What happened
A local test flight departed from Lac-à-la-Tortue carrying the pilot and five passengers. Approximately ten minutes into the flight, while maintaining an altitude of 2,100 feet, the aircraft suffered an engine failure. In response to the loss of power, the pilot attempted an emergency landing on Lake Mondor, the closest available body of water. The descent was performed downwind, with the initial contact occurring near the center of the lake.
Following the initial impact with the water, the aircraft bounced before settling again roughly 200 feet from the eastern edge of the lake. The momentum carried the plane into the shoreline, where it collided with trees and a small cottage, resulting in substantial damage to the airframe. While the crash caused significant structural destruction, only two passengers sustained minor injuries.
Findings
Investigations into the engine failure revealed that the aircraft had been depleted of fuel due to an undetected lack of supply from a secondary source. The aircraft was equipped with an additional front belly tank alongside its standard wing tanks; however, the cockpit placard for the fuel selector valve failed to indicate the presence of this extra tank.
During a leak test conducted several days prior to the accident, 5 gallons of gasoline were placed in the belly tank. While the wing tanks were replenished for the flight, no further fuel was added to the belly tank. Because the cockpit selector indicated 'both on' while actually drawing only from the belly tank, the pilot was unaware that the primary wing tanks remained full while the engine was consuming the limited supply in the belly tank. The investigation concluded that the exhaustion of fuel from the belly tank caused the engine failure, a situation exacerbated by the misleading information provided by the fuel selector placard.