Caravan Undifferentiated
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 171.3; Flight Crew Total 490; Flight Crew Type 171.3
Time Pressure
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution
Aircraft
On takeoff from ZZZ at around 500 ft AGL we experienced what we initially thought to be a full engine failure as torque and ITT rolled back. The Captain was flying; and I called out the problem. Without delay he pinned for 90kts on the airspeed and turned back towards land. I made a mayday call to Tower; and the Captain turned on the ignition and attempted to restore power with the Emergency Power Lever (EPL). An estimated 30% of power was restored so we made the decision to attempt a complete turn to the airport. Without this extra power we believe we would not have been able to return to the field due to loss of altitude. We were able to settle at around 300-400 AGL and held around 100kts with the EPL engaged. We had the field at this point at anytime so decided to make a safer shortened downwind/base/final approach back to the runway. At this point I smelled fuel and informed the Captain that we needed to call for fire emergency services; which we did; and he made the turn to land. We went through a full emergency shutdown just in case there was any fire that ignited. While rolling to a stop I informed the passengers that we would make a precautionary emergency evacuation but to remain calm and they did. Fuel was pouring out of the cowling when we were on the ground and once the engine cooled we could visibly see fuel inside the engine compartment. There were never any engine annunciators that came on that would indicate a failure or problem of any sort. There was no other damage or injury. There was also no time for any checklist usage other than memory items; nor was there a checklist for this type of problem. Upon preflight I noticed no abnormalities with the fuel bypass filter or any leakage of any kind. During the first 2.7 hour flight just prior to this flight everything worked great.
C208 First Officer reported the engine lost power during initial climb.