By Ray Leis

You’re cranking along on an IFR cross-country in your new flivver with its all-electric panel. For the moment you are VFR on top, with lots of thick stratus below. There is some VFR weather behind you that can be reached easily fly if things don’t go well. But, it’s a smooth ride and you expect to arrive at your destination in another hour or so.

Then the trouble starts. The first indication—a discharging electrical system—goes unnoticed. Your last radio call to ATC was reported as weak. Your GPS navigator blinks once and dies, followed soon after by the engine instruments on your multi-function display. The alternator warning light comes…