20081205852279A

(-23) According to PIC, he was in the local practice area performing slow flight using 30 degrees of flaps with power set at 1,900 RPM. He then retarded the throttle and applied carburetor heat to induce the airplane to stall. Upon recovery, he "rapidly" advanced the throttle to recover and raised the flaps. The engine abruptly quit and the propeller stopped turning. He was unable to restart the engine. He estabilished a glide and proceeded to an open bean field. Upon touchdown, the airplane's nose gear collapsed and the right wingtip sustained impact damage; however, the airplane remained upright. There was no fire, nor was the PIC injured. Upon arrival at the scene, aircraft owner (also the pic's flight instructor) stated that he found the master switch off, ignition switch off and key removed, primer in and locked, throttle in, carb heat in, mixture control 1/2 way, and flaps up. The PIC relayed to his instructor that he was unable to extend the flaps. The flight instructor turned the master (battery) switch on and operated the flaps through two cycles. He also noted that the fuel gauges indicated the presence of fuel, and that the ELT had activated, so he turned it off. Further inspection by a locally-based dar revealed a crushed lower cowling, extensive firewall damage, broken engine mount, and ruptured oil tank. Throttle, mixture control and carburetor heat linakages were intact and appeared to function. It appeared, from turning the propeller, that the engine drive train was intact. Six to seven gallons of fuel was drained, and the damage to the fuel lines and strainer was not sufficient to impede fuel flow to the carburetor. Based on the dar's preliminary inspection, he could find no obvious reason for the engine to not run normally.