Complete electrical failure

Jim_R

Jim_R

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My Cherokee 180 just came out of annual...had a new engine monitor installed while it was down. I assisted with the process, so I'd been crawling all over my plane for the last several days. I also knew I was excited to get back in the plane and fly it and check out my new toy, and told myself to be extra careful during my first flights.

I should have listened to myself a little better.

Took it on a short hop for a checkout/shakedown flight and to refuel it, since one of the things done was to drain a tank to replace a leaky sender gasket. Even though I'd been crawling all over my plane, my mechanic and I were very careful about the first engine start (before we recowled) and I did a (normal) thorough preflight walkaround.

I also thought I did a thorough runup checkout. Incorporated the engine monitor into my runup engine performance evaluation. Did everything by the book.

Except, as it turned out, for the one thing I needed to do: Check the alternator.

Even though I have a step in the checklist, and even though I _always_ toggle a load and look for the ammeter needle to show the current draw on the alternator...I didn't do it this time.

And I didn't do it during my abbreviated runup after getting fuel.

And I didn't do it again during my abbreviated runup after picking up a passenger for a short overnight trip. (I was on an IFR plan in severe clear VMC.)

I didn't check the alternator needle 20 minutes into our flight when COM1 (a GNS 430W) suddenly dropped off. Nor did I check it 40 seconds later when COM2 went dark...though I did realize by that time that I was having a widespread electrical issue.

I wasn't savvy enough to immediately turn off the big loads like my strobes and landing lights. I did manage to dial in 7600 on the transponder about 60 seconds before it, too, went dark. Not sure if that squawk got out, or not.

I pulled out my handheld and plugged in my headset. I could still hear ATC, but they could not hear my transmissions, nor could a relay plane they tried to get to call me. I was able to respond to a heading change request, so they knew I could hear them, but shortly afterward I was handed off from Approach to Center, and then I couldn't hear Center.

By now, I had turned off all loads I could, and I checked all the breakers and tried cycling the alternator field switch, with no joy. I still had my yoke-mounted iFly GPS, and used it to figure out where the nearest airports were...I did not want to continue to my destination with no electrical system. Nearest public use airport was about 15 min away, but had no maintenance on the field and probably no rental car offices in the small town, so I elected to fly 15 min past it to the nearest town large enough to have maintenance and cars. That field also had a tower, and I was able to communicate with them via the handheld while still about 20 mi out, advised them of my situation, and canceled IFR.

I should also mention that without electrical I had no autopilot, and during the commotion to retrieve my handheld and charts from my flight bag in the back seat, there were a few...lets say altitude and heading deviations. The ride had already been a little bit bumpy, and my passenger, who was already stressed by the situation, began to get a bit queasy at this point, and I once again had to reach into the back seat for the sick sacks.

The iFly does not have an internal battery, but I keep a backup in my bag: it's a combo charger/battery pack loaded with 10 AA batteries and it has a cigarette lighter jack. I have tested this config in my living room before, and knew that it provided about an hour of run time. I also periodically recharge the Sanyo Eneloop batteries in that gizmo, and in fact had just done that the night before this flight, so it was in perfect shape for this situation.

Except that when I needed it, it didn't work. The iFly would not run on that battery pack for some reason, so I ended up losing that GPS, too.

Tower didn't have radar, but ATC still had my primary radar return and relayed vectors to the field, which helped with my navigation, since I had mis-identified a road and was flying about 30 deg off-course. After they got me pointed correctly, I was able to find the airport with no trouble.

However, the stress and commotion in the cockpit took its toll on me. I was cleared for a runway into the wind, but ended up lining up for the wrong runway. Tower gave me the option to use that runway if I wanted to, and since I just wanted to be on the ground at this point, I took it. That was a bad decision.

What's the first rule when dealing with any situation in an airplane? "Fly the airplane." Well, I had sort of managed to do that, albeit not with grace and aplomb, through this episode, until I reached the runway threshold, at which point I think I mentally let go. After all I had just been through, I forgot to fly the plane onto the runway, and whaddya know? Planes don't just land themselves.

I carried two notches of flaps into a strong crosswind. I flared too high. I didn't keep the nose centered. We came down hard in a crab and bounced. The plane wobbled and came back down on one wheel, still crabbed. For a few seconds, I thought the wingtip was going to bite and we were going to cartwheel.

