Hi All,

A buddy of mine recently had some bad luck.  He was flying his Cessna 310 back from Calgary and enroute to Thunder Bay, the alternator light went on just before landing.  He landed in Thunder Bay, where he was overnighting, and contacted his mechanic who told him that it was probably a just a lose wire and that he had a backup alternator that could get him home (a few hour vfr flight) the next day.  So the next day he starts his plane, does a run up.  Then the RPM starts dropping, then MP drops and all of a sudden the engine stops.  Everything seized up and nothing (the starter or hand) could move the prop.  Anyhow, what the suspect happened is that a bearing or something got chewed up and the metal all went throughout the engine, turbo chargers, etc (everywhere the oil went).  Long story short, its going to be about $75,000 by the time he gets out of there flying again (he will probably get $17k for his core though)....  This got my thinking as our alternators on our IVP planes are at the front with no belts and I don't want to have the same thing happen ---  I have an ALX 9524R alternator --- what has been the experience of our fleet?  Do you guys do preventative maintenance or do you have any suggestions for me?  Or did my buddy just have some bad luck and I'm thinking too much?!

Regards,

Dico