Forced Landing in Trees After Engine Power Loss (N44687)

Incident Overview A private pilot was conducting a cross-country flight that had been planned for five hours. After flying for three hours and thirty minutes, the aircraft lost engine power. The pilot then attempted a forced landing on a lake spillway but overshot the intended point of landing. The airplane came to rest approximately twenty feet above the ground in trees. ## Fuel Findings Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of usable fuel in the fuel tanks and no evidence of fuel spillage. The total flight time since the last refueling was 7.6 hours. The manufacturer's fuel consumption data indicates that at a 55% power setting, the aircraft's endurance is approximately 7.6 hours.