Battery failure results in a total loss of electrical power for a cessna 210 pilot; the pilot subseq...

Narrative:

Started as a local pleasure flight of about one hour. Upon returning I was unable to contact the tower; or anyone; on either comm. I circled about a mile from the tower looking for a light. I never saw any light from the tower. I saw several airplanes in the traffic pattern for xx; the active runway. Runway xy had no traffic because it was closed for maintenance. Runway xy was clear except for a small truck parked the edge of the runway. Dealing with a small truck on the edge of xy seemed much less risky than several airplanes on the active runway xx. It turned out to be battery failure. However; at the time I didn't realize that and it didn't manifest itself all at once. I could receive but could not transmit. Then other failures occurred. Eventually I had no electrical power at all; not even gear lights. I had started the flight with 50 gallons of gas but seeing the gauges at zero didn't help. The stress was beginning to mount. I wanted to get on the ground quickly and as safely as possible. I felt that I had a real emergency. I landed on runway xy; the closed runway; without incident. After parking the airplane I called the tower on the phone. Discussing what had happened he said I should have flown past the tower while rocking my wings to get his attention. Then he would have cleared the traffic pattern and then would have given me a green light to land. In more than forty years of flying I have never had a comm or battery failure. The fly-by the tower procedure didn't occur to me. I was uneasy getting with in even one mile of the tower without clearance.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Battery failure results in a total loss of electrical power for a Cessna 210 pilot; the pilot subsequently landed on a closed runway under emergency conditions.

Narrative: Started as a local pleasure flight of about one hour. Upon returning I was unable to contact the tower; or anyone; on either COMM. I circled about a mile from the tower looking for a light. I never saw any light from the tower. I saw several airplanes in the traffic pattern for XX; the active runway. Runway XY had no traffic because it was closed for maintenance. Runway XY was clear except for a small truck parked the edge of the runway. Dealing with a small truck on the edge of XY seemed much less risky than several airplanes on the active Runway XX. It turned out to be battery failure. However; at the time I didn't realize that and it didn't manifest itself all at once. I could receive but could not transmit. Then other failures occurred. Eventually I had no electrical power at all; not even gear lights. I had started the flight with 50 gallons of gas but seeing the gauges at zero didn't help. The stress was beginning to mount. I wanted to get on the ground quickly and as safely as possible. I felt that I had a real emergency. I landed on Runway XY; the closed runway; without incident. After parking the airplane I called the tower on the phone. Discussing what had happened he said I should have flown past the tower while rocking my wings to get his attention. Then he would have cleared the traffic pattern and then would have given me a green light to land. In more than forty years of flying I have never had a COMM or battery failure. The fly-by the tower procedure didn't occur to me. I was uneasy getting with in even one mile of the tower without clearance.

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	844196
Time
Date	200907
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 210 Centurion / Turbo Centurion 210C 210D
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	AC Generation
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 20000 Flight Crew Type 150
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Incursion Runway

Battery failure results in a total loss of electrical power for a cessna 210 pilot; the pilot subsequently landed on a closed runway under emergency conditions.