C152 ON XCOUNTRY FROM HII TO VNY. HAD TOPPED OFF FUEL PRIOR TO DEP AND ACCORDING TO POH HAD SUFFICIENT FUEL FOR THE 215 MI FLT. ENCOUNTERED TURB AND HEADWINDS IN THE ANTELOPE VALLEY AREA RESULTING IN THE USE OF 75 PERCENT PWR. AIRBORNE 3 HRS AND PREPARING FOR ARR VNY ENG BECAME ROUGH AND WAS UNABLE TO MAKE NEAREST ARPT 8 MI TO THE E. ELECTED TO LAND ON FREEWAY ON NBOUND LANES ACCOUNT LIGHT TFC. NO DAMAGE OR INJURY AND PUSHED ACFT CLR OF FREEWAY LANES.

Narrative

ON DEC THU 1996 I WAS THE PIC OF A 1978 C152 ACFT FOR A FLT BTWN LAKE HAVASU; AZ; AND DEST VNY. I AM A COMMERCIAL PLT WITH INST AND MULTI-ENG AIRPLANE RATINGS; AS WELL AS A CERTIFIED FLT INSTRUCTOR FOR SINGLE ENG LAND ACFT. MY PAX WAS ALSO AN INST RATED COMMERCIAL PLT AND CERTIFIED FLT INSTRUCTOR. THE ACFT WAS TOPPED OFF WITH 100LL AVIATION FUEL AT THE LAKE HAVASU ARPT. TOTAL FUEL CAPACITY FOR THIS ACFT IS 26 GALLONS WITH 24.5 GALLONS USABLE. AFTER OBTAINING A WX BRIEFING FOR THE FLT; I DEPARTED AT APPROX XA30 AND CLBED WBOUND TO AN ALT OF 6500 FT. THE FUEL MIXTURE WAS LEANED AFTER PASSING THROUGH 3000 FT MSL AND AGAIN WHEN REACHING CRUISE ALT. THE RTE OF FLT WAS THROUGH THE TURTLE AND BRISTOL MOA N OF RESTR AREA R-2501N; DIRECT HECTOR VOR AND PARALLEL TO V12 AIRWAY OUTBOUND FROM HECTOR DIRECTLY OVER VCV ARPT IN VICTORVILLE TOWARD THE JUNCTION OF THE ANTELOPE VALLEY FREEWAY AND HWY 138 IN PALMDALE (PALMDALE PASS). FROM PALMDALE THE RTE WAS OVER THE CITY OF SANTA CLARITA; THROUGH THE NEWHALL PASS AND INBOUND TO VAN NUYS. MY CALCULATIONS OF PERFORMANCE FOR THIS FLT WERE BASED ON INFO OBTAINED FROM THE POH FOR THE C152 ACFT WHICH WAS ABOARD THE ACFT DURING THE FLT. THE DISTANCE FOR THIS FLT WAS 215 NM FOR THE RTE SELECTED. PWR SETTINGS USED FOR THE FLT WERE APPROX 60-65 PERCENT OF BRAKE HORSEPWR; AND UP TO 75 PERCENT OF BRAKE HORSEPWR FOR SHORT DURATION AS NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN ALT IN TURB. RANGE ESTIMATES OBTAINED FROM THE POH FOR THESE PWR SETTINGS ARE BTWN 350 AND 390 NM. FUEL CONSUMPTION FOR THESE PWR SETTINGS ARE 4.9 TO 6.1 GPH (STANDARD TEMP AND PRESSURE; 6000 FT PRESSURE ALT). ENDURANCE IS BTWN 4 HRS AND 10 MINS AT 60 PERCENT PWR; TO 3.5 HRS AT FULL THROTTLE. BASED ON THESE ESTIMATES; I DETERMINED THAT THE ACFT WAS SUITED TO MAKE THIS FLT IN A SAFE MANNER. WX CONDITIONS DEPARTING LAKE HAVASU WERE WIND CALM WITH A VERY HIGH CLOUD DECK. FLT CONDITIONS WERE SMOOTH THROUGH TURTLE AND BRISTOL