20051219033469I

(-23) Prior to flight the pilot had the aircraft fuel topped off. He drained approximately 1 gallon of fuel from each wing tank. He also stated that he pulled the strainer from the starboard wing and inspected it. He also drained fuel from the gasolator. The pilot stated that he departed willow run at 1500 by himself. He had been airborne without problems for about 20 minutes and was at 2,500 feet when the engine began to run rough. He pulled the carb heat out and the engine ran fine for approximately 10 seconds before running rough again. He then pushed the throttle in but got no RPM increase and the engine progressively ran rougher until the engine quit. The pilot stated that he had a choice of landing in a school parking lot, some snow covered fields, or in an open spot on I-75. He chose the I-75 landing as his best option. The pilot glided the aircraft to a landing on I-75 with no injury to himself or damage to the aircraft or vehicular traffic. The aircraft was inspected and water was found in the carburetor bowl. The carburetor was cleaned and the fuel tanks were sumped. The aircraft flew from dtw to arb on January 15, 2006 with no problems.