Narrative:

The flight under VFR with ATC flight following in my lancair 360 became abnormal when the aircraft's alternator failed. When recycling the alternator switch did not resolve the problem I shed the electrical load on the aircraft as much as possible; including turning off my GPS and VOR receivers. I was less than 30 minutes from my destination and home airport; so decided to continue to this airport on battery power and navigating at night via pilotage. Once I was switched to the TRACON; I notified them of my equipment failure and asked them to notify the control tower at my destination in case I lost radio communication capability before landing. I was given a clearance into the class B; direct a prominent navigation point and to descend to 3;500 ft. I was instructed to maintain 3;500 ft until navigation point at which time I could descend for the airport. I began to feel like the controller was late in giving me a frequency change to tower; because I felt I was over the point; so announced to the TRACON that I had the airport in sight. The TRACON told me that my altitude restriction was canceled and to contact tower. I established two-way radio communications with the tower; but did not receive my approach instructions right away. The tower controller then cleared me to enter a right downwind for the only runway available for night operations. I was expecting a left downwind entry; so turned northeast to fly on the north side of what I thought was the airport. Soon thereafter; the tower asked if I was flying north; which I answered in the affirmative. They told me to immediately fly south and asked if I had the airport in sight. I then realized that I was north of the navigation point and had turned east too soon; putting me in military airspace just to the north of the airport. When I told the TRACON that I had the airport in sight; I now know that it was a military airport that I saw. The tower turned up the runway lights to help me locate the airport. Once I realized my error I entered a right downwind and landed without further incident. While I have flown in this area for more than 15 years; the distraction of knowing that I was on limited battery power with an inoperative alternator light flashing in my dark cockpit lead me to misidentify a common landmark on my arrival and descent into my home base airport.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Lancair 360's alternator failed at night. After shedding electrical load the pilot continued to the home airport. In communication with ATC; but after a navigation error; the pilot flew into military airspace.

Narrative: The flight under VFR with ATC flight following in my Lancair 360 became abnormal when the aircraft's alternator failed. When recycling the alternator switch did not resolve the problem I shed the electrical load on the aircraft as much as possible; including turning off my GPS and VOR receivers. I was less than 30 minutes from my destination and home airport; so decided to continue to this airport on battery power and navigating at night via pilotage. Once I was switched to the TRACON; I notified them of my equipment failure and asked them to notify the Control Tower at my destination in case I lost radio communication capability before landing. I was given a clearance into the Class B; direct a prominent navigation point and to descend to 3;500 FT. I was instructed to maintain 3;500 FT until navigation point at which time I could descend for the airport. I began to feel like the Controller was late in giving me a frequency change to Tower; because I felt I was over the point; so announced to the TRACON that I had the airport in sight. The TRACON told me that my altitude restriction was canceled and to contact Tower. I established two-way radio communications with the Tower; but did not receive my approach instructions right away. The Tower Controller then cleared me to enter a right downwind for the only runway available for night operations. I was expecting a left downwind entry; so turned northeast to fly on the north side of what I thought was the airport. Soon thereafter; the Tower asked if I was flying north; which I answered in the affirmative. They told me to immediately fly south and asked if I had the airport in sight. I then realized that I was north of the navigation point and had turned east too soon; putting me in military airspace just to the north of the airport. When I told the TRACON that I had the airport in sight; I now know that it was a military airport that I saw. The Tower turned up the runway lights to help me locate the airport. Once I realized my error I entered a right downwind and landed without further incident. While I have flown in this area for more than 15 years; the distraction of knowing that I was on limited battery power with an inoperative alternator light flashing in my dark cockpit lead me to misidentify a common landmark on my arrival and descent into my home base airport.

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.