Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Wassau Island, Georgia 31328
Friday, September 27, 1996 9:35 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight was airborne for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, when the pilot reported to Approach Control that the airplane's engines lost power. The pilot stated, 'the right engine quit, shortly thereafter the left engine quit.' ATC gave the pilot vectors to an airport. The pilot said that after getting the airport in sight, 'I thought it [was] too far to make a safe landing,' and elected to land on the beach. In addition, the pilot stated that the 'fuel gauges [were] giving faulty readings.' The pilot did not mention the amount of fuel onboard at the time the engines failed, or if the airplane was serviced with fuel before departure. One of the passengers stated that after the engines failed the pilot 'tried many tricks to get down...switched fuel tanks, pumps on/off etc...to no avail.' When the FAA arrived at the wreckage they found no fuel in the fuel tanks, and none of the fuel tanks had been breached, nor was there any signs of fuel leakage.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadequate preflight and planning which resulted in fuel exhaustion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/27/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 935 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | WASSAU ISLAND |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 31328 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| 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 | Pilot |
| 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 | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 225 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 1649 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 27 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1048 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 10:22AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N151JP |
| NTSB Number | MIA96LA234 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-31-310 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-31-310 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 317812112 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6500 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 1 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 8926 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | COASTAL AVIATION INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3824 S. TUTTLE AVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | SARASOTA |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 34239 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SRQ |
| Departure City | SARASOTA |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 750 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 49J |
| Destination City | HILTON HEAD |
| Destination State | SC |
| 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 | -- |