MOA'S. APCHING HECTOR VOR; LIGHT AND THEN MODERATE TURB WAS ENCOUNTERED. THE FLT REMAINED TURBULENT THROUGHOUT THE ANTELOPE VALLEY. SURFACE WINDS AT VCV WERE 250 DEGS AT 25 KTS; GUSTING TO 30 KTS. STRONG HEADWINDS WERE ENCOUNTERED AT 6500 FT AS WELL. I WAS IN CONTACT WITH VCV TWR AS I TRANSITIONED OVER THEIR ARPT WBOUND. FLT INSTS AND FUEL QUANTITY WERE INDICATING NORMAL AND THE FLT WAS PROCEEDING AS PLANNED AT THIS POINT. I CONTACTED JOSHUA APCH FOR VFR FLT FOLLOWING AND A MODE C CHK AND REQUESTED CURRENT WX AT VAN NUYS. VAN NUYS WX WAS 1600 FT BROKEN WITH 5 MI IN HAZE. MODE C WAS OPERATING NORMALLY. AFTER REACHING THE PALMDALE PASS INTXN OF THE ANTELOPE VALLEY FREEWAY AND HWY 138 I WAS PREPARING TO SETUP THE ACFT FOR ARR IN VAN NUYS. WE HAD BEEN AIRBORNE FOR 3 HRS AT THIS POINT. I VISUALLY SAW WILLIAM J. FOX AIRFIELD IN LANCASTER OFF TO MY R; AND REVIEWED MY FUEL STATUS AGAIN AT THIS TIME. THE R TANK WAS INDICATING HIGHER THAN THE L TANK AND BOTH WERE FLUCTUATING AS A RESULT OF THE TURB. THE L TANK INDICATED BTWN 2-3 GALLONS AND THE R TANK WAS SHOWING ALMOST 5 GALLONS. I CONCLUDED THAT THERE WERE BTWN 6-7 GALLONS OF FUEL REMAINING AT THAT TIME. THIS INDICATION SHOWED APPROX 1 HR OF FUEL REMAINING AND WAS CONSISTENT WITH THE FLT PLANNING. I DETERMINED THAT THE FLT WAS PROCEEDING ACCORDING TO OUR PLAN AND CONTINUED THE FLT ENRTE TO VAN NUYS. I BEGAN A DSCNT AT THE PALMDALE PASS TO APPROX 4500 FT. APCHING THE NEWHALL PASS THE ENG BEGAN TO RUN ROUGH. I IMMEDIATELY APPLIED CARB HEAT AND ENRICHED THE FUEL MIXTURE TO FULL. I MADE A 180 DEG TURN AWAY FROM THE PASS AND HEADED TO AGUA DULCE WHICH WAS APPROX 8-10 MI E OF OUR POS. THE ENG CONTINUED TO SPUTTER AT THIS POINT. I DETERMINED THAT THE ACFT COULD NOT MAINTAIN ALT TO MAKE AGUA DULCE AND DECIDED TO MAKE AN OFF ARPT LNDG. I SELECTED 2 POSSIBLE LNDG AREAS. THE FIRST WAS THE DRY WASH WHICH RUNS E-W NEXT TO THE ANTELOPE VALLEY FREEWAY; THE SECOND ALTERNATIVE WAS THE ANTELOPE VALLEY FREEWAY ITSELF. I DECIDED THAT TFC ON THE NBOUND SIDE WAS SUFFICIENTLY LIGHT AND THERE WAS A LONG STRAIGHT SECTIONTO MY FRONT. AS I APCHED THE HWY; I DSNDED ABOVE ANY TFC BEHIND ME AND WIGGLED THE WINGS. THERE WERE NO OBSTRUCTIONS TO MY FRONT SO I PROCEEDED TO LAND ON THE NBOUND LANES OF THE ANTELOPE VALLEY FREEWAY JUST S OF THE SAND CANYON OFFRAMP. I GLIDED TO A STOP OFF THE OFFRAMP OF SAND CANYON AND MOVED THE AIRPLANE SO THAT THE WING DID NOT PROTRUDE INTO THE TFC LANE.