A319
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Aircraft; Manuals; Procedure
Critical events and  emergencies need to be taken more seriously. This incident could have turned out very differently. I understand returning aircraft to service in a timely manner when it is a minor issue; but when we are talking about a total loss of electrical power; that is a very serious occurrence. Certain things should not be rushed and there should be no shortcuts.  It is mine boggling to me that this occurred twice in a 24 hour span in the same aircraft. That is completely unacceptable and this issue and needs to be looked into.Descending on the arrival into ZZZ;we were given descend and maintain 2;000 ft. Around 4;000 ft. I heard a 'clicking noise' which sounded like an electrical component or contactor opening or closing behind the Captain's seat and an ECAM message shortly after confirming we had a GEN2 failure. The noise is what I hear when a generator comes on line after starting an engine or the APU. Shortly after we heard another 'clicking noise' and generator 1 failed as well. The aircraft then entered the ELEC EMERGENCY CONFIGURATION. We were left with only the RAT (Ram Air Turbine) and the electrical and hydraulic components associated. This occurred on a downwind to Runway ZZL in visual conditions. Due to the nature of the emergency and the phase of flight we [Requested Priority Handling] and asked for an immediate visual approach to Runway XXL. We weren't sure if there was an electrical fire or what the nature of the emergency was. We agreed to land ASAP as per the ECAM. We confirmed the gear was down and didn't have enough time to fully run through the ECAM or COM procedures. After landing safely the aircraft was met by fire trucks and we were eventually towed to the gate in ZZZ safely. It was brought to our attention after arriving that this was the second occurrence in 24 hours with this aircraft. Maintenance simply wanted to do a 'reset' and an engine run up and see if they could duplicate the issue and release the aircraft back into service just as they did yesterday. Our Contract Maintenance Mechanic in ZZZ didn't feel comfortable with that and politely refused saying this aircraft needs a more thorough check of the electrical system. Something is causing this issue with the electrical system and it needs to be addressed immediately. There is no reason this aircraft should be returned to service until we know what is causing the issue and it is addressed appropriately.On a side note we were also given the wrong logbook in ZZZ1 before the flight. Fortunately we caught the mistake and were issued the correct logbook. I think there needs to be a little more sense of urgency within our Maintenance department. We got an apology from the Mechanic; but if we had not caught the mistake we'd have been in a bad situation after an emergency and we don't even have the correct log book. Once in ZZZ; The Maintenance Controller only seemed concerned about getting an aircraft returned to service as soon as possible to prevent delays and cancellations. This was obviously the same behavior the previous night in ZZZ1. This isn't a simple deferral or something that should just be brushed under the rug. If you are losing both engine generators within seconds of each other; that isn't a fluke. With both engines running normal; this shouldn't happen in an aircraft with a properly working electrical system.  This is a serious matter and needs to be addressed immediately.
Reporter stated that the same type of incident occurred the previous evening on the same aircraft.
Maintenance should try to put more effort into finding the problem of why something isn't working rather than trying to just get the logbook signed off ops checks OK. or could not duplicate. We have been seeing this more and more.I need to do a better job briefing even when it's clear and a million visual approaches.We were [flying] A319 flying from ZZZ1 to ZZZ on at approximately. It was clear skies with no wind. We were on downwind for Runway XXL at ZZZ in a descent from 4000 ft. to 2000 ft. We both heard a noise in the cockpit. The first officer asked if I heard something. The noise I heard sounded like electrical relays switching behind us. An ECAM message appeared on lower ECAM for GEN 2 FAIL. When I saw this I ordered gear down. My thoughts had already started towards trying to get the airplane on the ground sooner rather than later. We were in the traffic pattern at our destination airport when this all started to happen. When the gear came down we immediately heard the CRC; we lost the Autopilot; FD's; and Autothrust all at the same time. I also saw USE MAN PITCH TRIM in Amber above my attitude indicator. The First Officer lost his 3 screens and I immediately knew that we were in the emergency electrical configuration and this was going to be a Direct LAW landing. We turned towards the airport inside the final approach fix. We [Requested Priority Handling] requested fire rescue equipment to be standing by.We landed on Runway XXL at ZZZ. We rolled out to the end of the runway and managed to clear the runway. We stopped the aircraft safely; set the parking brake and shut down both engines. We had Fire rescue check the aircraft over. We never started the APU or requested external power to be plugged in. My thought was something is wrong with the AC buses knowing that we had just lost two generators within a few seconds.We made sure all FA's (Flight Attendants) and passengers on board were okay and we kept them in the loop and up to date with the information that we had.We requested a tug to tow us to the gate. Ground operation came out with a tug hooked up our aircraft and towed us to Gate. The Fire Chief continued to monitor us visually as we were being towed.At the gate we had external air hooked up and no External power. The plane was left at the gate with flaps out and RAT (Ram Air Turbine) extended. We made a logbook entry in the aircraft logbook. I called Maintenance control but couldn't reach anyone on [the] A319 line so I called the A320 line and finally got Maintenance to answer. I informed him we lost GEN 1 & 2 inflight and RAT is out. He told me that this was the second time this has happened in the last 24 hours.Contract Maintenance showed up to the aircraft. Maintenance Control talked with the Mechanic and I via phone and wanted the mechanic to reset the RAT and have us do an engine run and see if we could get the airplane moving again. The contract Mechanic told us that Company needs to bring in a team of Mechanics to dive in and see why this aircraft is tripping off generators.At the start of our day; ZZZ1 Maintenance brought us the wrong aircraft logbook. Thank goodness we caught this at the gate in ZZZ1 so we then had to call the Mechanics back out to bring us the proper aircraft logbook. I'm glad we had the right logbook at the end of this flight.
Flight Crew flying A319 aircraft encountered electrical failure in descent.