What happened
The private pilot had refueled his aircraft the evening prior to the flight and was observed draining only the firewall strainer. On the morning of the flight, he did not drain any other fuel drains. Approximately halfway to his destination, the pilot experienced an engine power loss. He declared an emergency and landed at an intermediate airfield.
Rather than shutting down the engine, the pilot ran it for approximately 15 to 30 minutes. During this time, he had his wife exit the aircraft to check the fuel quantity in the left tank only. The pilot then departed again and was next observed flying over his destination airport at about 300 feet above ground level. Witnesses heard the engine rapidly lose power before the aircraft crashed into trees.
The investigation
Investigation of the accident site revealed that only one and a half gallons of fuel were present. Examination of the engine components showed that the engine fuel pump, fuel control, fuel control strainer, and fuel injector divider block all contained water and no fuel.
Findings
The pilot's failure to adequately drain the fuel system before flight allowed water contamination to enter the engine. His decision to check only one tank after the initial power loss contributed to the continuation of the flight with insufficient usable fuel. The subsequent crash was caused by fuel exhaustion resulting from this contamination and inadequate pre-flight procedures.