Cessna T210L N30286

Summary

On 14 June 2021 at about 13:00 local time, a Cessna T210L registered N30286 was involved in an accident near Buena Vista, Colorado, United States. 2 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 June 2021 at 13:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Buena Vista, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Leadville (LXV)

Coordinates

38.8422, -106.1311

Aircraft

Cessna T210L

Registration

N30286

Category

Airplane

Year built

1973

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Broomfield → Leadville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN21LA271

1 person had minor injuries.

The partial loss of engine power due to a vane failure in the engine-driven fuel pump.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that the airplane was over mountains and near the destination airport when the engine temperature and fuel flow gauges “dropped” and the engine lost partial power. The pilot pushed the throttle in and turned on the auxiliary fuel pump to the “high” position, but those actions had no effect on the engine power. The pilot troubleshot the loss of power; however, there was no change. The pilot then located a flat, treeless area for a forced landing. During the forced landing the landing gear separated and the airplane came to a stop upright. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage, firewall, and left outboard wing. A postaccident examination of the airplane’s engine-driven fuel pump showed that one of the pump’s two carbon vanes had fractured in half. How the carbon vane fractured was not determined. The severed fuel pump vane likely resulted in fuel cavitation, a drop in pump outlet pressure, a gradual decrease in engine rpm, and subsequent partial loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.