A KING AIR C90 IN CRUISE HAD A COMPLETE ELECTRICAL SYS FAILURE CAUSED BY A SHORTED L STARTER GENERATOR.

Narrative

ON A PART 91 VFR FLT FROM MONTEREY; CA; TO NAPA; CA; I EXPERIENCED TOTAL ELECTRICAL FAILURE. THIS IS TYPICALLY A 30 MIN FLT IN THE KING AIR. MY FIRST INDICATION WAS DURING Clb out AT MRY WHEN DEP CTL HAD TROUBLE RECEIVING MY XMISSIONS. I CONTINUED TO CLB TO 8500 FT AND RESET THE GENERATORS. AFTER 10 MINS OF TROUBLESHOOTING I SHUT DOWN ALL THE NON ESSENTIAL ACCESSORIES AND ATTEMPTED TO LOWER THE GEAR. AT THIS TIME WE LOST ALL THE ELECTRICAL; INCLUDING THE GEAR SAFE LIGHTS. I CONTINUED TO NAPA AND PHONED THE TWR AND A MECH. A FLY-BY ESTABLISHED THE GEAR WAS NOT DOWN AND LOCKED. I THEN DID THE EMER EXTENSION AND ANOTHER FLY-BY WHICH ESTABLISHED THAT THE GEAR WAS DOWN. I LANDED AT NAPA WITHOUT INCIDENT. UPON INSPECTION IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE L STARTER GENERATOR HAD SHORTED OUT AND SUBSEQUENTLY DRAINED THE BATTERY. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR STATED THE ACFT WAS A KING AIR C90 AND HAD PREVIOUS ELECTRICAL PROBS WITH THE L STARTER GENERATOR BLOWING CURRENT LIMITERS. THE RPTR SAID THE STARTER GENERATOR SYS HAS BEEN RELIABLE WITH NO MAJOR PROBS. THE RPTR STATED THE L GENERATOR WAS DUE FOR REPLACEMENT THIS WK FOR TIME.