N8794VBellanca 17-30A · 1970

On February 2, 2008, about 1230 Pacific standard time, a Bellanca 17-30A, N8794V, collided with a power line during an attempted forced landing at Snohomish County Airport (Paine Field), Mukilteo, Washington. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant of the airplane, received serious injuries, and the airplane, which was owned and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The local 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 personal pleasure flight, which departed the same airport about 15 minutes prior to the accident, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan had been filed. There was no report of an ELT activation.

According to the pilot, the airplane's engine lost all power while he was on short-final for a touch-and-go landing. Because he was at such a low altitude, he did not have time to go through a complete restart procedure, so after switching fuel tanks, he aligned the airplane to land on a paved road that was under his approach path. While attempting to land on that road, the airplane clipped a power line near the edge of the road. After hitting the power line, the airplane rolled to a steep angle of bank, and descended into the surface of the road.

The engine, fuel system, and air induction system underwent a post-accident teardown inspection. That inspection did not reveal any system or component anomaly that would have prevented the engine from producing rated horsepower. In addition, both the fuel tank that was selected prior to the power loss, and the fuel tank that was selected after the power loss contained sufficient fuel to maintain operation of the engine. Fuel was also found in the fuel manifold valve, and the use of water detection paste determined that there was no water present in the valve.