Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 5; Flight Crew Total 553; Flight Crew Type 94
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Human Factors
Departed ZZZ enroute to ZZZ1. Did a touch and go; and on climb out en route to ZZZ2; engine RPM dropped from 2400 to 1500--without any control input. Leveled the plane and attempted to troubleshoot. Checked the following:-Adjusting Mixture--made it worse...back to full rich-Added Carb Heat---made it worse....removed carb heat.-Made sure primer was locked; then Attempted to use primer...no effectLosing altitude fairly quickly; looked for biggest best landing space. Determined we would not make the airport.Picked a field 2 miles south of ZZZ1. Attempted to adjust throttle again; with no result. Arriving at first landing choice; was too high and fast; since I couldn't slow the throttle. Spotted an even larger field straight ahead. Continued on to that field. Had to pass under power line and over irrigation equipment for landing. Still traveling too fast; made a left bank to the north to slow down. Set plane down nearly in center of field; and pulled mixture. Lightly applied brakes and dodged equipment. Plane came to a stop with NO DAMAGE to the aircraft and NO INJURIES to Souls on board.
The reporter indicated the throttle linkage became disconnected from the carburetor and the attachment hardware was missing.
C172 pilot reported a loss of engine power resulted in an off-field landing. The throttle linkage was later found to have come disconnected from the carburetor.