The aircraft was cruising at 400 feet above the ground when it suffered a complete engine failure. The pilot stated that the engine had cut out in a manner similar to being switched off. There was no rough running or misfiring, before the engine stopped. A single air restart was attempted without success. The pilot then elected to land in a dry creekbed, the only available cleared area within gliding distance. During the forced landing, the right main landing gear struck a rock. This resulted in a severe swing to the right during which the aircraft struck trees lining the creekbed. The aircraft was transported to a workshop at Mt Isa, where a successful attempt was made to restart the engine. The engine ran at low power settings, for some time with out fault. The owner restarted and ran the engine a further four times without incident. However, the engine fuel filter was later found to have been substantially contaminated with foreign debris. The fuel filter had previously been reinstalled in the reverse sense by the aircraft owner. This effectively contained all incoming contaminants on the inside of the filter screen tube, which caused a restriction to the fuel flow.
