Narrative:

I departed in a cirrus SR22 with no passengers on a VFR part 91 personal training flight. The weather reads as follows; ZZZ 17011g18 10SM few 050 broken 150 broken 200 19/15 29.87. After departing the airfield I proceeded northbound. Approximately 5 minutes into the flight; I saw the altitude 2 light steady on. I performed the altitude 2 steady on checklist. After performing the checklist; it was determined that the matter would remain unresolved. I then turned back for my departure airport to land as soon as practical as this is the final step in the checklist. I announced to tower my call sign position; current ATIS information and that I had an alternator 2 failure and would like to return to the airfield for landing. The tower then cleared me to set for a straight in approach for 15. Several minutes later tower said to please state the problem again. I responded that I had an alternator 2 failure 'and that it shouldn't be a problem; but I would like to return to the airport.' tower responded with 'I heard you say it wouldn't be a problem; but just for our end we are going to go ahead and call an alert and have persons standing by; please say persons on board and fuel remaining'. I responded with; '1 person on board and 3 hrs fuel remaining'. I did not declare an emergency or request equipment to be standing by. It was several minutes later that I was cleared to land. After landing I proceeded to the hangar ramp and was met by a fire truck. I debriefed with the emergency personnel and no further requests were made by emergency personnel or ATC. Following landing I contacted the chief pilot and he arranged the maintenance to be performed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A SR22 ALT 2 alerted a generator two failure after takeoff so the pilot returned to the departure airport after completing the ALT 2 Steady ON checklist.

Narrative: I departed in a Cirrus SR22 with no passengers on a VFR Part 91 personal training flight. The weather reads as follows; ZZZ 17011g18 10SM Few 050 BKN 150 BKN 200 19/15 29.87. After departing the airfield I proceeded northbound. Approximately 5 minutes into the flight; I saw the ALT 2 Light Steady ON. I performed the ALT 2 Steady ON checklist. After performing the checklist; it was determined that the matter would remain unresolved. I then turned back for my departure airport to land as soon as practical as this is the final step in the checklist. I announced to Tower my call sign position; current ATIS information and that I had an Alternator 2 failure and would like to return to the airfield for landing. The Tower then cleared me to set for a straight in approach for 15. Several minutes later Tower said to please state the problem again. I responded that I had an alternator 2 failure 'and that it shouldn't be a problem; but I would like to return to the airport.' Tower responded with 'I heard you say it wouldn't be a problem; but just for our end we are going to go ahead and call an alert and have persons standing by; please say persons on board and fuel remaining'. I responded with; '1 person on board and 3 hrs fuel remaining'. I did not declare an emergency or request equipment to be standing by. It was several minutes later that I was cleared to land. After landing I proceeded to the hangar ramp and was met by a fire truck. I debriefed with the emergency personnel and no further requests were made by emergency personnel or ATC. Following landing I contacted the Chief Pilot and he arranged the maintenance to be performed.

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.