A piper J-3 pilot suffered an engine failure; with the propeller stopping completely; just prior to ...

Narrative:

During the run-up prior to a personal pleasure flight I had checked that the engine idled properly with the throttle fully closed. After returning to the airport after 30 minutes of flying; while on base leg about to turn final; the engine quit and the propeller stopped completely. I immediately lowered the nose in an attempt to get the propeller to windmill so the engine would re-start but it did not turn. This 1941 cub has no electrics and no starter motor and must be 'hand-propped' on the ground.I was making left traffic for runway 25L and was not certain that I could make it to the threshold. I elected to land on the parallel taxiway which extends further east which allowed for an assured landing. Prior to landing I called the tower (using a battery powered radio) and told them I had an engine out and would be landing on the parallel taxiway. The landing rollout was uneventful and I notified the tower that I would get out and push the aircraft off the taxiway onto the adjacent tarmac.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Piper J-3 pilot suffered an engine failure; with the propeller stopping completely; just prior to base leg. To compensate for the drag of the dead prop he elected to land on a parallel taxiway which reduced the length of his final by some 1;000 FT.

Narrative: During the run-up prior to a personal pleasure flight I had checked that the engine idled properly with the throttle fully closed. After returning to the airport after 30 minutes of flying; while on base leg about to turn final; the engine quit and the propeller stopped completely. I immediately lowered the nose in an attempt to get the propeller to windmill so the engine would re-start but it did not turn. This 1941 Cub has no electrics and no starter motor and must be 'hand-propped' on the ground.I was making left traffic for Runway 25L and was not certain that I could make it to the threshold. I elected to land on the parallel taxiway which extends further east which allowed for an assured landing. Prior to landing I called the Tower (using a battery powered radio) and told them I had an engine out and would be landing on the parallel taxiway. The landing rollout was uneventful and I notified the Tower that I would get out and push the aircraft off the taxiway onto the adjacent tarmac.

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	985226
Time
Date	201112
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	J3 Cub
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Engine
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20 Flight Crew Total 750 Flight Crew Type 25
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Ground Incursion Taxiway

A piper J-3 pilot suffered an engine failure; with the propeller stopping completely; just prior to base leg. To compensate for the drag of the dead prop he elected to land on a parallel taxiway which reduced the length of his final by some 1;000 ft.