Narrative:

I suffered a total electrical failure in IMC at night. I was expecting VFR on the other side of the range. I had oxygen for the expected higher portions of the trip but no reserve. I took a vector to avoid terrain just before the failure but was climbing to 15;000 for the initial part of the flight. I am very familiar with this route. I got some guidance briefly from the king 135 [GPS] with everything else off and set a course for VOR but this lasted only a few minutes. Communication with ATC was spotty with some relayed messages from an airline flight and some from my handheld backup. I had a headlight to watch the instruments. I did establish communication with ATC on my cell phone and they assured me the nearest airport was reporting VFR but there was cloud in the way at my altitude. They did establish me as a primary target but I had contact with the ground north of the nearest airport and basically refused to re-enter IMC to get to the nearest airport. I also think I began to doubt they really had me on radar because I should have been able to see the airport if I was where they said I was. I could see a city to the north and a second city in the far distance and continued east. As I descended to about 11;000; I could see what had to be city by the nearest airport behind me and I turned back briefly but could not make the airport so I turned east for the other city again and at some point descended below my last assigned altitude. I was able to talk to center on the handheld. At some point I ran out of oxygen. In retrospect there is not much excuse for that. I suppose I might have descended towards the nearest airport but even in retrospect staying VFR seems much safer. ATC was fantastic; it helped me to relax when I was able to speak with them. They had runway lights on and coordinated with each other. I really appreciated their help and told them they were my heroes. I felt kind of guilty that they would be worried. I only had the C182 because my [twin] was getting an annual inspection. I was scheduled to work but probably should have reconsidered a night; single-engine IMC flight; particularly in mountainous terrain. The fact that I have always flown this part of the world and was very familiar with the route made me complacent.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182 pilot reports a total electrical failure in IMC at night over mountainous terrain. With ATC assistance the reporter is able to land safely.

Narrative: I suffered a total electrical failure in IMC at night. I was expecting VFR on the other side of the range. I had oxygen for the expected higher portions of the trip but no reserve. I took a vector to avoid terrain just before the failure but was climbing to 15;000 for the initial part of the flight. I am very familiar with this route. I got some guidance briefly from the King 135 [GPS] with everything else off and set a course for VOR but this lasted only a few minutes. Communication with ATC was spotty with some relayed messages from an airline flight and some from my handheld backup. I had a headlight to watch the instruments. I did establish communication with ATC on my cell phone and they assured me the nearest airport was reporting VFR but there was cloud in the way at my altitude. They did establish me as a primary target but I had contact with the ground north of the nearest airport and basically refused to re-enter IMC to get to the nearest airport. I also think I began to doubt they really had me on radar because I should have been able to see the airport if I was where they said I was. I could see a city to the north and a second city in the far distance and continued east. As I descended to about 11;000; I could see what had to be city by the nearest airport behind me and I turned back briefly but could not make the airport so I turned east for the other city again and at some point descended below my last assigned altitude. I was able to talk to Center on the handheld. At some point I ran out of oxygen. In retrospect there is not much excuse for that. I suppose I might have descended towards the nearest airport but even in retrospect staying VFR seems much safer. ATC was fantastic; it helped me to relax when I was able to speak with them. They had runway lights on and coordinated with each other. I really appreciated their help and told them they were my heroes. I felt kind of guilty that they would be worried. I only had the C182 because my [twin] was getting an annual inspection. I was scheduled to work but probably should have reconsidered a night; single-engine IMC flight; particularly in mountainous terrain. The fact that I have always flown this part of the world and was very familiar with the route made me complacent.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.