A beech C24 had a complete electrical failure while descending for landing. The pilot calmly request...

Narrative:

Approximately 15 miles from our destination; descending with intent to land at our destination (a class D; within ny class B) at approx 2;000 ft MSL; experienced total electrical failure. Only thing working was the garmin 396 on self contained battery power; easily showing GPS course (fan) for localizer 22 for our destination. [We] performed emergency gear extension; unable to verify 3 greens due to electrical failure. Transmitted in the blind for the tower; received a reply from someone identifying themselves as guard frequency (monitoring 121.5; default low volt frequency for garmin 430; monitored by a nearby airport?) I identified myself; explained my location and situation; and asked that he notify our destination tower that I was on the localizer course; approximately 10 miles out; requesting clearance for landing without direct communication. I told him that I did not have an emergency; required no other assistance; but that I needed our destination tower to know that I was coming to land. The voice on 'guard frequency' took aircraft number; souls on board; and gave me winds at our destination. I continued my approach; being vigilant for other traffic; and landed uneventfully on the runway. I called the tower after shutdown; and gave them my name and phone number; in case anyone had any issues. There seemed to be no issues; as they said they had notified the guard monitor and center that I had landed successfully. Someone identifying themselves from the FAA called me later to verify the occurrence; and I told him exactly what happened as described above. I realize that I landed at our destination without a specific tower clearance; but there was no way I could get one directly from them; and circling in class B airspace without a transponder might cause more concern; and having talked to a 'guard frequency' controller; I felt justified in doing so in this situation. It seems that our destination tower was expecting me anyhow. The system worked; although I would have preferred if our destination tower was monitoring guard frequency as well as the other airport. The aircraft electrical system is currently being looked into by mechanics at our destination.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Beech C24 had a complete electrical failure while descending for landing. The pilot calmly requested an anonymous 121.5 responder to relay landing clearance and proceeded to his destination.

Narrative: Approximately 15 miles from our destination; descending with intent to land at our destination (a Class D; within NY Class B) at approx 2;000 FT MSL; experienced total electrical failure. Only thing working was the Garmin 396 on self contained battery power; easily showing GPS course (fan) for Localizer 22 for our destination. [We] performed emergency gear extension; unable to verify 3 greens due to electrical failure. Transmitted in the blind for the Tower; received a reply from someone identifying themselves as Guard frequency (monitoring 121.5; default low volt frequency for Garmin 430; monitored by a nearby airport?) I identified myself; explained my location and situation; and asked that he notify our destination Tower that I was on the localizer course; approximately 10 miles out; requesting clearance for landing without direct communication. I told him that I did not have an emergency; required no other assistance; but that I needed our destination Tower to know that I was coming to land. The voice on 'guard frequency' took aircraft number; souls on board; and gave me winds at our destination. I continued my approach; being vigilant for other traffic; and landed uneventfully on the runway. I called the Tower after shutdown; and gave them my name and phone number; in case anyone had any issues. There seemed to be no issues; as they said they had notified the guard monitor and Center that I had landed successfully. Someone identifying themselves from the FAA called me later to verify the occurrence; and I told him exactly what happened as described above. I realize that I landed at our destination without a specific Tower clearance; but there was no way I could get one directly from them; and circling in Class B airspace without a transponder might cause more concern; and having talked to a 'Guard frequency' Controller; I felt justified in doing so in this situation. It seems that our destination Tower was expecting me anyhow. The system worked; although I would have preferred if our destination Tower was monitoring guard frequency as well as the other airport. The aircraft electrical system is currently being looked into by mechanics at our destination.

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.

Attributes
ACN	905693
Time
Date	201008
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	Sierra 24
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Electrical Power
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20 Flight Crew Total 3300 Flight Crew Type 40
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A beech C24 had a complete electrical failure while descending for landing. The pilot calmly requested an anonymous 121.5 responder to relay landing clearance and proceeded to his destination.