Narrative:

I took my grandson flying. On this flight I experienced an electrical problem on the aircraft. Everything was normal on the taxi and run up. I was cleared for a left hand turn to the north and continued to climb to 4;500 ft. When I crossed the highway just to the east; the radios began to crackle. I turned off the nav lights and beacon momentarily; but neither made a difference and the crackling increased. At this time; the transponder shut off; then reset it self; then the GPS did the same. I immediately called the tower and declared that I had an electrical malfunction and that I was returning to the airport. As I turned south; I informed my grandson of the problem. The tower cleared me to land on the right and asked the nature or my problems; how much fuel on board and number of souls on board. The transponder continued to cycle on and off and the crackling continued as I flew down the freeway and turned downwind. As I turned a one mile base; my grandson said;' I'm going to be sick.' I opened both wing root vents and reassured him that we would be fine. When I rolled out on final; an airplane pulled out onto the runway and departed in front of me. I slowed the aircraft to 60 mph for separation. At this time I realized that I had overshot final for the right runway and was on short final for the left. I momentarily considered a go-around; but immediately discarded the idea because of the possibility of my electrical problem and the potential for an electrical fire. Also; the airplane was too low and slow for a sidestep to the right. Upon clearing the runway; I was advised that I had landed on the wrong runway and to contact the tower. I said I would copy the number when I reached the hangar. After shutdown; my grandson was able to exit the aircraft before vomiting. When I called the tower chief; he asked for my name; license number and phone number. I blamed stress overload as the main factor for my error. He said he would forward the information from the incident and that his superiors would make the decision on how to proceed. Upon reflection; I feel that everything was under control and my stress level was low until the last mile of the flight. At that time; I had a fear of a fire in flight; I was concerned about the well being of my passenger; and I came to the realization that I was lined up for the wrong runway. My main concern became to land the aircraft safely. I see this incident as a serious wake up call. After flying safely for over 45 years and accumulating over 6;800 hours I was abruptly reminded not to get distracted by the little things you can't do anything about at the time. The electrical problem was quickly diagnosed by the ia as a malfunction in the radio switch. It has been replaced.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182 pilot experiences radio problems shortly after takeoff and; believing these problems may be indicative of electrical malfunction; elects to return. The reporter is cleared to land on the left runway but the twin distractions of a sick passenger and the malfunction; lead to a landing on the right runway.

Narrative: I took my grandson flying. On this flight I experienced an electrical problem on the aircraft. Everything was normal on the taxi and run up. I was cleared for a left hand turn to the north and continued to climb to 4;500 FT. When I crossed the highway just to the east; the radios began to crackle. I turned off the nav lights and beacon momentarily; but neither made a difference and the crackling increased. At this time; the transponder shut off; then reset it self; then the GPS did the same. I immediately called the Tower and declared that I had an electrical malfunction and that I was returning to the airport. As I turned south; I informed my grandson of the problem. The Tower cleared me to land on the right and asked the nature or my problems; how much fuel on board and number of souls on board. The transponder continued to cycle on and off and the crackling continued as I flew down the freeway and turned downwind. As I turned a one mile base; my grandson said;' I'm going to be sick.' I opened both wing root vents and reassured him that we would be fine. When I rolled out on final; an airplane pulled out onto the runway and departed in front of me. I slowed the aircraft to 60 MPH for separation. At this time I realized that I had overshot final for the right runway and was on short final for the left. I momentarily considered a go-around; but immediately discarded the idea because of the possibility of my electrical problem and the potential for an electrical fire. Also; the airplane was too low and slow for a sidestep to the right. Upon clearing the runway; I was advised that I had landed on the wrong runway and to contact the Tower. I said I would copy the number when I reached the hangar. After shutdown; my grandson was able to exit the aircraft before vomiting. When I called the Tower Chief; he asked for my name; license number and phone number. I blamed stress overload as the main factor for my error. He said he would forward the information from the incident and that his superiors would make the decision on how to proceed. Upon reflection; I feel that everything was under control and my stress level was low until the last mile of the flight. At that time; I had a fear of a fire in flight; I was concerned about the well being of my passenger; and I came to the realization that I was lined up for the wrong runway. My main concern became to land the aircraft safely. I see this incident as a serious wake up call. After flying safely for over 45 years and accumulating over 6;800 hours I was abruptly reminded not to get distracted by the little things you can't do anything about at the time. The electrical problem was quickly diagnosed by the IA as a malfunction in the radio switch. It has been replaced.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.