PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30; Flight Crew Total 360; Flight Crew Type 2
Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Aircraft
Briefly we were three on board; a flight instructor and 2 private pilots on a Piper Cherokee. We were cruising at 2;000ft MSL over the shore line. We experienced a sudden power loss. As I applied more power settings I realized that the engine was not responding to the throttle lever at all. We were descending about 200ft/min on the VSI gauge which means 300ft/min rate of descent as we did a cockpit instrument checklist before taking off and we've noted the VSI reading 100ft/min above.With engine running at a constant rate of 1;200 RPM. I maintained the best glide speed possible; while trying to figure out the cause of the problem. I made a decision to land the airplane somewhere on the shoreline sand. While we were gliding; we followed the emergency check list including the complete power loss procedure with no success. We were partially successful using electric fuel pump by turning it on and off causing an initial increase in the RPM and successively decrease in the descent rate to 100ft/min on gauge. The electric fuel pump was able to increase the RPM for few seconds which led me to constantly switch it on and off to minimize the loss of altitude as much as possible. Eventually I felt comfortable to turn back after the option was offered by Approach. At About 300ft over the runway; I leaned the mixture all the way down; Secured the engine and we finally were able to land safely on the runway.
PA28 Instructor reported engine lost power and was unable to maintain altitude during a training flight.