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Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative: The commercial pilot reported that, while in cruise flight, he noticed that the engine oil pressure had dropped. He declared an emergency and was initially given a heading to the closest airport. About 2-3 minutes later, he heard rattling noises from the engine, then the cabin filled with black smoke. He identified an open field and maneuvered for a forced landing. The airplane hit a berm and bounced, hitting several more berms, until it came to rest inverted. On-scene photographs showed that the belly of the airplane was coated with engine oil aft of the engine firewall. An engine examination identified that the air-oil separator return line was not connected to the return port located on a cylinder rocker cover. Maintenance records showed that the pilot had performed an oil change 4.3 hours before the accident. Since the oil filter is located behind the air-oil separator return line, it is likely that the pilot removed the air-oil separator return line to access the oil filter and failed to reconnect the line after replacing the filter. While in flight, oil slowly drained out of the air-oil separator return line and open return port, coating the belly of the airplane, until the engine experienced catastrophic failure due to oil starvation.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to reconnect the air-oil separator return line after completing an oil change, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to oil starvation.