PA28 archer pilot and observer reported an alternator fail message appeared; followed by a burning s...

Narrative:

I was performing lesson four of the commercial/instrument course; with me were my CFI and a friend of mine observing. We planned to takeoff and go to practice area; after we got there our plan was to do some slow flight; stalls; [and] simulated emergencies before heading back to ZZZ for a few night landings. We took off around xa:12 local time; by xa:39 we were done with most of the stuff and were setting up for simulated emergencies; we started with electrical fire as called by my instructor; just as I was doing my emergency flows a flashing red annunciator showed up on our G1000nxi with the words 'altr fail' followed by a strong smoke smell coming from the air vents; at this point I opened the window on my side and closed the environmental controls. We immediately switched to CRM and I started running the alternator failure procedure posted in our checklist; the checklist items were not successful so we reduced electrical load and headed back to ZZZ. We were using our observer to monitor our battery volts while we arranged stuff with ATC and the [flight school]. By xb:02 we landed at ZZZ safely with 24.8 volts in our battery left. It is widely known here between students that alternator failures are very common on new piper archers; this is unacceptable when it happens this often. The plane I flew was a new piper archer with 32.3 hobbs before my flight. During my preflight I talked with my CFI about how in the maintenance log of the plane we saw it had the same alternator failure earlier that day after the other crew started the engine; the records showed a maintenance flight after that incident of 1 hour and the plane was turned to me for my flight. As I said before this is an issue that needs to be corrected; it is not supposed to happen this often especially in a learning environment for a flight student as it risks the safe operation of the flight. Corrective action should be taken by [our flight school] and piper aircraft to stop this from happening as often as it does. If not I suggest the FAA to investigate further in this case of incidents within the organization.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA28 Archer pilot and observer reported an Alternator Fail message appeared; followed by a burning smell. Reportedly; this is a common occurrence with newer Piper Archer aircraft.

Narrative: I was performing lesson four of the Commercial/Instrument course; with me were my CFI and a friend of mine observing. We planned to takeoff and go to practice area; after we got there our plan was to do some slow flight; stalls; [and] simulated emergencies before heading back to ZZZ for a few night landings. We took off around XA:12 local time; by XA:39 we were done with most of the stuff and were setting up for simulated emergencies; we started with electrical fire as called by my instructor; just as I was doing my emergency flows a flashing red annunciator showed up on our G1000nxi with the words 'ALTR fail' followed by a strong smoke smell coming from the air vents; at this point I opened the window on my side and closed the environmental controls. We immediately switched to CRM and I started running the alternator failure procedure posted in our checklist; the checklist items were not successful so we reduced electrical load and headed back to ZZZ. We were using our observer to monitor our battery volts while we arranged stuff with ATC and the [flight school]. By XB:02 we landed at ZZZ safely with 24.8 volts in our battery left. It is widely known here between students that alternator failures are very common on new Piper Archers; this is unacceptable when it happens this often. The plane I flew was a new Piper Archer with 32.3 hobbs before my flight. During my preflight I talked with my CFI about how in the maintenance log of the plane we saw it had the same alternator failure earlier that day after the other crew started the engine; the records showed a maintenance flight after that incident of 1 hour and the plane was turned to me for my flight. As I said before this is an issue that needs to be corrected; it is not supposed to happen this often especially in a learning environment for a flight student as it risks the safe operation of the flight. Corrective Action should be taken by [our flight school] and Piper Aircraft to stop this from happening as often as it does. If not I suggest the FAA to investigate further in this case of incidents within the organization.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Attributes
ACN	1571932
Time
Date	201808
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	DC Generator
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 9 Flight Crew Total 63 Flight Crew Type 44
Person 2
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 31 Flight Crew Total 141 Flight Crew Type 24
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

PA28 archer pilot and observer reported an alternator fail message appeared; followed by a burning smell. Reportedly; this is a common occurrence with newer piper archer aircraft.