PA32 PILOT REPORTS POWER LOSS AT 7000 FEET AND SUCCESSFUL DEAD STICK LANDING ON INTERSTATE.

Narrative

AS I WAS SETTING UP IN CRUISE AT 7000 THE ENG STARTED RUNNING ROUGH. I MADE THE MIXTURE RICH AND BEFORE I COULD DO ANYTHING ELSE; I EXPERIENCED A LOSS OF PWR. I SET THE PLANE IN BEST GLIDE CONFIGN; SELECTED INTERSTATE XY E AS LNDG SITE BECAUSE THE WBOUND HAD HEAVIER TFC AND THEN CALLED ZZZ APCH AND INFORMED THEM ABOUT MY ENG BEING OUT. THEY SUGGESTED THAT I TRY FOR AN ARPT ABOUT 7 MI AWAY; BUT I DECLINED. THEY OFFERED A COUNTY ROAD; BUT DUE TO PROX OF PWR LINES; I DECLINED AND SELECTED THE INTERSTATE. IN THE MEANTIME; I PICKED UP THE CHKLIST AND STARTED GOING THROUGH EMER PROCS AND TRIED 2 RESTARTS; BUT IT DID NOT RESTART. ABOUT 200 FT AGL; I LOWERED THE GEAR AND STARTED SETTING UP TO FIT IN BTWN 2 CARS RIGHT BEHIND 2 SEMIS. I HELD THE PLANE ALOFT FOR AS LONG AS I SAFELY COULD WITHOUT STALLING AND THE REAR CAR FIGURED OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON AND GAVE ME SPACE TO LAND. I LANDED THE PLANE AND INFORMED THE CTLRS THAT I WAS SAFELY ON THE GND AND CALLED MY PARTNER WHO CONTACTED A MECH TO COME OUT AND LOOK AT THE PLANE. THE MECH CHKED AND SUMPED THE FUEL; WHICH DID NOT HAVE ANY WATER. HE CHKED AND ADJUSTED THE MIXTURE A LITTLE TO MAKE IT RUN RICHER AND REQUESTED THE FAA TO ALLOW THE PLANE TO BE FLOWN BACK. MY PARTNER AND I THEN FLEW THE PLANE WITH GEAR DOWN AT ABOUT 3000 FT; AND MADE IT WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENTS. I WILL HAVE THE MECHS CHK THE PLANE COMPLETELY FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR BELIEVES THAT INDUCTION ICE WAS THE CULPRIT IN THIS INCIDENT AS NO OTHER DEFINITIVE CAUSE HAS BEEN FOUND.