Narrative:

During cruise flight at 8;500 ft while squawking a discrete code and communicating with approach; communications began to fail. Upon evaluation I determined the aircraft was experiencing an electrical failure. I isolated the electrical load to one comm radio and transponder and advised approach; I was queried for my destination and given a new transponder code and frequency change; however prior to confirming radar contact with the new sector controller; lost remaining electrical power. As this point I judged the most appropriate course of action was to maintain altitude and heading for my destination; and upon exiting the boundary of the class B descend and land. My battery powered handheld GPS enabled me to confirm my exit from the class B prior to starting descent from 8;500 ft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C182 pilot reported that his aircraft lost total electrical power while transiting a busy Class B airspace. He maintained his last ATC assigned altitude and heading until clear of the Class B then descended to his destination.

Narrative: During cruise flight at 8;500 FT while squawking a discrete code and communicating with Approach; communications began to fail. Upon evaluation I determined the aircraft was experiencing an electrical failure. I isolated the electrical load to one comm radio and transponder and advised Approach; I was queried for my destination and given a new transponder code and frequency change; however prior to confirming radar contact with the new sector Controller; lost remaining electrical power. As this point I judged the most appropriate course of action was to maintain altitude and heading for my destination; and upon exiting the boundary of the Class B descend and land. My battery powered handheld GPS enabled me to confirm my exit from the Class B prior to starting descent from 8;500 FT.

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.