AAIB investigation to Glos-Airtourer Series 115 Airtourer, G-AZRP
Engine failure and stall at low height during forced landing, Cathedine, Powys, 19 July 2015.
Summary:
The pilot reported that he completed normal pre-flight checks and departed from Shobdon in CAVOK conditions. Following some sight-seeing near Llangorse, he commenced a full-throttle climb towards 2,000 ft. Approaching that altitude, and without any warning or rough running, the engine stopped. Restart checks had no effect. The low height, and the aircraft’s relatively poor glide performance, meant that the options available for a forced landing were limited to sloping fields of small acreage. The pilot attempted to execute a forced landing into the most suitable one, but the aircraft stalled from a low height, with the flaps up, into the field before the one he had chosen. The aircraft sustained substantial damage in the impact, and was damaged beyond economic repair. The pilot suffered serious injuries. There was no fire. No cause of the engine failure was identified; 40 litres of fuel was drained from the intact fuel tank after the accident and checks of the spark plugs and magnetos found no faults. In the CAVOK conditions pertaining, flight at a higher altitude, and remaining within gliding range of fields suitable for a forced landing, could have improved the outcome of the engine failure.
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