Somehow, I (or more likely, the laws of physics despite me) managed to get all three wheels on the ground with the nose pointed down the runway and some braking action applied.

Definitely the worst landing of my entire short piloting career (300 hrs), to go along with the worst flight of my career. Also had to call ATC afterward, of course, and explain what happened.

I learned a lot of lessons as a result of this experience:

  1. Listen to that little voice that tells you you're at risk of making stupid mistakes. Don't just double-check...triple check everything to make sure you're not missing something. And if you can't bring yourself to do that...maybe you shouldn't be flying until you settle down and can.
  2. Don't forget the ammeter as part of your normal scan. (I was too busy playing with my new engine monitor and trying to learn its leaning and fuel flow functions and neglecting my other instruments.) When anything electrical stops working, check the ammeter.
  3. My passenger on this trip is a regular companion on my flights, but it had never occurred (to either of us) in the dozens of previous flights to get her familiar with the basic flight controls so that she could hold us generally straight and level while I was digging for things in the back seat or fiddling with charts and handheld radio and such. Going forward (if she ever joins me in the plane again!), we agreed that she would get that experience.
  4. I am going to talk to the avionics shop about options for connecting my handheld to an external antenna to improve broadcast range.
  5. I am going to reconsider my iFly backup battery situation.
  6. Last but not least, if/when something like this happens again, I am going to try harder to FLY THE AIRPLANE until I'm on the ground and completely stopped. (This one surprised me...I really thought I at least already knew this lesson. Talk about a wake-up call.)
It's pretty humbling to realize that probably, everything bad that happened in the air could have been avoided had I simply glanced at my ammeter even ONE TIME either on the ground or within the first 20 min of the flight...sigh.
 
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I was getting very nervous just reading your story! As someone who's just started the cross-country phase of her training, I can't begin to imagine dealing with all that and trying to fly the plane. Glad you returned to earth safely, even if the landing wasn't pretty.
 
This is a great writeup on how a very simple problem can potentially lead to something much bigger in the world of GA. I'm glad your story had a positive outcome at least.
 
Great story, great lessons, glad it turned out well. I would submit it to either Flying Magazine or EAA for their "true pilot stories" section(I forget the real names of the columns, but I think you know what I mean). Given the anti AOPA sentiment, I am afraid to mention them.

It really shows how a small mistep can snowball into disaster, and many a lesser pilot would not have had the same postive outcome, unfortunately.
 
Very useful story, and brave of you to admit to this. Good pilots learn from their mistakes, and it sounds like you learned a lot.
 
Ended well, all's well. Lesson learned.

Thanks for sharing, guarantee you have helped a few of us here just for so doing. :yes:
 
My question is...

Why are you taking a non-pilot with you on the first flight out of annual? I always fly at least an hour and 3 landings before a non-pilot climbs aboard.

Exception: The A&P/IA who did the annual can ride along on the first flight.
 
As the bad guy in the IP seat, I'm continually amazed at the sloppiness and/or total disregard of checklists by a high percentage of pilots. When an in-flight problem arises due to such screw-ups, the answer/excuse most often starts with "but I always do that" (whatever it was that he/she forgot that caused all the grief).

And my immediate and empathetically-appropriate response is "well, you obviously didn't always do it this time, Einstein, so now what's your plan now that you have put your foot in it?

The usual response to any question about incorporating better checklist usage into the flying routine is "I'm not flying a f***ing jet and don't need all that crap."

Jim's story provides all the proof necessary to disprove those notions.
 
I had a similar electrical failure at about your total time in the Aztec. I guess it was more like 400 TT, close enough. Despite having two alternators, the factory ammeter in that plane was about as useful as a bathing suit in a nuclear reactor, and never provided any meaningful numbers. I had two alternators, so this shouldn't happen.

Turns out the plane probably had already suffered a left alternator failure before I bought it, and never noticed (again, crappy instrumentation). The right alternator then seized a bearing, broke the case, and eventually the battery gave out with symptoms similar to yours. I ended up dead reckoning/496ing my way back home.

What that caused me to do was buy a voltmeter that was actually useful, vs the worthless factory ammeter. If your engine monitor is a JPI, it should yell at you automatically about low voltage. I make a habit of checking both alternators every flight in the 310.

