20090904049209A

The interview with the pilot in command Mr. Gary semonian revealed the following: Mr. Semonian holds an FAA private pilot certificate and has 400 hours in this make and model aircraft and 1400 hours total time. Mr. Semonian holds a valid third class medical certificate that was issued on 04/18/2008. Mr. Semonian has logged 8 hours in the last 90 days. At the time of the accident the weather was VMC with winds calm. Rwy 09 in use. According to Mr. Semonian, after a normal engine run- up and takeoff on runway 9, the engine died at approximate 500 feet AGL. The throttle, prop, and mixture were all confirmed full forward. Boost pump was confirmed on and fuel selector switched from right main to left main tank. The nose was lowered to maintain airspeed above stall. The engine regained power, and the tower was advised of the "engine out". Being just short of the numbers and slightly right 9SOUTH) of the centerline, the PIC initiated a shallow left turn back toward the runway to land downwind on runway 27, when the engine failed for the second time, the PIC decided a safer course of action was to land in the field off the south east end of runway 9. A gear up landing was elected due to the extension time of 15 to 20 seconds. The aircraft landed gear up with substantial damage to the aircraft. The PIC and passenger exited the aircraft without injury. When the aircraft was lifted the landing gear was manually extended and the aircraft was towed to the corpjet hanger. Due to damage to the nose gear extension mechanism the nose gear was disconnected and blocked in the down position. The aircraft sustained major damage to the nose section and fire wall, the lower belly structure, the empennage was deflected and buckled, and the wing tip tanks were damaged. The last annual inspection was complied with on January 30, 2009 at 1582.62 hours total time. The total time at the time of the accident is 1591.84 hours. The integrity of the fuel system was verified. No evidence of fuel contamination was noted during sampling. The airframe fuel filters were inspected as well as the airframe fuel pump filters and no clogging or contamination was noted. The marvel-schebler carburetor was broken off at the engine mount, however the lines and controls were still intact. When the airframe booster pumps were operated before removing any lines, the pumps were not able to draw fuel. A closer examination of the fuel selector valve and fuel shut off valve revealed some staining, evident of some leakage. During the investigation to verify fuel feeding integrity it was noted that when a positive pressure was applied to the fuel tanks, fuel leaked around the shaft of the fuel shut-off cock located under the cockpit instrument panel area. When the fuel system was re-connected the boost pumps were not able to draw fuel from the tanks until a fuel soaked rag was placed around the fuel shut-off cock part number SM2513-1 shaft. Ipc 28-22-02 figure 001 page 001 item 9.