Skylane 182/RG Turbo Skylane/RG
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 24; Flight Crew Total 525; Flight Crew Type 4
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Object; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
On a normal approach to landing Runway XX at ZZZ airport; the aircraft experienced a temporary loss of engine power. We were on the middle glide path of the PAPI (2 red; 2 white) on runway centerline at approximately 200 ft. AGL. Approach speed was approximately 85 mph with 20 degrees of flaps deployed. The throttle was at a low power setting and the aircraft was sinking slightly below glideslope; so I pushed it in a bit to increase power. There was no increase in power so I pushed the throttle in further; eventually to full. With no change in engine sound or perceived power I continued the descent maintaining airspeed to the ground. As the aircraft was already low; we struck two approach lights (MALSR) and knocked them over. In inspection afterwards it appears that the lights struck the lower engine cowling and dented it. The plane touched down and at this point I contacted the tower letting them know we had a loss of power. During rollout engine power came back due to the pushed in throttle. I opted to shut the engine down at this point as the state of the airplane was not known. Once crews arrived I had already exited the plane and did not see much visible damage. With the fire crews there we opted to restart the engine to taxi off the runway with no further issue.I believe this incident could be caused by carburetor icing or perhaps a contaminant in the fuel system. The aircraft should have had approximately 20 gallons of fuel remaining at time of landing; and was in a stabilized decent so I would rule out temporary interruption of fuel supply. There was no indication of low fuel on either gauge and the fuel selector was set to both. A contaminant in the fuel system seems possible; though I am not sure what would make this kind of incident transitory. It's hard to say for sure; but I believe we were still hearing the engine running and not just the windmilling prop the entire time; so I don't believe the engine had shut off entirely at any point.Carburetor icing seems like the most likely explanation I can think of; but the symptoms are not consistent with how I was trained to detect it. At no time did we experience engine roughness during the flight; which I believed was a characteristic sign of carb icing. Prior to the descent to land; the aircraft was circling at 10;000 ft. for aerial observation. Power settings during the decent were reduced and I remember thinking that the throttle position used during the cruise descent was further in than I would expect for the observed manifold pressure. I had only flown this plane briefly before; so I didn't think much more of it; but if carb ice was the blame this was probably the main indication. At 2;000 ft. I was reducing to lower power settings and I activated carburetor heat. There was no roughness after this point that I would expect to associate with carb icing as it cleared.The fact that the landing after sunset and starting to get dark was not a major factor; aside from difficulty seeing what was below (besides the lights) as the plane came down short of the runway. Maintaining the approach speed close to best glide after power loss was important in avoiding any injury or more significant damage to the aircraft. Given the long length of the runway (9;800 ft.) I could have avoided hitting anything by planning to land above the PAPI glidepath.
C182 Pilot reported loss of engine thrust caused aircraft to sink and strike two approach lights during landing.