Accident to the Robin DR400 - 140B registered F-GBIA on 16/06/2019 à Saint Cyr l’École (Yvelines)

During a flight from Deauville Normandy aerodrome (Calvados), the pilot, who was accompanied by a passenger, joined the traffic pattern of Saint Cyr l'École aerodrome. On the downwind leg, he reported to the controller that he was experiencing engine problems. The pilot landed in a field. During the landing run, the aircraft hit a fence, the nose gear failed and the aircraft came to rest a few metres further on.

The examinations of the fuel system and engine revealed no indication of a malfunction.

The manner in which the engine stopped is compatible with a case of unpriming of the fuel system. Given the amount of fuel estimated by the pilot before the flight and the assumed fuel consumption during the flight, there may have been insufficient fuel remaining in the main fuel tank to supply continuous fuel to the engine. This hypothesis assumes that there was no fuel transfer from the range extension fuel tank to the main fuel tank before the first misfires were observed.