NTSB Factual Report

On November 20, 2017, about 1230 mountain standard time, an Ercoupe 415-CD airplane, N3067H, had an inflight loss of engine power near Aurora, Colorado. The pilot was uninjured. The airplane sustained substantial damage when it impacted a sign and fence. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed in the area about the time of the accident, and the flight was not operated on a flight plan. The local flight originated from the Centennial Airport (APA), near Denver, Colorado, about 1200.

The pilot indicated in his accident report that the flight departed from runway 17L and he climbed out to the east. He reported that there was no turbulence through 7,000 ft above mean sea level (msl). He performed a "Lazy 8" maneuver over County Line Road and was turning west when the engine lost power. The airplane was at about 7,500 ft msl at the time. The pilot reported that he attempted to restart the engine; however, after several unsuccessful attempts he began to look for a suitable landing area. The pilot noted that the surrounding terrain consisted of hills, and that he elected to land on the nearby County Line Road. The pilot reported that during landing roll he observed a car on the road and attempted to turn the airplane to the right; however, the airplane's right wing impacted a road sign, continued through a barbed wire fence, and came to a stop about 40 yards off the road.

At 1153, the recorded weather at APA was: Wind calm; visibility 10 statute miles; sky condition few clouds at 8,000 ft, few clouds at 12,000 ft, broken clouds 22,000 ft; temperature 16° C; dew point -14° C; altimeter 29.84 inches of mercury. The conditions present were not conducive to the formation of carburetor icing.

The pilot subsequently sold the airplane to a party who collects Ercoupes before an examination of the fuel pump could be completed. The Ercoupe collector reported that he removed the mechanical fuel pump from the engine, and as he moved the pump's lever arm up-and-down the pump did not produce a suction at the pump inlet. Additionally, the pump appeared to be very old and exhibited excessive wear on the lever arm that operated on the cam inside the engine. The mechanical fuel pump normally transfers fuel from the main fuel tanks to the fuselage header tank, which in turn provides fuel to the carburetor via gravity. The airplane was not equipped with an electric fuel pump. In the event of a mechanical fuel pump failure, normal engine operation is sustained until the fuselage header tank becomes fully depleted. A fuel gauge, visible to the pilot, was incorporated into the fuselage header fuel tank cap. The fuel system description in the Ercoupe instruction manual indicates that "when the fuselage tank fuel gauge starts dropping, gas is no longer being pumped from wing tanks." An excerpt on the fuel system from the instruction manual is appended to the docket material associated with this investigation.

The pilot's safety recommendations were that it would be good to have a fuel flow indicator or light to show lack of flow from the wing tank to the header tank, it would be good to have a reliable fuel quantity indicator in the header tank, and that it would be good to install an electric back-up fuel pump between the wing tanks and header tank.

NTSB Probable Cause

The failure of the engine-driven fuel pump and the pilot's failure to identify the pump's failure, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation and a forced landing on a road, during which the airplane hit obstacles.