King air 90 pilot reported an engine failure at FL220 and diverted to the nearest suitable airport.

Attributes
ACN	1444851
Time
Date	201704
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	King Air C90 E90
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Turbine Engine
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 3000 Flight Crew Type 150
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

I had 4 souls on board; 3 hours of fuel; we filed for FL220. We were in the air for almost an hour when I heard an explosion on the left engine; sparks were coming out the exhaust pipe. At time I was talking to ATC about my alternate destination. As soon I could I requested vectors to the nearest airport. At the same time I did a precautionary engine shutdown. I idled the power; fuel conditioner off; feather and fuel shut off valve off. At that time ATC told me I had an airport at 3 miles north; but I declined requesting a major airport with all the emergency equipment standing by. They told me about ZZZ1. I declined and requested ZZZ. We were heading that way while in the mean time I was trying to calm my crew and line up with the localizer for runway xxl. I intercepted the localizer; but I came in high so I desired to go-around and come back. I made left traffic for runway 33L. We landed safely without any issues.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: King Air 90 pilot reported an engine failure at FL220 and diverted to the nearest suitable airport.

Narrative: I had 4 souls on board; 3 hours of fuel; we filed for FL220. We were in the air for almost an hour when I heard an explosion on the left engine; sparks were coming out the exhaust pipe. At time I was talking to ATC about my alternate destination. As soon I could I requested vectors to the nearest airport. At the same time I did a precautionary engine shutdown. I idled the power; fuel conditioner off; feather and fuel shut off valve off. At that time ATC told me I had an airport at 3 miles north; but I declined requesting a major airport with all the emergency equipment standing by. They told me about ZZZ1. I declined and requested ZZZ. We were heading that way while in the mean time I was trying to calm my crew and line up with the localizer for runway XXL. I intercepted the localizer; but I came in high so I desired to go-around and come back. I made left traffic for runway 33L. We landed safely without any issues.

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.