What happened
On Friday, May 24, 2002, at 17:20, a Jodel D 113 3L (registration F-POEM) was performing a touch-and-go maneuver at the Lyon Corbas airfield. Following forty minutes of local flight, the aircraft began its initial climb from runway 18L. Witnesses on the ground observed the aircraft struggling to gain altitude, noting that the engine experienced several misfires before failing completely.
Following the engine failure, the aircraft entered a left turn and descended toward the ground. The aircraft struck the roof of an agricultural hangar located approximately two kilometers south of the airfield and crashed inside the building. The accident resulted in two fatalities (the pilot and one person on the ground) and one injury to a second person on the ground. The aircraft was destroyed in the impact.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the engine's performance and the fuel system state at the time of the accident. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the rear fuel tank remained intact, containing only 0.5 liters of fuel, while the forward tank was destroyed. The fuel selector was found in the "rear tank" position, and the electric pump was set to "on," though investigators noted these positions could have been altered by the pilot during an engine failure or by the impact itself.
Technical analysis of the engine, which had a total of 755 operating hours, centered on the primary fuel pump. The investigation determined that the pump was unable to function correctly because fragments of a check valve seal were lodged in the fuel passage orifice. This debris prevented the check valve from closing properly. The aircraft's last maintenance, a 50-hour periodic inspection, had been completed on May 17, 2002, and the aircraft had not flown since that service.
Findings
- The primary cause of the engine failure was a malfunctioning fuel pump caused by debris from a seal fragment obstructing the fuel passage.
- Inadequate fuel management or distribution contributed to the event, as the pilot had added 45 liters of fuel prior to the flight, but the exact distribution between the tanks could not be determined.
- The presence of debris in the check valve prevented the proper operation of the fuel delivery system during the climb.