A single engine aerobatic pilot reported a momentary engine power loss causing concern about the air...

Narrative:

My passenger (a CFI) and I were performing aerobatic maneuvers at 5000 ft in a commonly-used practice area in san diego. The terrain is uneven and unpopulated. We experienced an unexplained momentary; partial loss of engine power. We immediately vectored towards ramona (rmn); the closest emergency landing area. We kept our altitude even though it put us barely within the san diego class bravo airspace above rmn. We circled over rmn checking all the engine systems. When we felt comfortable that the engine was ok; we returned to see; maintaining our altitude. We returned over the airport at 5000 ft talking to the tower; and circled down into the pattern and landed uneventfully. We were experiencing difficulty talking to the tower due to the open cockpit and radio noise; but I do not believe the see tower personnel heard from san diego TRACON regarding my airspace incursion. I still feel compelled to report this. I have flown in san diego for years and have never had an issue with socal TRACON. This circumstance was special and I was trying to be careful; while dealing with less-than desirable radios. I am addressing the radio noise in my biplane and will fix it prior to further flight.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A single engine aerobatic pilot reported a momentary engine power loss causing concern about the aircraft. The pilot headed back to their home base and momentarily entered SAN Class B airspace.

Narrative: My passenger (a CFI) and I were performing aerobatic maneuvers at 5000 FT in a commonly-used practice area in San Diego. The terrain is uneven and unpopulated. We experienced an unexplained momentary; partial loss of engine power. We immediately vectored towards Ramona (RMN); the closest emergency landing area. We kept our altitude even though it put us barely within the San Diego Class Bravo airspace above RMN. We circled over RMN checking all the engine systems. When we felt comfortable that the engine was OK; we returned to SEE; maintaining our altitude. We returned over the airport at 5000 FT talking to the Tower; and circled down into the pattern and landed uneventfully. We were experiencing difficulty talking to the Tower due to the open cockpit and radio noise; but I do not believe the SEE Tower personnel heard from San Diego TRACON regarding my airspace incursion. I still feel compelled to report this. I have flown in San Diego for years and have never had an issue with SOCAL TRACON. This circumstance was special and I was trying to be careful; while dealing with less-than desirable radios. I am addressing the radio noise in my biplane and will fix it prior to further flight.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	895829
Time
Date	201006
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SCT.TRACON
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Experimental
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	VFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Air/Ground Communication
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 2200 Flight Crew Type 41
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Airspace Violation All Types

A single engine aerobatic pilot reported a momentary engine power loss causing concern about the aircraft. The pilot headed back to their home base and momentarily entered san class B airspace.