Accident Details
On September 5, 2008, at approximately 1820 central daylight time, a single-engine Cessna 182, registration N8979X, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing to a field near Beeville, Texas. The loss of engine power prompted the landing. The pilot and one passenger received minor injuries, while a second passenger sustained serious injuries. The aircraft was registered to Sky S the Limit Parachute Center in Beeville, Texas, and was operated by the pilot. The flight originated at Alice International Airport (ALI), Alice, Texas, around 1800, with a destination of Beeville Municipal Airport (BEA). No flight plan was filed, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight was conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight.
Pilot Information
The pilot held a private pilot certificate for single-engine land aircraft and was also a certified senior parachute rigger. His most recent second-class FAA medical certificate, issued on March 15, 2005, included limitations requiring corrective lenses for distant vision and glasses for near vision, and was not valid after March 31, 2006. At the time of the medical, he reported a total flight time of 3,100 hours. As of the report's completion, the pilot had not submitted NTSB Form 6120.1.
Aircraft Examination
According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aviation safety inspector who examined the scene and interviewed the pilot, the pilot was returning to his home airport when the engine stopped producing power at an altitude of 3,500 feet. During the forced landing, the airplane struck a cedar post with its nose wheel and subsequently flipped over, causing structural damage to the vertical stabilizer.
Examination of the aircraft revealed 60 gallons of light blue aviation fuel onboard (30 gallons in each tank). Fuel was present in the lines leading to the gascolator bowl, which was found full and free of water and debris. Inspection of the engine showed that the left side intake tube elbow remained attached to the intake manifold hose with the hose clamp still secured, but the intake manifold hose was not fastened to the intake manifold No. 2 tube assembly.