What happened
On 20 July 2000, a Cessna 177A, registration ZS-FJX, was conducting a private flight from Potchefstroom toward Barkley-West. During the flight, the aircraft suffered an engine failure, necessitating an immediate forced landing. The pilot managed to guide the aircraft onto a gravel road situated near Windsorton. During the landing sequence, the aircraft struck small bushes adjacent to the roadway, resulting in damage to the right-hand ailerons and the leading edges of both wings. There were no injuries reported for the pilot following the event.
The investigation
An official on-site investigation was not conducted by the authorities at the time of the occurrence. The accident was not reported to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) immediately; the pilot only notified the CAA on 3 August 2000, approximately 15 days after the incident. While the pilot claimed to have previously mailed a report, the CAA had no record of receiving such documentation. The aircraft was subsequently recovered from the site.
Findings
Preliminary information provided by the pilot suggests that the engine failure was caused by water contamination in the fuel. This contamination was attributed to the fact that the aircraft had been washed following the completion of the pilot's pre-flight inspection.