Cessna 150
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120; Flight Crew Total 1050; Flight Crew Type 250
Troubleshooting; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution
Aircraft; Weather
We were flying in cruise and the engine began to run rough. I started my troubleshooting by turning on the carburetor heat. The engine started to run smooth so I turned the carburetor heat off. As soon as I turned it off the engine almost quit so I turned it back on. At this point it didn't seem to matter and the engine had lost most of its power. It never completely shutoff but I had a very significant loss of power. The engine would give me little bursts of power and then almost shutoff. I diverted and made a precautionary landing in fear I was going to have to land in a field. Luckily we had enough altitude to make it to ZZZ. When we landed we did a couple engine run ups on the ground. The engine seemed to run fine. We are waiting until tomorrow to fly it and are going to have a mechanic look at it to determine what went wrong and what actions need to be taken. We will not be flying it until that is done. I personally suspect carburetor icing that the carburetor heat could not keep up with. In the future I will be turning on carburetor heat every couple mins to prevent any trace of ice.
Pilot flying C-150 aircraft reported loss of engine power in cruise. The pilot applied carburetor heat but the engine eventually lost more power. Pilot diverted and made a precautionary landing.