Marble Canyon

The airplane descended to ground impact while maneuvering during a go-around. The pilot was meeting friends at the airport. The friends and their pilot arrived first, and were waiting at the departure end of runway 03. The airplane approached on a straight-in to runway 03. They thought that everything looked good on the approach. Due to a hump in the runway, they lost sight of the airplane just before it would have touched down. They then saw the airplane climbing back up on a go-around. As the airplane came abeam of their position, they saw it enter a steep banked left turn at an angle of bank they estimated between 60 and 80 degrees. At this point the landing gear was still down and the altitude was 200 feet above the ground. The witnesses saw the airplane's nose suddenly drop and the airplane then descended rapidly to the ground. No evidence of a preimpact mechanical malfunction or failure was found during detailed examination of the airframe systems and engines.

The pilot departed for the cross-country flight with 10 gallons of fuel in the left tank and 17 gallons of fuel in the right tank. He leveled off and reduced to cruise power. He said he was "preparing to make switch from left to right tank....just before I could make the switch, the engine lost power." He attempted to switch tanks and restart the engine, but could not get a restart. He performed a forced landing to a dirt road. During the landing roll, the left wing struck a tree and the airplane rotated 180 degrees. The engine was torn from the mount, both wing spars were bent, and the empennage sustained substantial damage. A salvage team member noted, during the airplanes recovery, that there were approximately 10 to 15 gallons of fuel in the left tank; he said the right fuel tank was empty.