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A PA-22 pilot safely landed off airport following a power loss. After checking fuel; vacuum and finding no damage; the pilot took off from a country road and flew to his home airport where power was again lost during the approach to an on airport landing.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1251223 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201503 |
| 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 | PA-20 Pacer/PA-22 Tri-Pacer |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | Direct |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Engine |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Private |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 5 Flight Crew Total 116 Flight Crew Type 98 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
After climbing; engine starting to sputter. Pulled carb heat; seemed to help for 2-3 minutes; then sputting again; switched tanks; again seemed to help for a few minutes. I had a highway directly under me with only one car in sight; which would easily be passed under me; if I had to land. Then engine really went to idle; so with the clear road I landed on the road and pulled into the next approach. After inspecting the plane; no damage to be found; everything looked normal; I thought I might have had a vacuum problem; opened the gas cap and retightened. I then started to plane; ran fine; do run up and no problems. Then I turned the plane around and started again and run up was normal. I could see to approximately five miles each way; so with clear road; I took off again heading straight for the nearest small strip to have a mechanic look it over. It started to sputter again on downwind leg; but I was able to make a normal landing and taxi. I assume the mechanic may find a carburetor problem or debris in gas? Thank goodness my flight instructor made me do so many power out situations!
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A PA-22 pilot safely landed off airport following a power loss. After checking fuel; vacuum and finding no damage; the pilot took off from a country road and flew to his home airport where power was again lost during the approach to an on airport landing.
Narrative: After climbing; engine starting to sputter. Pulled carb heat; seemed to help for 2-3 minutes; then sputting again; switched tanks; again seemed to help for a few minutes. I had a highway directly under me with only one car in sight; which would easily be passed under me; if I had to land. then engine really went to idle; so with the clear road I landed on the road and pulled into the next approach. After inspecting the plane; no damage to be found; everything looked normal; I thought I might have had a vacuum problem; opened the gas cap and retightened. I then started to plane; ran fine; do run up and no problems. Then I turned the plane around and started again and run up was normal. I could see to approximately five miles each way; so with clear road; I took off again heading straight for the nearest small strip to have a mechanic look it over. It started to sputter again on downwind leg; but I was able to make a normal landing and taxi. I assume the mechanic may find a carburetor problem or debris in gas? Thank goodness my flight instructor made me do so many power out situations!
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.