A C172 engine failed at 1000 feet AGL. Landing was made in a bean field with no damage.

Attributes
ACN	968481
Time
Date	201108
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Reciprocating Engine Assembly
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 9900 Flight Crew Type 100
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

Airplane had not flown for three months; decided to 'exercise it'. Pre-flight and fuel sumps were normal. Run-up normal. Flew to two other airports and performed a touch and go at each and was returning to home airport. At 55 minutes of flight time; eight miles out and 1000' AGL; the engine lost power. It quit smoothly; like fuel starvation; not violently or roughly. I had time to exercise the throttle; pull carb heat; cycle the mixture and select right tank then back to both.... And that's all the trouble-shooting I could do. I looked for a suitable road; found none; picked a field to land to the north favoring the surface wind (five kts). On short final; mixture cut-off and flaps to 30. Landed smoothly and softly in a mature bean field. No damage whatsoever. No injuries at all. Aircraft is in perfect condition; just waiting on a probable cause of power loss by a maintenance inspection.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C172 engine failed at 1000 feet AGL. Landing was made in a bean field with no damage.

Narrative: Airplane had not flown for three months; decided to 'exercise it'. Pre-flight and fuel sumps were normal. Run-up normal. Flew to two other airports and performed a touch and go at each and was returning to home airport. At 55 minutes of flight time; eight miles out and 1000' AGL; the engine lost power. It quit smoothly; like fuel starvation; not violently or roughly. I had time to exercise the throttle; pull carb heat; cycle the mixture and select right tank then back to both.... and that's all the trouble-shooting I could do. I looked for a suitable road; found none; picked a field to land to the north favoring the surface wind (five kts). On short final; mixture cut-off and flaps to 30. Landed smoothly and softly in a mature bean field. No damage whatsoever. No injuries at all. Aircraft is in perfect condition; just waiting on a probable cause of power loss by a maintenance inspection.

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.