C172 pilot reported intermittent electrical failure and return to the departure airport.

Attributes
ACN	1618609
Time
Date	201902
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	VFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Electrical Power
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 5820 Flight Crew Type 41
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

Total electrical failure on climb out from ZZZ. Electrical came back intermittently allowing the pilot to contact approach for clearance back to ZZZ and again to get landing clearance from ZZZ tower. No traffic conflicts during the recovery.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 pilot reported intermittent electrical failure and return to the departure airport.

Narrative: Total electrical failure on climb out from ZZZ. Electrical came back intermittently allowing the pilot to contact Approach for clearance back to ZZZ and again to get landing clearance from ZZZ Tower. No traffic conflicts during the recovery.

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.