Preliminary report: Engine quits on Narc airplane

AYRES S2T-T65, MAGDALENA, N.M., JAN. 8, 2004–Ayres N3100E, registered to the U.S. Department of State Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Matters (INM), was destroyed during a forced landing in a heavily forested area west of Magdalena at approximately 10 a.m. According to the local police, the engine quit, and after the airplane crashed it was consumed by fire. The instructor pilot and the pilot receiving instruction escaped with only minor injuries. The instructional flight was being operated under Part 91. No flight plan had been filed for the local flight, which had departed Albuquerque, N.M., at 8:30 a.m. VMC prevailed.