Incident Details
On November 12, 2010, at approximately 1515 eastern standard time, a Cessna 172R, registration N531HF, operated by Terre Haute Air Center and owned by the Terre Haute International Airport Authority, was substantially damaged during a forced landing following an in-flight loss of engine power. The aircraft was piloted by a student pilot and a designated pilot examiner, neither of whom were injured. The flight was a local private pilot practical test conducted under 14 CFR Part 91 without a flight plan, departing Terre Haute International Airport – Hulman Field (HUF) at 1430. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed.
Emergency Landing
The flight test progressed normally, including steep turn and stall demonstrations. The pilot examiner reported initiating a simulated engine failure by reducing the throttle to idle at about 2,500 feet above ground level (agl). At approximately 700 feet agl, the examiner attempted to terminate the maneuver by applying full throttle, but the engine produced only a short burst of partial power before losing power completely. Crew efforts to restore engine power failed. The examiner executed a forced landing to a soybean field. During the landing rollout, the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted.
Examination
Postaccident examination revealed no anomalies consistent with the loss of engine power. The fuel injector servo and fuel flow divider were sent to the manufacturer for bench testing under NTSB supervision; no anomalies that would have contributed to a loss of engine power were observed.
Background
The airframe manufacturer had issued Service Bulletin SB01-11-02 (March 5, 2001) addressing rough engine operation due to improper fuel flow settings and in-flight restart difficulties. The Federal Aviation Administration issued Airworthiness Directive AD 2001-06-17 (effective April 20, 2001) requiring inspection and adjustment of engine idle speed and fuel control mixture settings, as well as revisions to the Pilot's Operating Handbook and checklists. The manufacturer stated that the inspection and adjustment requirements were incorporated into the maintenance manual in June 2001. The operator reported that the most recent inspection, completed in September 2010, included checking and adjusting the engine idle speed in accordance with the maintenance manual provisions.