A pilot reported his zenith zodiac ch-601 hds lost power at 150 ft after takeoff and required an imm...

Narrative:

Aircraft lost at least 50% of power after take-off; between 50 ft and 150 ft AGL. Engine was still running but aircraft would not climb. Switching tanks and running fuel boost pump did not solve problem. [I] was too high to land on remaining runway; too low for safe go-around. Field immediately beyond runway was clear (no obstacles or people; etc.) so I cut the power and descended to land. Field was a harvested cornfield. Short roll-out on frozen ground surface; no damage to aircraft or anything on ground; no injuries whatsoever. We recovered the airplane with pick-up trucks and towed back to airport via county roads. No damage to aircraft or property and no injuries during aircraft recovery. Upon reaching airport we ran the engine for many minutes on each tank and could not duplicate problem. Subsequent tests days later revealed that running the engine from the left tank would duplicate the problem; while switching to the right tank would smooth it out. We do not suspect carburetor ice from the problem last month; but believe that either the fuel in the left tank is contaminated (water or other debris) or perhaps the fuel tank vent line was clogged.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A pilot reported his Zenith Zodiac CH-601 HDS lost power at 150 FT after takeoff and required an immediate landing in a frozen field beyond the runway's end with no damage to the aircraft.

Narrative: Aircraft lost at least 50% of power after take-off; between 50 FT and 150 FT AGL. Engine was still running but aircraft would not climb. Switching tanks and running fuel boost pump did not solve problem. [I] was too high to land on remaining runway; too low for safe go-around. Field immediately beyond runway was clear (no obstacles or people; etc.) so I cut the power and descended to land. Field was a harvested cornfield. Short roll-out on frozen ground surface; no damage to aircraft or anything on ground; no injuries whatsoever. We recovered the airplane with pick-up trucks and towed back to airport via county roads. No damage to aircraft or property and no injuries during aircraft recovery. Upon reaching airport we ran the engine for many minutes on each tank and could not duplicate problem. Subsequent tests days later revealed that running the engine from the left tank would duplicate the problem; while switching to the right tank would smooth it out. We do not suspect carburetor ice from the problem last month; but believe that either the fuel in the left tank is contaminated (water or other debris) or perhaps the fuel tank vent line was clogged.

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	929149
Time
Date	201101
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	Experimental
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 4.6 Flight Crew Total 793 Flight Crew Type 343.4
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A pilot reported his zenith zodiac ch-601 hds lost power at 150 ft after takeoff and required an immediate landing in a frozen field beyond the runway's end with no damage to the aircraft.