PA-44 Seminole/Turbo Seminole
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200; Flight Crew Total 750; Flight Crew Type 65
Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
Was practicing instrument approaches for a training flight. Upon starting the missed approach climbout there was a surge in the electricity shown through flickering lights; Low Bus annunciator indications; both alternators shown as inoperative; and a right ALT circuit breaker popped. We (my students and I) started turning off unnecessary equipment since we were running on our battery only; and on the way back toward the airport we started to smell something burning. The smell increased rapidly over the next 1-2 minutes and then the student observing in the back started to see smoke coming from the cockpit area. We immediately notified ATC at this point and told them we were going to land at the closest airport.
A PA-44-180 electrical system surged during a practice instrument approach go around resulting the loss of both generators and smoke in the cockpit so the flight landed at the nearest airport.