Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Linden, California 95236
Wednesday, July 4, 2001 10:45 PDT

The pilot made an off airport forced landing on a dirt road following a loss of engine power 2 miles east of Linden, California. The right wing tip collided with a fence post, the airplane departed the road to the right, and continued through a fence until it came to rest. The nose gear and right main gear collapsed; the right wing sustained substantial damage. The flight had been uneventful and the pilot was preparing to enter the landing pattern at Stockton, his home field. He had been operating on the auxiliary tip tanks while in cruise at 2,500 feet at a power setting of 2,150 rpm and less than 22 inches of manifold pressure. The airplane began to slow as the pilot maintained altitude, and he detected a loss of engine power. He switched to the left main tank, which held about 25 gallons of fuel. He noted the engine speed remained steady at 1,100 rpm. He selected the full rich position of the mixture control and cycled the ignition switch. The engine did not respond so he declared an emergency with the air traffic control tower. He set up for a left traffic pattern on the dirt road. During the post accident examination, the throttle and mixture linkages operated through their full range of travel without any slippage of the cables. There was no fuel in the line to the carburetor when it was disconnected; however, fuel flowed with operation of the fuel pump. Fuel was in each tank. The wings were removed in the recovery process, and the airplane was taken to a recovery facility for further examination. The recovery agent plumbed a fuel can into the left wing supply line. The agent started the engine and let it run at idle power. He advanced the engine to 1,700 rpm and completed a magneto check. The Safety Board investigator noted a 200 rpm drop on both magnetos, and the engine ran smoothly throughout the check. The agent attempted to cycle the propeller, but it did not respond. He advanced the engine to 2,300 rpm, and the investigator noted all instruments remained within the green operating band on each instrument's face. Power was reduced to idle; the engine idled smoothly and engine shutdown was unremarkable. The investigator noted that the engine ran smoothly and remained at selected power settings during this testing.

The engine lost power for undetermined reasons.