Date: 201808
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Weather elements / visibility: 10
Light: Night
Aircraft: PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operator: FBO
Operating under: Part 91
Flight plan: None
Mission: Training
Flight phase: Cruise
Airspace: Class D ZZZ
ATC / advisory: Tower ZZZ
Aircraft component: DC Generator
Component problem: Design; Malfunctioning
Reporter organization: FBO
Reporter function: Pilot Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Private
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport
Contributing factors: Aircraft
Primary problem: Aircraft

Narrative: I was performing lesson four of the Commercial/Instrument course; with me were my CFI and a friend of mine observing. We planned to takeoff and go to practice area; after we got there our plan was to do some slow flight; stalls; [and] simulated emergencies before heading back to ZZZ for a few night landings. We took off around XA:12 local time; by XA:39 we were done with most of the stuff and were setting up for simulated emergencies; we started with electrical fire as called by my instructor; just as I was doing my emergency flows a flashing red annunciator showed up on our G1000nxi with the words 'ALTR fail' followed by a strong smoke smell coming from the air vents; at this point I opened the window on my side and closed the environmental controls. We immediately switched to CRM and I started running the alternator failure procedure posted in our checklist; the checklist items were not successful so we reduced electrical load and headed back to ZZZ. We were using our observer to monitor our battery volts while we arranged stuff with ATC and the [flight school]. By XB:02 we landed at ZZZ safely with 24.8 volts in our battery left. It is widely known here between students that alternator failures are very common on new Piper Archers; this is unacceptable when it happens this often. The plane I flew was a new Piper Archer with 32.3 hobbs before my flight. During my preflight I talked with my CFI about how in the maintenance log of the plane we saw it had the same alternator failure earlier that day after the other crew started the engine; the records showed a maintenance flight after that incident of 1 hour and the plane was turned to me for my flight. As I said before this is an issue that needs to be corrected; it is not supposed to happen this often especially in a learning environment for a flight student as it risks the safe operation of the flight. Corrective Action should be taken by [our flight school] and Piper Aircraft to stop this from happening as often as it does. If not I suggest the FAA to investigate further in this case of incidents within the organization.


Second narrative: New; low time Piper Archers at [the flight school] are notorious for experiencing alternator problems and have been for the entire time I have attended the school. During the pre-flight review of [Aircraft's] documents we came across such an issue that was reported earlier in the day. A mechanic had indicated that he had solved the problem (I don't recall the solution that was specified) and signed the aircraft off for return to service. The rest of the flight up to the incident was uneventful. At about XA:40; we got a red Alternator Fail CAS message; and immediately detected a burning smell. We opened a window for ventilation and promptly ran through the alternator failure checklist. The alternator circuit breaker (row 1 column 13) popped a few seconds after reactivation of the alternator as per the checklist. The checklist concluded with us deactivating the alternator and getting priority handling back to ZZZ airport. What concerns me is the repeated issues with alternators on brand new Piper Archer aircraft. I think it is unreasonable to have such a safety issue be commonplace; and it is my opinion that the issue should be looked into further at Piper and a fix found before any new deliveries of susceptible aircraft are made.


Synopsis: PA28 Archer pilot and observer reported an Alternator Fail message appeared; followed by a burning smell. Reportedly; this is a common occurrence with newer Piper Archer aircraft.