Narrative:

I started IFR and took off looking for an immediate turn to the west as opposed to having to fly northeast to EMI. The controller offered me 330 while he worked on conflicts. I cancelled IFR to fly due west and get around dulles traffic on my own when a few moments later I noticed the low voltage light illuminated. That light sure was important. I called ATC and told them I had an electrical system failure and was going to circle for a few minutes while troubleshooting. They said fine and I intended to stay at 4;500 ft but almost certainly deviated several hundred feet either way while reviewing the emergency procedures while flying in circles. (I was VFR and did not declare an emergency.) at that point I concluded the safest thing to do was to return to land at my home airport about 20 miles away inside the sfra. I requested clearance to do that and it was granted. I was instructed to fly to the airport and remain clear of the class bravo airspace. Because I was at 4;500 ft and at the edge of the sfra this required me to lose 1;000 ft of altitude before I could head on course; which I did. But I was fairly well astonished that they would not provide me with a bravo clearance at 4;500 to descend back to the airport. My next goal was to get the landing gear down and locked before running out of electricity. After slowing to gear operation speed I dropped the gear and the battery thankfully had enough juice left to cycle the gear and display the green light. I flew direct to the airport and landed without incident. I do not know what exactly was wrong with the electrical system. I do know that in the heat of the moment I did not think to cycle the circuit breaker for the alternator to see if that would make any difference.I do not think I violated any airspace or rules while diagnosing the problem and returning to land but there is a small chance that I might have clipped the corner of the sfra while circling or I might have entered the sfra slightly about 3;500 ft which is the start of the class bravo airspace. Given that I was in VMC; this was an urgent but not an emergency situation. However; I have to say that fear of the sfra and the FAA and the related rules were all very much front and center in my mind at a time when I would have really liked to be focused exclusively on safety. For example; when I was ready to return to land I thought to myself 'do I need to switch frequencies to flight service to file a new flightplan since one is required to enter the sfra?' I concluded that would be insane to do and that I would sooner rather have declared an emergency but; of course; that is something all pilots want to avoid as well. Overall the controllers did a nice job and I got back down safely and without causing any problems for other folks that I know of. I'm just hoping now that I didn't inadvertently break a minor rule while handling the situation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: When a C182RG pilot lost his alternator while operating in the vicinity of the Washington SFRA; airspace and legalitly issues with respect to his return to his departure airport compromised his ability to concentrate on the safety aspects of his task.

Narrative: I started IFR and took off looking for an immediate turn to the west as opposed to having to fly northeast to EMI. The Controller offered me 330 while he worked on conflicts. I cancelled IFR to fly due west and get around Dulles traffic on my own when a few moments later I noticed the low voltage light illuminated. That light sure was important. I called ATC and told them I had an electrical system failure and was going to circle for a few minutes while troubleshooting. They said fine and I intended to stay at 4;500 FT but almost certainly deviated several hundred feet either way while reviewing the emergency procedures while flying in circles. (I was VFR and did not declare an emergency.) At that point I concluded the safest thing to do was to return to land at my home airport about 20 miles away inside the SFRA. I requested clearance to do that and it was granted. I was instructed to fly to the airport and remain clear of the class Bravo airspace. Because I was at 4;500 FT and at the edge of the SFRA this required me to lose 1;000 FT of altitude before I could head on course; which I did. But I was fairly well astonished that they would not provide me with a Bravo clearance at 4;500 to descend back to the airport. My next goal was to get the landing gear down and locked before running out of electricity. After slowing to gear operation speed I dropped the gear and the battery thankfully had enough juice left to cycle the gear and display the green light. I flew direct to the airport and landed without incident. I do not know what exactly was wrong with the electrical system. I do know that in the heat of the moment I did not think to cycle the circuit breaker for the alternator to see if that would make any difference.I do not think I violated any airspace or rules while diagnosing the problem and returning to land but there is a small chance that I might have clipped the corner of the SFRA while circling or I might have entered the SFRA slightly about 3;500 FT which is the start of the Class Bravo airspace. Given that I was in VMC; this was an urgent but not an emergency situation. However; I have to say that fear of the SFRA and the FAA and the related rules were all very much front and center in my mind at a time when I would have really liked to be focused exclusively on safety. For example; when I was ready to return to land I thought to myself 'do I need to switch frequencies to Flight Service to file a new flightplan since one is required to enter the SFRA?' I concluded that would be insane to do and that I would sooner rather have declared an emergency but; of course; that is something all pilots want to avoid as well. Overall the controllers did a nice job and I got back down safely and without causing any problems for other folks that I know of. I'm just hoping now that I didn't inadvertently break a minor rule while handling the situation.

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.