Narrative:

I own a lake 270 turbo. It had recently come out of expensive annual replacing a cylinder and alternator and king 150 digital display. I had planned to stop at a maintenance airport to have the tachometer replaced. On route to that maintenance airport I had noticed the HSI was not working properly and I had switched it to the free mode and reset it a couple of times. I had just passed over the end of a large lake when I experienced a loss of power significant enough that I could not maintain altitude. I set full rich with the mixture; turned on boost pump. This did not make a difference. I hit nearest on the GPS and the nearest airport was twelve miles to the east and I headed for it and landed there. The owner of the FBO at the maintenance airport where I was headed had agreed to fly back here and look for the problem. He found dirt in the fuel injector; cleaned it and followed me to his maintenance airport. The engine appeared to be running ok. He changed the tachometer; I paid my bill and departed for home. After departure I had called departure control several times; but they were too busy to take me as I approached class B airspace so I diverted to the west staying just outside the airspace. If I did not talk to them I would have picked up my course on the other side. Prior to intercepting my course I lost satellite reception. I wiggled the GPS and cables but was not able to get signal back. By now I was getting a little disorientated and I could not depend on the HSI. I looked around I see an airport below me. I did not see any traffic. There was a lake at the end of the runway. I had considered landing in the lake but if I landed in the lake I would not have been able to fix the problem. With all the controlled and restricted airspace I felt my best option was to get on the ground and straighten the problem out. I had no idea what airport it was or what the frequency was. The airport turned out to be a tower operated airport. After landing I taxied to the FBO and tried to find the tower phone number when a golf cart came over and said I should call the tower operator and gave me the phone number. The tower operator was not happy with me even after I explained what had happened. I asked the FBO if there was an avionics shop on the field. There was but it was closed. I called the owner again. He said an airports nearby frequency will sometimes interfere with the signal. I did not feel comfortable with trying this and he had agreed to fly his GPS to me to use as a back up. When the owner arrived; we did some testing and sure enough; that approach frequency was what caused the satellite to go down. With the other GPS as a back up; I continued my trip home. I have sent my gps to the manufacturer to be refurbished and I am trying to buy another one to have as back up should I have a similar situation. Under the circumstances knowing there is busy airspace and restricted areas and not being familiar with the area. I still think I made the right decision.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Lake Turbo250 engine lost power because of plugged fuel injectors. On the subsequent flight the GPS signal failed because of interference. Following both events the reporter diverted to nearby airports.

Narrative: I own a Lake 270 Turbo. It had recently come out of expensive annual replacing a cylinder and alternator and King 150 digital display. I had planned to stop at a maintenance airport to have the tachometer replaced. On route to that maintenance airport I had noticed the HSI was not working properly and I had switched it to the free mode and reset it a couple of times. I had just passed over the end of a large lake when I experienced a loss of power significant enough that I could not maintain altitude. I set full rich with the mixture; turned on boost pump. This did not make a difference. I hit nearest on the GPS and the nearest airport was twelve miles to the east and I headed for it and landed there. The owner of the FBO at the maintenance airport where I was headed had agreed to fly back here and look for the problem. He found dirt in the fuel injector; cleaned it and followed me to his maintenance airport. The engine appeared to be running ok. He changed the tachometer; I paid my bill and departed for home. After departure I had called Departure Control several times; but they were too busy to take me as I approached Class B airspace so I diverted to the west staying just outside the airspace. If I did not talk to them I would have picked up my course on the other side. Prior to intercepting my course I lost satellite reception. I wiggled the GPS and cables but was not able to get signal back. By now I was getting a little disorientated and I could not depend on the HSI. I looked around I see an airport below me. I did not see any traffic. There was a lake at the end of the runway. I had considered landing in the lake but if I landed in the lake I would not have been able to fix the problem. With all the controlled and restricted airspace I felt my best option was to get on the ground and straighten the problem out. I had no idea what airport it was or what the frequency was. The airport turned out to be a tower operated airport. After landing I taxied to the FBO and tried to find the tower phone number when a golf cart came over and said I should call the tower operator and gave me the phone number. The Tower Operator was not happy with me even after I explained what had happened. I asked the FBO if there was an avionics shop on the field. There was but it was closed. I called the owner again. He said an airports nearby frequency will sometimes interfere with the signal. I did not feel comfortable with trying this and he had agreed to fly his GPS to me to use as a back up. When the owner arrived; we did some testing and sure enough; that Approach frequency was what caused the satellite to go down. With the other GPS as a back up; I continued my trip home. I have sent my GPs to the manufacturer to be refurbished and I am trying to buy another one to have as back up should I have a similar situation. Under the circumstances knowing there is busy airspace and restricted areas and not being familiar with the area. I still think I made the right decision.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.