J3 pilot reported executing a safe and damage-free forced landing after the engine failed in flight.

Attributes
ACN	1576222
Time
Date	201809
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	J3 Cub
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
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 230 Flight Crew Total 2030 Flight Crew Type 15
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

I took off in my J3C-65 that I had just purchased the week prior. I was the sole occupant of the aircraft and carried about 9 gallons of fuel on board. During the cruise phase of my flight; I heard a loud bang which followed by my engine running extremely rough. I searched for landing sites; but still was producing engine power and maintaining altitude. I was approximately 4 miles southwest of my destination at the time. Between me and my destination; there were no suitable landing sites so I elected not to continue and execute a forced landing. Upon the start of my approach; the engine quit completely and I proceeded to execute the approach under no power. The landing was made safely with no damage to any property; or the aircraft. The CTAF frequency I was monitoring was 122.8; but I never made any emergency radio calls.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: J3 pilot reported executing a safe and damage-free forced landing after the engine failed in flight.

Narrative: I took off in my J3C-65 that I had just purchased the week prior. I was the sole occupant of the aircraft and carried about 9 gallons of fuel on board. During the cruise phase of my flight; I heard a loud bang which followed by my engine running extremely rough. I searched for landing sites; but still was producing engine power and maintaining altitude. I was approximately 4 miles southwest of my destination at the time. Between me and my destination; there were no suitable landing sites so I elected not to continue and execute a forced landing. Upon the start of my approach; the engine quit completely and I proceeded to execute the approach under no power. The landing was made safely with no damage to any property; or the aircraft. The CTAF frequency I was monitoring was 122.8; but I never made any emergency radio calls.

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.