N81Y

On July 29, 2021, about 1230 central daylight time, a Stinson JR SR airplane, N81Y, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Ripon, Wisconsin. The pilot received minor injuries and the three passengers were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations 91 personal flight.

The airplane was in-bound to the destination airport via a visual flight rules arrival procedure when the engine lost total power. The pilot conducted a forced landing to a muddy field where the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted.

The responding Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector noted substantial damage to the empennage. The inspector also noted that the one fuel tank was empty and there was fuel staining on the soil. The pilot reported that the airplane should have had about 15 to 20 gallons of fuel remaining. He added that the carburetor was recently overhauled and that there might have been something wrong with the carburetor.

In a subsequent conversation, the pilot reported that he believed that nothing was wrong with the carburetor, but the airplane had an “odd fuel system” and if the fuel level was low, the engine could experience fuel starvation due to decreased fuel pressure, to which he attributed the loss of engine power.