Sounds like you learned something. Fortunately, this occurred on a nice day. You may not be so fortunate next time.
 
The new engine monitors can be set to notify the pilot if the voltage falls below 12v or what ever you set it at. At the first hint of problems you can start shutting down high electrical loads.
 
In my case, once I realized the problem I canceled IFR with ATC and then shut off the master switch. Left the little remaining power I had to call tower back home and make it in. Hydraulic landing gear and flaps was certainly nice that day.
 
I have also found that the first instrument to go when the voltage is dropping is the JPI. I use shore power in the Arrow when I am practicing with the GPS or checking out anything with the electronics. My shore power consists of an auto battery that I keep trickle charged. When I want to work with the electronics I plug power into the jump jack and drain the auto battery instead of the ships battery. I know when I have had things on too long when the JPI goes blank.
 
I actually had an issue like this once. I was doing an NDB approach and back then I was taught to always listen to the identifier while doing the approach so you knew if there was an issue with the station. Well in the middle of the procedure turn inbound the id went out (needle still looked good) so after a min or two of searching around I realized there was no alt and battery was getting weak. Lucky I was in decent weather at the time, so I just started load shedding and made a no-flap uneventful landing.

Good story and Im sure you will remember that one.
 
Jim_R said:
[*]Last but not least, if/when something like this happens again, I am going to try harder to FLY THE AIRPLANE until I'm on the ground and completely stopped. (This one surprised me...I really thought I at least already knew this lesson. Talk about a wake-up call.)
Click to expand...
Thanks to the OP for sharing. It's a good thing for all of us.

"Fly the airplane" can be applied to all aspects of such flights but I'd observe that something very specific occurred around the landing. The OP recognized it but it deserves some expansion.

After an extended period of high stress piloting there can be a giant let down once the stress is relieved. In this case, lining up on the runway for landing relieved the stress and the OP "stopped flying the plane". I'm sure there is some physiological explanation for it involving adrenaline or something but it is more than just "forgetting to keep flying the plane".

I observed and experienced it more than a few times when racing sailplanes. Suffice to say that after an hour or two of high stress piloting, the last obstacle to overcome is the let down that occurs when it's all over.

We've all experienced it. After getting lost or disoriented we suddenly figure out where we are and all is good. After pounding around in some convective crap we break out into clear smooth air and 'ahhhhh', all is good. No problem when the next thing you have to do is essentially nothing but to keep flying the plane at 5,000'.

It's a whole different situation when the 'ahhhhh' moment occurs at 500' lined up on final as it did here. There's a tendency for the mind and body to sort of shut down. At 5,000' that's not really a problem, but close to the ground it can bring a tragic end to an otherwise successful recovery.

If you recognize the potential problem, what can you do about it? The best I can come up with is to remember to "switch gears and psych-up" until it all stops moving.

In racing it seemed that almost every flight was stressful and almost every landing was subject to a let down. I made opening a certain noisy vent a part of my landing routine. The vent blew a blast of air in my face and the noise blanked out the audio instruments. The vent was an uncomfortable and persistent reminder that the flight was about to end but I still had to get it on the ground and stopped whether it was an airport or not. It got me on my toes so to speak.

When I started tail dragging in my Maule, I expanded on something that a CFI had suggested. If I had any reason to think that the landing might be tough or that the pilot wasn't on his toes, I'd take a second in the pattern to reposition my feet on the pedals, put some pressure on them, waggle the tail a bit, or in some cases do a little left-right slip dance just to get the feel of things. All aimed at getting psyched-up and literally on my toes.

I don't have a 'trick' to use now except to get off the AP and fly the plane for a bit. I hope my awareness of the let down phenomena is ingrained enough that I'll recognize it when I need to. Still looking for a 'trick' to use.
 
The OP may find this helpful:

I'm a non-pilot, but I fly in single engine aircraft often. One thing I always offer to do is to read thru the checklist for the pilot. Some pilots take me up on it, others don't. Since the OP flies with this passenger often, he could let her read thru the checklist for him, and he could show her the various gauges, indicators, etc. This would help him make sure the the whole checklist had been completed, as well as familiarize his passenger with the aircraft.
 
Glad it worked out for you. I had an alternator fail in a Mooney a few weeks ago that I was flying to Texas. The failure though was pretty obvious as there were multiple indications informing me of such (low voltage annunciator, JPI low voltage alarm, ammeter indicating discharge). It was VFR so it was just an inconvenience more so then an actual problem -- after failing to bring the alternator back online -- I just told ATC what was up, cancelled IFR, turned off the master, and landed at an airfield. In my case I wanted to save all my power for the purpose of putting the landing gear and flaps down and to prevent damaging the battery by discharging it too much.

The main thing to remember is that you should continue to fly the airplane and then *THINK* for a moment. Too many people start rushing into actions that aren't the best within seconds because they didn't try to think. Develop a plan, reference the flight manual and checklists if needed, then execute. Loosing an alternator in VMC is not an immediate safety concern. Smashing your airplane up because you didn't think about the runways is.
 
I've been along on a flight that had no real electrical power. I was in the back of an arrow that must have dropped its alt on the way to a fly out, as when the PIC tried to call tower to say we were ready for take off keying the mike shut down the radios. We turned off the master and had a short pow wow coming to the conclusion that on a nice VFR day in ohio the trip would be no problem sans electrics. So we got our take off clearance via cell phone and blasted off, saving the battery for the short run into the mode c veil of CVG as well as gear position verification.
 
Thanks to all for the helpful and thoughtful comments. Here are a few follow-ups:

1) Just got back from picking up the plane. Turns out, the field wire had come uncrimped from the terminal on the alternator. I'm guessing that happened during the engine cleaning just before we recowled. As I suspected, the effect of that problem would have certainly been obvious had I even once ever looked at the ammeter, either during my runup checklist or while en route.

2) Re: the comment about taking a passenger too soon after annual, I did fly the plane for ~45 minutes prior to picking up my passenger, during which I checked out engine performance, flight characteristics and control surface rigging, autopilot behavior, two engine starts, takeoffs, and landings, etc. Again, I cannot say why I was utterly blind to the ammeter, but the explanation is not as simple as "I was ignoring everything and the ammeter just happened to be one of the things I ignored". At some point, you have to decide, "Yes, I've checked out the plane and it's ready for passengers." I honestly thought I had done that.

3) A couple of folks have mentioned that engine monitors can help identify / annunciate electrical system failures. The new engine monitor I installed, an Insight G3, has bus voltage prominently displayed at the top middle of the main / default screen. In fact, the G3 was the last device to continue working after everything else had died, though the display was very dim. Just before I turned off the master, I remembered to look at that parameter, at which time it was reading 6.6V! Part of the reason I got into this mess was because I was excited about learning how to use my new engine monitor, and I was fixated on it to the exclusion of my normal panel scan. The Insight G3 fits into a 2.25" instrument hole, so the display is not very large. That can be a pro or a con, depending on your perspective...if you don't have the panel space for a large display like a JPI x30, then the Insight's small size can be a bonus. Unfortunately, it also means that things aren't always displayed and/or don't just jump out at you. I was also handicapped by being simultaneously unfamiliar and excited with the unit. At the time I lost my first radio, I was fiddling with the fuel flow page on the Insight device, which does not include the bus voltage. When I finally did switch it back to the main page, the bus voltage was indicated in red, which would have been a good cue to me had it been displaying that page and had I included it in my scan.

I want to especially thank Bill Watson for his reply re: the landing. Of all the things that happened, that's the one I keep dwelling on. As others have mentioned, by that point, the crisis should have been well-averted. I had reestablished my location, my communications with ATC, and was in a familiar domain where I had all the tools I needed to execute successfully...and yet I still faltered. I appreciate Bill's insight into why that happened, even if he has no fail-safe "trick" for how to prevent it in the future.
 
And some people wonder why we still find magnetos in airplanes...
 
Dan Thomas said:
And some people wonder why we still find magnetos in airplanes...
Click to expand...

Because developing a proper multi-port fuel injection system with distributorless ignition and a permanent magnet alternator as a dedicated power source (with the airframe as a backup - same as what turbines use) is prohibitively expensive?
 
Jim-

Not a lot to say other than good job. You got it back safely, no need to over analyze.

