On June 28, 2013, about 1625 mountain daylight time, a Mooney M20K airplane, N5254G, was substantially damaged during a forced landing near Hudson, Colorado. The commercial pilot was seriously injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by a private individual under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated without a flight plan. The flight originated from the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (KBJC), Broomfield, Colorado, at 1600.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector who responded to the accident, the engine lost power in flight. During the forced landing to a field, the fuselage and firewall sustained substantial damage. The pilot did not provide a written narrative of the sequence of events leading up to the accident.
The airplane and engine were examined by the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA at a storage facility in Greeley, Colorado. One pint of fuel was recovered from the right wing fuel tank and 7.5 gallons of fuel was recovered from the left wing fuel tank. The fuel selector valve was selected to the right fuel tank. There was no fuel in the lines to the engine including the throttle body to the fuel distribution valve. Further examination revealed that the fuel gauges were not accurate. An examination of the airframe and remaining systems revealed no anomalies.
According to the Mooney M20K flight manual found in the airplane, the system has 3 gallons of unusable fuel and 75.6 gallons of usable fuel.