Piper PA-32-300 N3218W

The airplane was at 9,000 feet in cruise flight. The pilot reported that about '2 hours' into the flight, he switched '...from the right tip tank to right main.' About 3 to 5 minutes later '...the engine stopped, and the propeller was windmilling.' He attempted a re-start without successes.' The flight was being vectored to an airport, but the pilot said he could not maintain altitude, and elected to land in an open field, separating one of the airplane's wings during the landing. An engine test run was performed under the supervision of the FAA, on March 19, 1999. Before starting the engine, the fuel screen was removed from the fuel servo, fuel was found, minimal sediment and no water were found. Fuel was found in the flow divider. The continuity of the mixture control was confirmed with free travel, stop to stop. The throttle was limited in travel from idle to half throttle due to the cockpit control being bent. The engine run revealed, on start up, that the engine exhaust emitting black smoke and the engine ran rough. When the mixture control was leaned out to about half travel, the black smoke stopped, and the engine ran smoothly. At idle the oil pressure gauge indicated minimum oil pressure. The engine was shut down using the mixture control and restarted several more times with the same results as on the first run. When the throttle control was advanced without first leaning out the mixture control, the engine would quit. When the mixture was moved from the lean position to the full rich position with the engine running, the engine would again run rough, emit black smoke and then die within several seconds. On June 14, 1999, the Precision Fuel Servo Injector, model RSA-10ED1, S/N 8791, was flow tested under the supervision of the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC). The flow test revealed that the servo was running rich at the idle setting, and 'off' idle setting, but was found within specifications at the higher rpm settings. The Fuel Servo Injector, was received at the Miami NTSB office via FedEX Pak on April 1, 1999. The package remained in the FedEX Pak (envelope) until flow tests were conducted, when the IIC arranged to have the unit flow tested at a service dealer in the area. The unit was removed from the FedEX Pak, wrapped in a single piece of plastic, and no padding. After removal, it was observed that the only external damage was to the mixture control lever which was bent, and jammed in the full rich position. The FAA inspector revealed that the mixture lever was not damaged when he turned the unit over to someone in his office for shipping. It was concluded that the mixture arm was damaged after it left the FAA office in Atlanta and before it reached the NTSB office in Miami, and that the damage was caused in shipping the unit in an unprotected container. The damaged mixture control lever did not have any effect on the fuel servo flow test.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.