Declaring an Emergency

[JimNtexas]

What paperwork? I was in VMC on an IFR flight above an overcast at 9000 feet in an Archer when the alternator belt broke between San Antonio and Austin.

I needed to get down under that overcast ASAP, so I did what I was taught in the Air Force and declared an emergency. I shut down everything electrical except one radio, got a vector straight to the nearest ILS and landed without incident.

I filled out a NASA form, but never heard anything from the FAA and there was no other paperwork.

Jim

 

[Wiggums]

I've declared an emergency two times. The first time was minor, I made it back to the field and never had to fill out one piece of paperwork. A quick call to the tower to explain what happened was all that was needed. The second time I had to do all the paperwork, but that was more because of the state the aircraft ended up in, not because I declared and emergency.