Cessna T182T accident near Athens, Texas, February 27, 2007

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The newly manufactured single-engine airplane had a complete loss of engine power and the commercial pilot made a forced landing to a field 3.6 hours after the airplane had been delivered from the factory. During the forced landing, the airplane landed hard, nosed-over and came to rest in the inverted position. Examination of the engine revealed that the input fuel line to the fuel transducer was not properly torqued during the manufacturing process and had loosened to the point where the engine was starved of fuel. The investigation revealed that an unauthorized person was allowed to torque the fuel line to the transducer during the initial build-up of the engine. The Team Leader failed to check the torque on the fuel line fittings; however, he signed the airplane's production inspection report that the fittings were properly torqued. This failure to follow a published procedure resulted in a loss of engine power during the airplane's first production test flight. The test pilot was able to make a successful power-off landing to an airport. As a corrective action, the manufacturer impounded the airplane and determined that the output line to the transducer was loose and weeping fuel. A Lead Inspector, who had been instructed by the manufacturer's Director of Quality Assurance to re-torque all of the fuel lines forward of the firewall, only checked the torque on the output line to the transducer even though he made an entry on the airplane's Flight Squawk/Repair Record that stated, "re-torqued all fuel lines."

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.