Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

On June 1, 2014, about 0915 mountain daylight time, a Diamond DA 20-C1, N206ND, collided with terrain after the engine lost power near Longmont, Colorado. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant on board, was not injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The local flight was originating when the accident occurred.

In a telephone interview, the pilot said the airplane had just come out of an annual inspection and his mechanic had performed a post-maintenance engine functional test up to full power. All systems operated normally and the engine performed well. The accident flight was a test flight after the annual inspection. The pilot said prior to takeoff, he also ran the engine up to full power. No anomalies were noted. The pilot took off and after climbing to about 400 feet, the engine lost power. The pilot made a forced landing in a field adjacent to the airport. The airplane struck the ground nose first, shearing off the nose gear, and skidded about 150 feet before coming to a stop. The empennage was separated from the fuselage.

On June 4, three Federal Aviation Administration inspectors examined the airplane in the presence of the pilot. According to the lead inspector, the airplane was equipped with two fuel drains --- one for the fuel tank and one for the gascolator. Only a few drops of fuel were recovered from each drain. No fuel could be seen in the fuel tank. The pilot said fuel had been leaking from the fuel tank for three days before the FAA inspectors arrived. According to the FAA inspector's report, if there had been minimal fuel aboard the airplane, fuel greater than a few drops would have drained out of the gascolator drain during the examination. A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s inadequate preflight inspection.