Incident Overview
After departing Naples Airport, the pilot received clearance to climb to his requested altitude. At approximately 800 feet, the engine began losing manifold pressure. The pilot's attempts to restore manifold pressure were unsuccessful. He declared an emergency and turned back toward Naples Airport. Realizing he would not reach the airport, the pilot elected to make an emergency landing in a mangrove swamp located about one-quarter mile from the runway. The airplane collided with several trees during the landing and came to rest in approximately three inches of water.
Emergency Response
The pilot successfully evacuated the airplane following the landing. The airplane was later recovered from the swamp for examination.
Post-Accident Examination
An examination of the cabin found the throttle and mixture controls in their takeoff positions. Inspection of the engine compartment revealed that the mixture cable attachment and the fuel control were disconnected. The fuel control arm showed no deformation from impact. Similarly, the mixture cable attachment rod-end was not deformed. The mixture attachment bolt, nut, and washer were missing. At the time of the examination, the mixture arm on the fuel control was in the closed or cutoff position.
Review of the airplane's maintenance logbooks indicated that the fuel control bracket was replaced during a maintenance visit on December 6, 2001. The airframe had accumulated 27.8 hours since that maintenance had been performed.