Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Van Nuys Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Van Nuys, California 91406
Wednesday, September 27, 1995 23:48 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The 70-hour student pilot was returning from a night cross-country flight when his home base airport went IFR. He diverted to another airport where the tower was closed. While descending in a 360-degree turn to lose altitude the engine quit. After switching tanks and turning the boost pump on he got a brief restart. After it quit again he switched tanks without a restart. Unable to reach the airport he descended into an unlighted spot in a residential area with the gear down and approach flaps. The airplane collided with trees into a residential backyard. According to the pilot's computer generated flight plan, he should have had 12.7 gallons of useable fuel remaining between the two stock fuel tanks. His electronic fuel computers non-volatile memory indicated 15.5 gallons remaining. There were minimal signs of fuel remaining at the accident scene. The student pilot had not been endorsed for the cross-country flight.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's fuel mismanagement and failure to assure that an adequate supply of fuel was available. His lack of familiarity with the airplane's fuel system, overcofidence, the dark night, and the lack of a suitable landing area were factors in the accident.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/27/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2348 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | VAN NUYS |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91406 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | VAN NUYS |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | VNY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 340 |
| Airport Elevation | 799 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1682 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 28 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 30 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N15278 |
| NTSB Number | LAX95FA341 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BEECH |
| Aircraft Model | A36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A36 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | E-2550 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3650 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 21 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 158 |
| Airframe Hours | 661 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BRADLEY A. CAROLIN J. HUMPHREY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | RT. 3 BOX 2629A BEACH LOOP DR |
| Aircraft Owner City | BANDON |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97411 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | BRADLEY A. HUMPHREY |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 30935 VIA RIVERA |
| Operator City | R. PALOS VERDES |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 90275 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SCK |
| Departure City | STOCKTON |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2120 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | TOA |
| Destination City | TORRANCE |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16R |
| Runway Length | 8001 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |