20110227002019A

At 13:06 CST on February 27, 2011, a Cessna 182, N3420U, with three people on board, made a forced landing on Alabama hwy 14, 1.3 miles east of the lee/macon county line. During the landing, the aircraft struck a car with two people inside moving west on the highway. Both vehicles were forced off the road, across a ditch and into a fence. The aircraft sustained substantial damage and the car was totaled. No serious injuries were reported by the occupants of either vehicle. Because the aircraft was blocking the highway, Alabama state troopers supervised its recovery after coordinating, by phone, with the NTSB and the FAA. During the recovery, the wings were drained of over 50 gallons of fuel and removed from the airplane. The aircraft was then moved to moton field municipal airport (06A) in tuskegee, Alabama and examined by the FAA the next morning. Statements by the pilot indicate the aircraft was at 2700 feet when the engine suddenly lost power. It continued to run but could not produce enough power to maintain altitude. He stated that he performed the "engine out" procedures but couldn't regain enough power to stay airborne. He also said "the only thing that seemed to make a difference in engine performance was pumping the throttle." Every time the throttle was pushed in, the accelerator pump would give the engine a short burst of power. Getting only enough power to slow the descent rate to 100 feet per minute, he realized he was not going to make it back to the airport. He set up for a forced landing on hwy 14 but on short final, just short of flaring for landing, he noticed a car, moving in the same direction, under his right wing. With the engine out, he had no choice but to continue the landing and touched down in the left lane, beside the automobile. His right horizontal stabilizer contacted the car's left tail light, forcing the aircraft to the right, directly into the auto's path. The car impacted the aircraft on its right side, breaking the wing strut and damaging the right side of the fuselage. The two vehicles remained in contact with each other as they left the right side of the road, crossed the ditch and came to a stop after hitting a fence. The accident caused substantial damage to the fuselage, engine firewall and right wing as well as destroying the propeller, damaging the right horizontal stabilizer, breaking the engine mounts and shearing off the nose strut and right main landing gear.FAA inspectors examined the aircraft the following morning. They checked for fuel contamination, verified functionality of the engine fuel and ignition systems, removed and inspected the carburetor and ensured the fuel vent system was clear and functional. After ensuring the engine was getting air, fuel and ignition spark, they removed the muffler and found the starboard baffle had broken its weld and was blocking the exhaust pipe. This was determined to be the cause of the engine's power loss. The private pilot was properly certificated and his 3rd class medical was current. The aircraft logs were inspected and the aircraft was found to be properly certificated and current on all required inspections. Maintenance records indicated that the failed part had been installed 10 years earlier and had accumulated 362 operating hours at the time of the accident.