Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Falcon, Colorado 80900
Sunday, July 14, 1996 18:35 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
In preparation for the cross-country flight, the pilot visually checked the fuel tanks for the specified quantity and found they were fueled evenly to the specified level. The right gauge showed lower than the left. During cruise flight at 11,000 feet msl, with about 30 min remaining to destination, the right tank fuel gauge was indicating less than 1/4 full and the left tank fuel gauge was indicating slightly less than 1/2 full. The left engine then quit and the pilot requested vectors to the nearest airport, which was about 4 miles distance. (The single engine service ceiling of the aircraft for the operating conditions present was 5,500 feet msl. The terrain elevation was 6,874 feet and the density altitude was 8,100 feet.) During descent for landing, the pilot thought the left engine might run so he restarted it and it ran until shut down via the mixture after landing. The pilot spotted what he thought was the airport, and during approach discovered it was a residential street. Because he had unexplainable power problems, he continued the approach and landed. During landing roll, the left wing collided with a mail box post. Examination revealed that the fuel lines were crossed. No maintenance entry was found to determine when this maintenance error occurred, and examination of like aircraft provided no duplication of fuel line routing. With the fuel feed line plumbing routed in the manner it was found, had the pilot selected cross feed it is possible that both engines would have lost power.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to the pilot's inaccurate fuel consumption calculation, and his failure to properly identify the area of intended landing as an airport. A factor was the misrouting of the fuel line by unknown persons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/14/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1835 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | FALCON |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80900 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1845 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 250 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | COS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6184 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 8100 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1531 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 14 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1840 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 10:12AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6708A |
| NTSB Number | FTW96LA304 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | 76 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 76 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | ME302 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3900 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 12 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5 |
| Airframe Hours | 2838 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | EXECUTIVE BEECHCRAFT, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 10 RICHARDS ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | KANSAS CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | MO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 64116 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | WILLIAM E. ROTH |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | RR1 BOX 264A |
| Operator City | BRECKENRIDGE |
| Operator State | MO |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 64625 |
| Operator Code | AKGA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MKC |
| Departure City | KANSAS CITY |
| Departure State | MO |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1602 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | COS |
| Destination City | COLORADO SPGS |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |