Is my headset broken?

Sunny Saturday. Weather looks great for a VFR flight in one of the old 172s from Leesburg to BVI--just north of Pittsburgh to pick up a friend. Well, as luck would have it snow showers, ice, low vis, and ceilings enroute prevented me from departing. So, sitting at home I thought of my options. I really didnt want to waste the gorgeous weather we were experiencing at my home airport, and i had the plane reserved, so i decided to head out for an hour, put my ipod in my ear and shoot some approaches from the right seat since i am currently working in the CFII. I walk into the flight school and find a middle aged gentleman standing at the desk looking lost, but noone was at the desk to greet him. I walked over and introduced myself. As it turned out, he had just moved to northern VA and was looking for a flight school to finish his private pilot at. He was also looking to go flying. So, I wasnt scheduled for anything other than my own joy ride, and offered to take him up. Great, I thought. Someone to pay for my flight. So we departed the ADIZ and headed west towards KOKV-Winchester regional where I was to have him do a few landings and learn the area. Once outside the ADIZ we set up for steep turns....looked great. Then into slow flight and a power off stall. On recovery I noticed his flaps were sluggish. Then almost simultaneously my headset got weird. I thought maybe it was breaking on me(lightspeed headest too). then I noticed the radio stack was dead and the intercom was on its way out. The ammeter showed a large discharge. We were experiencing electrical failure. Returning to leesburg was not an option since the ADIZ notam states that two way radio comm must be established with Potomac Tracon and a discrete transponder code must be used. So, what to do? I took control of the airplane and had my new student run the emergency checklist. Nothing fixed the problem.......so time to land. I knew the area so it was no problem. except for the crosswind at winchester. this would be a test of my skills. I knew from my preflight weather briefing that winds were from the south, so we entered a 45 to the left downwind for runway 14. I flew a wider than normal pattern to give me a long final with a shallow descent. It worked beautifully. 75 mph all the way in, over the numbers into the sideslip, power to idle and the upwind wheel squeaked down followed by the downwind wheel and the nose. I stopped the airplane, taxied in and tied her down. We would be waiting for a few hours for a ride.

Whats ironic is that my DE on my PPL checkride in that same airplane simulated and electrical failure to show me what the overvolt light looks like and what the ammeter would look like. I got to do it for real with a student. Im sure he wont soon forget this lesson.

So, my first real emergency with a rather impromptu student, worked out for the best. I reacted like a CFI should, and kept calm in a mildly tense situation. Its all apart of the learning experience and is a reason why I think all aspiring pilots should instruct for at least a little while. And to think, I almost flew the same airplane to Pittsburgh in marginal weather, but that voice in the head said no. I can see why he said no now.