Sometimes I think we all just fly around practicing for the emergencies. When you look back sometimes those moments are the only ones that seem to really matter.
 
bbchien said:
Wow. Distracted by gizmos.
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That's certainly an important part of the story, yes. But it's not the whole story.

Ammeters are gizmos, too. All gizmos can provide useful data. It's up to the pilot to incorporate them properly. I failed to do that in this case.
 
Jim, either you have a spectacularly good battery or I'm suspecting that the field wire was not off from the outset of your flights, a 45 min flight AND two engine starts before you got started on the flight in question?

I'd suspect that the wire was knocked loose but not off and came loose with a little time and vibration. In my experience running off battery for that length of time, while it may not fully drain the battery will make it difficult if not impossible to find sufficient amps to feed the starter.
 
Wow...thanks for sharing this amazing story. There's not a pilot out there who can't learn from this. It shows courage that you chose to share your story, rather than cover up your mistakes.

I felt really stupid about forgetting to release my brakes for a recent take off. That too could have caused big problems. While it's true the SureCheck checks omitted this step and other checklists I've used since don't, at the end of the day, it was my responsibility to release the brake before take off.

Thanks again for having the courage to share this. Glad you made it back!
 
Skylane81E said:
Jim, either you have a spectacularly good battery or I'm suspecting that the field wire was not off from the outset of your flights, a 45 min flight AND two engine starts before you got started on the flight in question?

I'd suspect that the wire was knocked loose but not off and came loose with a little time and vibration. In my experience running off battery for that length of time, while it may not fully drain the battery will make it difficult if not impossible to find sufficient amps to feed the starter.
Click to expand...

You may be right, but I do have the Concorde RG 35AXC, it's only 6 mos old, and I always keep it on the Concorde-recommended battery minder, so it should have been in tip-top shape before I exposed it to this stress.

However, thinking back I actually started the engine several times...probably at least 5, and I had some trouble cranking it once when it was warm and probably turned the key about 10 times with 2 blades each time before it finally caught.

All that together does seem like an excessive amount of load to carry unless the battery was getting recharged for at least some of that time. The wire we found had pulled out of the crimped connector and was pretty old and oxidized. I had assumed it got blasted loose by the mineral spirits spray, but perhaps it was just weakened by that, and finally vibrated loose somewhere along the way.

One thing I haven't done is retrieve the data stored on my Insight G3 data card. I should be able to actually see the bus voltage vs. time and determine exactly when the battery started carrying all the loads....
 
Dan Thomas said:
And some people wonder why we still find magnetos in airplanes...
Click to expand...
I chose to put dual batteries, alternators and busses in my experimental. And yet gave little thought to an electronic ignition (backed up by a mag).

Call me old school but it's just my nod to the Steampunk aesthetic...
http://www.google.com/search?q=steampunk&aq=f&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#sclient=tablet-gws&q=steampunk+images&oq=steampunk+images&gs_l=tablet-gws.3..0l3.4067.6243.0.6733.7.5.0.2.2.0.126.525.2j3.5.0...0.0...1c.1.12.tablet-gws-psy.2dlMluSjlzQ&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.&bvm=bv.45960087,d.eWU&fp=bbd5aa951ebc7cb6&biw=1024&bih=673&biv=i%7C0%3Bd%7CMGzZbjhCU7CD8M%3A
 
Skylane81E said:
Jim, either you have a spectacularly good battery or I'm suspecting that the field wire was not off from the outset of your flights, a 45 min flight AND two engine starts before you got started on the flight in question?

I'd suspect that the wire was knocked loose but not off and came loose with a little time and vibration. In my experience running off battery for that length of time, while it may not fully drain the battery will make it difficult if not impossible to find sufficient amps to feed the starter.
Click to expand...

Yep, I think you're right
 
Jim, if the wire was corroded inside the crimp (invisible) you may even be looking at a coincidence with the timing relative the maintenance.
 
Nice post and thanks for sharing. What is everyones opinion on continuing on to a farther airport?

I am thankful my first electrical (alternator) failure was with a high time cfi. We noticed it early on because of a warning light, I believe. This was part of my 182 checkout so we practiced a no flap landing and even stopped for lunch. Not sure if that was right thing to do? We had enough juice to call tower 10mi out and it was a non event.



If this happened alone or at night,etc I most likely would have panicked more. Good lesson to keep flying the plane and not start a chain of events.

