NYC99LA108

The pilot performed a cross-country flight that was between 3 hours 15 minutes and 3 hours 45 minutes in duration. As he neared his destination, the engine began to run rough. He turned on the boost pump and got a momentary power surge. About two minutes later the engine lost all power and he declared an emergency. The airplane was ditched in a lake, and not recovered. The pilot was rescued about one hour after the ditching, and reported that the fuel gauges indicated 5 gallons of fuel in each tank when the engine lost power.

On May 5, 1999, about 1336 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-28-181, N5408F, performed a forced landing to Lake Erie, about 5 miles north of the Burke Lake Front Airport (BKL), Cleveland, Ohio. The airplane has not been recovered and is assumed substantially damaged. The certificated private pilot received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, for the positioning flight that originated from Austin Straubel International Airport (GRB), Green Bay, Wisconsin. No flight plan had been filed for the fight that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

The pilot had been flown to GRB to pick up the accident airplane, which had been left for an engine starter repair. The purpose of the flight was to return the airplane to BKL. Refueling records indicated the airplane had last been refueled at GRB with 37 gallons of 100 LL aviation grade gasoline on April 30, 1999, after which it was not flown until the accident flight.

The pilot reported that he departed from GRB at 1015; however a witness reported that the airplane departed at 0945.

The pilot reported that he cruised between 3,500 feet, and 5,000 feet, with multiple altitude changes. The route of flight took him over Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Detroit, Michigan.

The flight was uneventful until after the pilot had established radio contact with the BKL air traffic control tower. About 1334, he reported the engine was cutting in and out. About 2 minutes later, the pilot declared an emergency, and reported that his engine had lost power, and he was going down. The last radio call from the airplane was received at, 1336, when the pilot again stated that he was going down.

The pilot stated:

"...when I was seven miles out from Burke Lakefront Airport, according to the LORAN in the Archer, I noticed engine roughness. I contacted the Burke Lakefront tower and notified them that I was having engine trouble. The tower again cleared me for Runway 24. I noticed a decrease in engine RPM and put on the fuel boost pump which gave a spike in the engine RPM, followed by a decrease. I had already set the mixture at full rich in preparation for landing. I then switched fuel tanks even though both fuel gauges showed at least five gallons of fuel in each tank. This resulted in no improvement, and then the engine quit. A minute or two later, after changing the pitch of the Archer to obtain best glide speed, I contacted the tower and declared an emergency. I then attempted an engine restart, cycled the magnetos, and squawked 7700 on the transponder."

"I contacted the tower that I was going down into Lake Erie about 2 miles outside of the 5-mile crib. I pulled my seat belts as tight as possible, and headed for what looked like a fishing boat on lake Erie. I shut off the master switch in the aircraft, and pulled the keys out of the ignition. I then flared the plane at the last possible second over the water. The landing threw me forward against the seat belts. After I landed, I immediately unbuckled the seat belt and grabbed all the logbooks for the aircraft and my flight bag and put them on the roof of the plane to keep them from getting wet. I stepped out on the wing of the plane and began looking for any signs of rescue. The water was filling up the cockpit fast, and there was no sign of rescue in sight yet, so I put everything back in on the seat of the plane and closed and latched the door. After approximately one hour in the water, I was rescued by the Coast Guard."