Blames Contaminated Fuel For Engine Out

Remember when you were a junior birdman, so proud and so confident of your ability to fly that you literally were 12 feet tall, invisible and bullet-proof? Perhaps you were heading toward your first solo when, during dual flight instruction, the CFI pulled the throttle on you. No engine. "Now, hot shot, where are you going to land this thing?" All that suave, debonair and self-confidence evaporated with the dwindling sound of the engine winding down. You hated the CFI for pulling that throttle (something he'd do many times in lessons to come), but you never forgot the lesson. Always have a place to land.

Luciano Scarsella Didn't Forget.

Scarsella, his wife, and their son (note that the two passengers aren't listed in the FAA preliminary Report, below) were flying home to Lafayette (LA) from a Memorial Day vacation in Pensacola (FL) when the pilot says the engine suddenly quit. Scarsella said he aimed for the biggest, straightest stretch of concrete he could find - Interstate 12, near Holden (LA) - but the traffic was just too heavy. So, he opted instead for the median.

That, says Lt. Trevor Smith, a Louisiana State Trooper, was probably the best place to land under the circumstances. "He did the best job he could. We'd have had bad trouble if he'd landed on the blacktop."

Scarsella, a native of Italy, said he tried to call ATC, but, flying at 2500 ft., was too low to get a clear signal. "I didn't have a whole lot of time to call," he said in an interview with the Hammond (LA) Daily Star. "It happened so fast." Scarsella motioned to the interstate median. 

"This was the closest spot. There was no time to choose. I had to clear the trees first and I saw that spot way back there," he said, pointing ahead of the plane where the median ends abruptly at a ditch. "I knew I had to stop. It was super great. No rocks, and being so clean, nothing snagged and it was a good landing," he said. "Thank God."

Bad Gas?

Scarsella said he stopped in Anniston (AL) for fuel on his way to Lafayette. There, he believes, he picked up a load of fuel contaminated with water. How will he get the C-182 (file photos, above) out of the median along Interstate 12? The same way he got it there, he hopes. Late Wednesday, Scarsella was awaiting a fuel truck sent by the FAA to first unload the suspect avgas from his tanks, then refill them with clean fuel.

FAA Preliminary Report

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 21189    Make/Model: C182   Description: 182, Skylane
  Date: 05/27/2003     Time: 1900
  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: None   Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: None

LOCATION
  City: HAMMOND   State: LA   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
ACFT MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING ON INTERSTATE 12 MEDIAN DUE TO ENGINE FAILURE, OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES ARE UNKNOWN, HAMMOND, LA

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:    0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:          Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: UNK

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Pleasure   Phase: Landing   Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: MOBILE, AL    Dep Date:    Dep. Time:
  Destination: LAFAYETTE, LA   Flt Plan: UNK   Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: UNK   Last Clearance: UNK
  FAA FSDO: BATON ROUGE, LA  (SW03)   Entry date: 05/28/2003

FMI: www.faa.gov