Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20; Flight Crew Total 18000; Flight Crew Type 300
Training / Qualification; Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
I was ferrying a Breezy (experimental) for a friend.  I had topped the tanks with fuel so it had at least 20 gallons on board.  About 20 minutes after takeoff at an altitude of approximately 1;000 feet AGL the engine started running erratically and cutting out.  The terrain below was all tall pines except for a clear strip of land where a pipeline had been run.  Since the engine was not producing full power I elected to circle that clearing while I tried to remedy the engine problem in the event I would need to land the airplane.  I could not get the engine to produce full power; so rather than head westward over the tall pines and risk a crash landing and/or accident in the heavily forested areas; I elected to make a precautionary landing on the pipeline clearing.  I landed the airplane in the clearing and did absolutely no damage to the airplane; myself; or any property whatsoever.  A couple of days later the owner of the airplane trailered it home. When the owner was draining the fuel out of the wing tanks prior to disassembly of the airplane for transport after about two gallons of flow the fuel line from the wing tanks to the carburetor stopped-up.  As of this time he has not done any further investigation; but of course he will.  We were running 100LL fuel but the previous owner ran nothing but autogas.I did not contact the FAA or file an incident or accident report of any sort because the event in my interpretation of the definitions of an incident or accident in the FAR's and AIM did not apply or require such. The event was simply a precautionary landing. The landing prevented a possible accident or incident.
A Breezy engine lost power because of a blocked fuel line so the pilot landed the aircraft on a deforested pipeline area with no aircraft damage or injury.