Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30; Flight Crew Total 195; Flight Crew Type 195
Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Troubleshooting; Distraction
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew FLC complied w / Automation / Advisory
Aircraft; Human Factors
About 10 minutes after my departure from ZZZ; and at 4;000 feet MSL; I noticed my alternator charging light began to flicker. A few seconds after noticing the flickering; it illuminated and remained illuminated. I immediately queued ATC and told them the situation and asked if there was a nearby airport with a repair facility I could land at for repairs. ATC did not have specific information about repair facilities; so I just decided to turn back to ZZZ and land. ATC cleared me to return and provided situational awareness by telling me where the airport is in relation to me which helped me visually find the airport in minimal time. I noticed at this time that the alternator charging light had turned off. They cleared me a for a visual approach; I changed frequency; landed; and made a radio call and phone call to ATC to let them know I was on the ground.After landing; I taxied to the FBO. I called both my past flight instructor and the flight school owner from which I rented the plane from. I advised them both of the situation and we discussed my options. Also; there were 3 lineman at the airport who were also pilots or pilots in training who were happy to talk the situation over with me. The consensus among us was that since it was a clear VFR night; it would not be unreasonable to just conduct the flight under VFR to my destination in ZZZ1 if the alternator were to fail again in flight. I could turn my electrical components off to save battery power; navigate under VFR with the GPS on my iPad; and turn the radios back on when approaching my destination to coordinate landing.I topped off my fuel tanks and did the run-up which showed the alternator was working and so I departed once again. Again; 10 minutes into my flight the alternator charging light began to flicker before turning on completely. I noticed this time the ammeter showed a discharge as well. I performed the alternator re-set procedure; which did not solve the problem. I again queued ATC; advised them of the situation; and told them I wish to proceed to ZZZ1 under VFR in radio silence. They agreed with my request and I re-iterated that I would also be turning my transponder off. I turned off all avionics and the master switch to conserve battery power for when I would need it. At this time; it completely slipped my mind that I need to have my navigation lights on at a minimum when flying night VFR; and so I continued my flight to ZZZ1 without them. My focus on this time was on seeing my instruments as best I could; navigating with my iPad; and generally maintaining the best situational awareness I could. My altitude was 5;000 feet the entire flight back.En route; about the time I overflew ZZZ2; I noticed that the area in front of me was beginning to appear hazy. I then checked my iPhone and it had picked up enough of a internet signal to refresh my EFB to show that an icing airmet was issued just ahead of me that just barely cut into my route of flight. I decided in the moment to continue to ZZZ1 while making sure that ZZZ2 remained in my sights in case I need to turn back. About halfway to ZZZ1; fighting about a 35 kt. headwind; the haziness appeared to increase and I felt that I should be able to at least see the city lights from where I was. At this time I noticed that ZZZ2 was also beginning to appear hazy behind me and so I had to make a decision. I turned my radios on; with the alternator still failing; and contacted ZZZ1 and asked for their weather and advised them of my situation. They advised that they were marginal VMC with a ceiling of 1600 feet. I knew immediately that I was not going to fly into IMC on battery power alone and so I began an immediate turn back to ZZZ2 for landing. ATC at both ZZZ1 and ZZZ2 coordinated and cleared me for a quick landing. Due to the strong tailwind I arrived at ZZZ2 very quickly with a groundspeed of about 140 kts. I landed uneventfully and taxied to the FBO and got a hotel for the night. I noticed during taxi that the alternator light had turned off.The next morning I contact the flight school owner and we again discussed my options for getting back to ZZZ1. It was projected to be a clear VFR day and I intended to fly to ZZZ1 under daytime VFR with the same plan I had for the night flight from yesterday. I waited until it was clear VMC; contacted ATC and requested flight following; and again during run-up the alternator was shown to be working; and again it began to fail about 10 minutes after departure. This time I told ATC pre-emptively that I may be turning my radios and transponder off during the flight since my alternator was questionable. After it began to fail; I turned off components one by one and saw that with the landing lights; pitot head; rotating beacon; navigation lights; and strobes off the alternator was somewhat able to work with a decreased load. However this only bought me about 2-3 minutes of time before the warning light turned on again and ammeter showed a discharge. I again tried the re-set procedure which did not fix the problem; and then contacted ATC to let them know I was turning off my radios and transponder and proceeding to ZZZ1 under VFR. About 10 miles from ZZZ1; with them expecting my arrival; I turned my radios and transponder back on and coordinated my arrival. In my recollection I was cleared for landing before I asked them if I could turn my radios off and turn them back on the ground (for taxi instructions in case the battery died during my landing). At this point the Controller said he was [requesting priority handling] for me. After this I kept my radios on and landed uneventfully. A fire truck met me on the runway before ATC gave me taxi instructions back to the GA ramp. I taxied back without issue and again noticed the alternator showed to be working again while I was taxiing. I powered down and exited the aircraft without issue.
C172 pilot reported an electrical malfunction and the decision to continue on multiple flights.