What happened
On July 26, 2008, a Robin DR 253 aircraft, registration F-BOZF, was conducting a pleasure flight for three passengers from the Sainte-Léontie airfield. Approximately thirty minutes into the flight, while on final approach to runway 07, the engine lost power. As the aircraft approached the threshold of the runway, roughly 1,500 meters from the runway start, the engine ceased delivering power. The aircraft began to roll, pitch, and bank heavily to the right, ultimately striking the ground in a near-vertical attitude. The impact resulted in two serious injuries and two minor injuries, while the aircraft was destroyed.
The investigation
Investigators examined the wreckage and the fuel system of the Robin DR 253. While the propeller was rotating at the moment of impact, the engine was not producing power. No mechanical defects were found in the engine, propeller, or fuel lines. A significant amount of fuel was observed leaking from the main tank at the crash site.
Technical analysis of the fuel selector revealed that the mechanism was positioned between the left tank and the main tank. In this specific configuration, if one tank is empty, the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted. Testing confirmed that this setting can lead to engine starvation if the selected tank is depleted. The investigation also noted that the pilot had refilled the main tank the previous day but had only added a small amount of fuel to the left wing tank. The aircraft's weight and balance were within manufacturer limits at the time of the accident.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was inadequate fuel management.
- A contributing factor was the pilot's insufficient attention to maintaining airspeed following the engine failure.
- The engine failure was caused by fuel exhaustion, as the fuel system configuration allowed the engine to lose power once the available fuel in the active tank was depleted.