Aerobatic
Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90; Flight Crew Total 11500; Flight Crew Type 620
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
I was ferrying an MXS for repairs. I had made two fuel stops and was on my final leg cruising at 8;500 FT MSL when the engine failed catastrophically. I had enough altitude to glide over [a suitable airport]. I was busy shutting the engine down and turning off switches when I entered an overhead pattern and began spiraling down. I did not have time to look up a frequency and I had shut off the avionics at that point anyway. So I visually cleared the area as best I could. Saw no conflicts and selected a runway into the wind. I landed on a runway which had barriers on the surface. I dodged those and rolled to a stop just past the intersection of the primary runway. I did not contact Tower due to my emergency status. I did not land on the primary runway as I was guessing that any jet traffic would prefer that one. I contacted the Tower via telephone and they did not request any other information.
MXS pilot experiences a catastrophic engine failure at 8;500 FT and is able to glide to a suitable airport and land on a closed runway. There was insufficient time to contact the Tower via radio prior to landing.