. Along the route I was also looking out for landmarks such as airports; roads; and other ground reference points noted on the sectional. I passed a known checkpoint and continued on to the VOR when the annunciator panel indicated that my alternator was inoperative and there was a low bus. I looked at my ammeter and saw that it was indicating 001 amps. I determined that from these indications that the aircraft's alternator was inoperative and began to look for a alternative airport to land do to the fact that I felt crossing the bay (28.8 NM) was not a safe option to make to my destination airport. I determined that a nearby airport was a suitable alternate and began a 180 turn to the airport. I was talking with approach when the incident was occurring and told the controller of my situation. He gave me vectoring to the airport and asked if this was an emergency situation. I confirmed immediately that I was in an emergency situation. The controller gave me a contact number to call after I had landed. I started my descent from 6;500 ft to and descended to 2;000 ft. During this time I tried to look through my checklist for my situation. I quickly scanned it over and could not find anything. I continued my descent and landed. The unicom frequency I self announced my intentions and only got assistance from the operators of the airport once I was at the FBO.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA-28 alternator failed on a cross country so the pilot declared an emergency with ATC and diverted to a nearby enroute airport.

Narrative: This was a cross country flight. I departed and continued to an enroute checkpoint where I received a clearance to fly through the Class B airspace also to receive flight following to my destination airport. After clearing the airspace I continued along with my flight plan at 6;500 FT. Along the flight I continued to monitor all the instruments to determine I was on course and scanned all the instruments to know that they were operating correctly. As well every 15 minutes of flight I would switch fuel tanks. The flight was operating as normal: my time/distance and headings I planned for were working out correctly. Along the route I was also looking out for landmarks such as airports; roads; and other ground reference points noted on the sectional. I passed a known checkpoint and continued on to the VOR when the annunciator panel indicated that my alternator was inoperative and there was a low bus. I looked at my ammeter and saw that it was indicating 001 AMPS. I determined that from these indications that the aircraft's alternator was inoperative and began to look for a alternative airport to land do to the fact that I felt crossing the bay (28.8 NM) was not a safe option to make to my destination airport. I determined that a nearby airport was a suitable alternate and began a 180 turn to the airport. I was talking with Approach when the incident was occurring and told the Controller of my situation. He gave me vectoring to the airport and asked if this was an emergency situation. I confirmed immediately that I was in an emergency situation. The Controller gave me a contact number to call after I had landed. I started my descent from 6;500 FT to and descended to 2;000 FT. During this time I tried to look through my checklist for my situation. I quickly scanned it over and could not find anything. I continued my descent and landed. The UNICOM frequency I self announced my intentions and only got assistance from the operators of the airport once I was at the FBO.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.