Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Athens, Texas 75751
Tuesady, February 27, 2007 15:06 CDT

The newly manufactured single-engine airplane had a complete loss of engine power and the commercial pilot made a forced landing to a field 3.6 hours after the airplane had been delivered from the factory. During the forced landing, the airplane landed hard, nosed-over and came to rest in the inverted position. Examination of the engine revealed that the input fuel line to the fuel transducer was not properly torqued during the manufacturing process and had loosened to the point where the engine was starved of fuel. The investigation revealed that an unauthorized person was allowed to torque the fuel line to the transducer during the initial build-up of the engine. The Team Leader failed to check the torque on the fuel line fittings; however, he signed the airplane's production inspection report that the fittings were properly torqued. This failure to follow a published procedure resulted in a loss of engine power during the airplane's first production test flight. The test pilot was able to make a successful power-off landing to an airport. As a corrective action, the manufacturer impounded the airplane and determined that the output line to the transducer was loose and weeping fuel. A Lead Inspector, who had been instructed by the manufacturer's Director of Quality Assurance to re-torque all of the fuel lines forward of the firewall, only checked the torque on the output line to the transducer even though he made an entry on the airplane's Flight Squawk/Repair Record that stated, "re-torqued all fuel lines."

The loss of engine power as result of the failure of a mechanic to properly check the torque on the input and output fuel lines to the fuel transducer during the manufacturing process. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.