20030314004899A

(-23) Aircraft crashed while on a cross country flight with a destination of bonham, Texas at approximately 1800 hours. One person was on board and her injuries included a broken arm, a broken nose and numerous lacerations according to witness. The occupant departed the wreckage and walked about one mile to silicit help. Iic was notified by southwest region comm. Center at 1955 hours on 03-14-03. FAA icc arrived at the wreckage site at about 1030 hours on 03-15-2003. The aircraft had crashed through a grove of mature trees and came to rest in an upright position. The right wing was separated from the fuselage and lying about 6 feet from the main fuselage. Both fuel tanks were compromised from impact and there was no odor of fuel spillage in the general area of the wreckage. The fuel selector was selected on the left fuel tank at the time of impact. The wreckage was recovered by air salvage of dallas. On 03-21-2003 at 1300, the FAA iic visited the pilot at parkland hospital in dallas, Texas. The pilot stated that she left meridan, miss at about 1430 hours with a destination of sherman for a fuel stop. She climbed to 6500 feet AGL to get above haze and then when getting close to her destination, she descended to 4500 feet AGL and proceeded for a short period of time. She stated that she then descended to 3000 feet AGL and a coupleof minutes after leveling out, the engine started to run rough. She then pulled on carburetor heat and pumped the throttle but the engine then quit. She attempted an off field landing in an open field (pasture) but failed to make the field and crashed into the trees just short of her intended spot. She then was able to extract herself from the wreckage and walked about three fourths of a mile to a local farmhous where she was then taken for medical attention. On March 28, 2003, the FAA iic met with Mr. Michael c. mcclure representing Piper aircraft, Mr. John b. butler representing Lycoming engines and Mr. Don hendricks representing the insurance holder at air salvage of dallas, lancaster Texas. Mr. Alfred louque had mounted the engine on a mobile engine test stand for an engine performance test. The subject engine was started and ran through all phases from start to 2400 RPM with no problems. All original equipment was still mounted as removed from the aircraft wreckage with the exception of the propeller and exhaust system. Upon further investigation, it was noted that the right fuel tank did not show signs of fuel in the tank at the time of impact. The left tank showed evidence of "ballooning" at the time of impact indicating that the tank had a large amount of fuel in it at time of impact. It was also noted that the fuel selector backing plate was of the "old type" and the selector handle was of the new type. The fuel selector backing plate had a number of extra holes drilled in it which had subsequently been filled in using pull type rivets. The fuel selector valve, backing plate and handle were removed and retained bythe FAA iic.