Pilot of a formation flight reported a wingman experienced an engine failure resulting in landing on...

Attributes
ACN	1475459
Time
Date	201708
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	RV-8
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 Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240 Flight Crew Total 11000 Flight Crew Type 280
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

I was part of a 6 ship formation flight. One of our wingman had a catastrophic engine failure. I became the emergency communicator while other wingmen searched for suitable landing areas. I was unable to raise ATC on 121.5 but was able to raise an airliner passing overhead. I squawked 7700 and circled over the wingman who had just successfully landed on a 2 lane country road. I circled for about 5 minutes and observed rescue vehicles and personnel on the scene. I received verbal radio communication from the downed pilot that he and his passenger were ok. At this point I squawked 1200 and told the airliner that the pilot was safely on the ground and had support vehicles around him. I believe the airliner relayed this info to ATC.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot of a formation flight reported a wingman experienced an engine failure resulting in landing on a highway.

Narrative: I was part of a 6 ship formation flight. One of our wingman had a catastrophic engine failure. I became the emergency communicator while other wingmen searched for suitable landing areas. I was unable to raise ATC on 121.5 but was able to raise an airliner passing overhead. I squawked 7700 and circled over the wingman who had just successfully landed on a 2 lane country road. I circled for about 5 minutes and observed rescue vehicles and personnel on the scene. I received verbal radio communication from the downed pilot that he and his passenger were OK. At this point I squawked 1200 and told the airliner that the pilot was safely on the ground and had support vehicles around him. I believe the airliner relayed this info to ATC.

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.