Light aircraft electrical system safety
http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/SB08.pdf
Was reading this very good AOPA safety brief on electrical fires and it brought to mind the electrical fire that broke out in an avionics wiring loom while I was completing my twin rating near the DET VOR a couple of years ago. The fire was contained by switching off the master switch after a quick PAN call and the judicious use of a fire extinguisher but the white heat of the melting loom just a couple of inches from my right thigh is still etched in my mind. The fact that I was flying with a very experienced pilot and the ability to share the cockpit work load ultimately literally saved my bacon.
In fact three of the four in flight incidents I have encountered over the years have had electrical origins, the most stressful of which was a radio failure (carrier wave only) in class D airspace in IMC (the recovery from which situation was expedited by an incredibly “switched on” ATC approach controller at Bournemouth ).
Have I just been unlucky or are aging light aircraft becoming more liable to electrical faults (aging looms, pitot wiring etc)? With the gradual move to glass cockpits in GA are we are likely to see an increase in the criticality of electrical and avionics systems across the fleet and a corresponding increase in reported incidents?