NTSB Factual Report

On February 23, 2005, about 1545 eastern standard time, a Cessna T207A, N207CC, registered to Abaco Fire Rescue Association Inc. and operated by a private individual as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight made a forced landing near North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport, West Palm Beach, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The private-rated pilot received no injuries and the airplane incurred substantial damage. The flight originated from the same airport, earlier that day, about 1420.

The pilot stated that a maintenance facility had installed a remanufactured engine and performed an annual inspection. The facility suggested he do a quick flight around the pattern and bring the airplane back in for a post installation inspection. He completed a preflight, taxied to runway 8 right, did a normal run up and took off. He flew around the pattern, landed, and taxied back to the maintenance facility. They inspected the engine and said everything looked good. He taxied to runway 13, preformed a normal run up and took off. He climbed to 2,500 feet to begin breaking in the engine; he remained in the area for a little over an hour. He descended to 1,000 feet to enter traffic pattern for runway 13. When he began to pull the throttle back the engine lost all power. He put the throttle back to full, used the electric fuel pump, made sure the mixture was rich, trimmed to 80 knots, and turned toward runway 8 right. After multiple attempts to restart the engine he realized he was not going to make the runway. He spotted an area where it appeared to him a safe landing could be made. He advised Palm Beach Approach of the emergency, completed his checklist and landed safely. He used his cell phone to call the maintenance facility and had them contact Palm Beach Approach that he had landed safely. He removed the aircraft documents and secured the airplane.

The mechanic stated that the pilot called him and said the airplane was southwest of the airport and that the engine had a loss of fuel pressure and landed on a road off the airport, adding the airplane had substantial damage. Once on scene, the mechanic found that the airplane had impacted an embankment, shearing off the nose landing gear. The pilot stated to him that he had the fuel selector on the right fuel tank and applied fuel primer trying to regain engine power, but the fuel flow remained low and the engine continued at a low RPM, or was wind-milling. The mechanic asked the pilot to put the fuel selector in the "OFF" position to prevent any fuel leakage. The mechanics were later asked to perform a fuel selector functional check and the selector's had no anomalies.

The FAA inspector who responded to the accident stated that when he arrived at the scene, mechanics were at the site and the fuel selector was in the off position. He inspected the fuel tanks visually for fuel. The right wing fuel tank contained no fuel, and the mechanics drained 11 gallons of fuel from the left wing fuel tank. They examined the engine fuel manifold and only trace amounts of fuel were found. The fuel line from the firewall to the fuel pump was removed and a few drops of fuel were observed. The fuel gascolator was removed and it was only half full of fuel. When fuel was drained from the right fuel header tank little to no fuel was observed.

The engine was removed from the airplane and taken to a certified engine repair facility to have a propeller strike examination performed. No discrepancies were note other than a broken motor mount. The engine was placed on an engine test stand and an engine run-up check was performed with no discrepancies noted.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's inadequate fuel management resulting in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation and subsequent impact with an embankment during an emergency landing.