Narrative:

I was in the tower cab on break talking to the local controller. It was night time with overcast clouds around 4500 feet. There was no traffic on the radar inbound that we noticed as we scanned the display. Early in the morning; I noticed an aircraft taxiing northbound on taxiway a in front of the tower at a good rate of speed without any lights on. My first thought was that this aircraft was being stolen as I knew the local/ground controller had not issued any instructions to any aircraft. My second thought was that the aircraft missed the turn on the ramp and entered taxiway a by accident. We contacted airport operations to locate the aircraft to inform him about the dangers of taxiing without lights because he left the taxiway and entered the ramp at taxiway A4 so my second scenario was my gut feeling at this point. Airport operations found the aircraft and pilot which is when we were informed that the aircraft had 1) lost all electrical; 2) circled the field looking for a light gun; 3) thought he received one and 4) landed runway 35R. We never saw a target. All night long and even after the event; we had been getting primary targets that would appear; move and then disappear. During the daylight hours; there were numerous bird sightings so the local controller may have seen the target but didn't associate it with an aircraft plus we never heard him fly over head. Recommendation; I don't have any answers to help resolve this issue other than the pilot should have used his cell phone to contact the tower or someone to inform us of the situation and to be on the lookout. That's has been the way it has been handled by numerous pilots in similar circumstances in the past.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller described a night time event when ATC was unaware of an aircraft landing; reporter noted aircraft experienced a complete electrical failure.

Narrative: I was in the tower cab on break talking to the Local Controller. It was night time with overcast clouds around 4500 feet. There was no traffic on the RADAR inbound that we noticed as we scanned the display. Early in the morning; I noticed an aircraft taxiing northbound on Taxiway A in front of the tower at a good rate of speed without any lights on. My first thought was that this aircraft was being stolen as I knew the Local/Ground Controller had not issued any instructions to any aircraft. My second thought was that the aircraft missed the turn on the ramp and entered Taxiway A by accident. We contacted Airport Operations to locate the aircraft to inform him about the dangers of taxiing without lights because he left the taxiway and entered the Ramp at Taxiway A4 so my second scenario was my gut feeling at this point. Airport Operations found the aircraft and pilot which is when we were informed that the aircraft had 1) lost all electrical; 2) circled the field looking for a light gun; 3) thought he received one and 4) landed Runway 35R. We never saw a target. All night long and even after the event; we had been getting primary targets that would appear; move and then disappear. During the daylight hours; there were numerous bird sightings so the Local Controller may have seen the target but didn't associate it with an aircraft plus we never heard him fly over head. Recommendation; I don't have any answers to help resolve this issue other than the pilot should have used his cell phone to contact the tower or someone to inform us of the situation and to be on the lookout. That's has been the way it has been handled by numerous pilots in similar circumstances in the past.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.