Especially for night flights i'll be sure to add check amps a second time in cruise.
 
Mike5250 said:
Nice post and thanks for sharing. What is everyones opinion on continuing on to a farther airport?
Click to expand...

I flew about 200 nm with the master switch off when it happened to me. All depends on what you're comfortable with. So long as you have no indications of fire, no reason you can't keep on flying.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
All depends on what you're comfortable with. So long as you have no indications of fire, no reason you can't keep on flying.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Had I been VFR, I would have simply turned around and flown back to my home 'drome, as it was only ~15 minutes farther away than the airport I deviated to.

Two factors made me want to put down sooner rather than later in this case:
1) I had just recently come out of annual and had done some work behind the panel. I could not rule out the possibility that there was something more sinister going on than just an alternator problem, and I wanted to limit the time I was exposed to an unknown problem possibly propagating into something larger.
2) I was IFR, and since I decided to deviate from my clearance, I wanted to reestablish comm as quickly as I could to cancel IFR and minimize any ATC disruptions I was causing. (Based on the problems I had getting anyone to hear my handheld, I thought I might need to do that by telephone after I was on the ground.)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Because developing a proper multi-port fuel injection system with distributorless ignition and a permanent magnet alternator as a dedicated power source (with the airframe as a backup - same as what turbines use) is prohibitively expensive?
Click to expand...

Turbines have ignition at startup only. If it's running it doesn't need any more spark.

A permanent-magnet alternator is what's inside a magneto. It's been there for more than a hundred years. The only bad things about the magneto are that set of contact points and the capacitor. E-Mag makes an uncertified magneto that has the breakerless setup (and is probably distributorless, too) and is trying to get certification. That, and liability insurance, are where the costs lie. Don't blame the industry for being behind the times. Governments like power and lawyers like money. They're at fault here. In the meantime, those old magnetos keep on running when the aircraft's electrical system dies, as long as the mags themselves are maintained properly.

Dan
 
I'm sure you learned much from this experience and the impact of that hasn't left you discouraged. About your reference to your checklist, you didn't say, but are you using your CL to verify the setup items you should already have done OR are you using the checklist step-by-step as a "Do" list. The industry and military have long since established that you should accomplish your cockpit setup from memory, then focus on verifying that with your printed checklist. You'll miss fewer CL items.

The other issue is: get rid of relying on those uncertificated and unreliable portable elecronic gadgets that have become so "essential". Learn basic piiotage and situational awareness. The airplane will "talk" to you without you being all immersed in the gadgets, and you know from experience now that they aren't always going to be there.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Turbines have ignition at startup only. If it's running it doesn't need any more spark.

A permanent-magnet alternator is what's inside a magneto. It's been there for more than a hundred years. The only bad things about the magneto are that set of contact points and the capacitor. E-Mag makes an uncertified magneto that has the breakerless setup (and is probably distributorless, too) and is trying to get certification. That, and liability insurance, are where the costs lie. Don't blame the industry for being behind the times. Governments like power and lawyers like money. They're at fault here. In the meantime, those old magnetos keep on running when the aircraft's electrical system dies, as long as the mags themselves are maintained properly.

Dan
Click to expand...

Dan, suffice it to say I probably have more experience developing and certifying aircraft engine control systems for pistons than anyone else on this board. I know what's involved.

My point was that it's not the industry's fault, it's the certification and liability issues. But while magnetos have various desirable features, they are not overall superior to what a modern ignition system would provide. I hear a lot of people say at an electrical failure how good it is we have magnetos, but the reality is that a certifiable system wouldn't care.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I flew about 200 nm with the master switch off when it happened to me. All depends on what you're comfortable with. So long as you have no indications of fire, no reason you can't keep on flying.
Click to expand...
nless you have continentals where the alternator drive may have come apart and be chewing up your engine. I'd land and have a look in that case. Belt driven alternator, no worries keep on trucking.
 
JHW said:
nless you have continentals where the alternator drive may have come apart and be chewing up your engine. I'd land and have a look in that case. Belt driven alternator, no worries keep on trucking.
Click to expand...

That's a good point and a consideration for gear driven alternators. Fortunately, I have belt driven.
 
The first 3 things I look for after engine start are oil pressure, vacuum (if applicable) and alternator output.
 
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