Narrative:

I had a total electrical failure. The ammeter needle was around neutral before suddenly dropping to show a massive discharge. No breakers popped. After climbing out of the high traffic situation to 3;500ft; I decided against going to an uncontrolled airport and flying into ZZZ due to: -being uncomfortable with the short runway lengths at the uncontrolled airports-suspected extreme traffic volume at [uncontrolled airports] due to [a local air event] and not wanting to risk going there without radios-having proper equipment available in case of gear failure (due to electrical failure no gear down indicator but looking out the window available)-having proper maintenance for the aircraft after landingi did have a handheld radio and a cell phone with me. However; the cell did not have service at 3;500ft. I also learned that the handheld radio is almost worthless without an external antenna. I could not reach approach or tower and classifying my electrical problem as an urgency situation that if the gear had lost lock could well become an emergency; I decided to fly into ZZZ airspace and land there on the long runway. This seemed to me as PIC the safest course of action.after circling the tower 500ft above pattern altitude for 15mins and not receiving any light gun signals; I joined the pattern to look for light gun signals. After not getting any again; I went missed. On the second approach; just when turning base; I was finally able to reach the tower barely over my handheld. After securing the aircraft; I was advised to call tower to explain my situation and decision to fly into [a] class C airspace and land there.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C177 pilot reported a complete electrical failure.

Narrative: I had a total electrical failure. The ammeter needle was around neutral before suddenly dropping to show a massive discharge. No breakers popped. After climbing out of the high traffic situation to 3;500ft; I decided against going to an uncontrolled airport and flying into ZZZ due to: -being uncomfortable with the short runway lengths at the uncontrolled airports-suspected extreme traffic volume at [uncontrolled airports] due to [a local air event] and not wanting to risk going there without radios-having proper equipment available in case of gear failure (due to electrical failure no gear down indicator but looking out the window available)-having proper maintenance for the aircraft after landingI did have a handheld radio and a cell phone with me. However; the cell did not have service at 3;500ft. I also learned that the handheld radio is almost worthless without an external antenna. I could not reach approach or tower and classifying my electrical problem as an urgency situation that if the gear had lost lock could well become an emergency; I decided to fly into ZZZ airspace and land there on the long runway. This seemed to me as PIC the safest course of action.After circling the tower 500ft above pattern altitude for 15mins and not receiving any light gun signals; I joined the pattern to look for light gun signals. After not getting any again; I went missed. On the second approach; just when turning base; I was finally able to reach the tower barely over my handheld. After securing the aircraft; I was advised to call tower to explain my situation and decision to fly into [a] class C airspace and land there.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.