Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Long Island Macarthur Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Farmingville, New York 11742
Sunday, April 6, 1997 14:54 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During an ILS runway 24 approach, the engine lost power. According to the pilot, he switched fuel tanks & applied carburetor heat, then the engine restarted. He informed ATC, & was advised to maintain present heading to the airport. He stated that as the airplane descended below an overcast (about 600 ft agl), the engine lost power again. He switched tanks, & the engine restarted. The pilot started to land on a road, but due to traffic on the road, he elected to turn back toward the airport. The engine lost power a 3rd time. Subsequently, the airplane hit the top of a large tree during a forced landing, then came to rest against a house. During investigation, less than a quart of fuel was drained from the fuel system. During an operational check, the engine started on the 1st attempt & operated satisfactory to 2500 rpm. Duration of flight was about 3.6 hrs. En route, the flight was at an altitude of 4,000 ft msl, except about 16 minutes of flight was at 6,000 ft. The airplane's fuel capacity was 50 gallons. According to fuel consumption charts, the airplane's consumption rates with a lean fuel mixture were 10, 9.3, and 8.7 gallons per hour (gph), respectively, at 75, 70, and 65 percent of power. The pilot reported the normal fuel consumption rate was a consistent 10.5 gph. During the previous flight, the airplane was flown 2.2 hrs. The airplane was then refueled with 30.6 gallons of fuel.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's improper inflight planning/decision, which subsequently resulted in fuel exhaustion and loss of engine power. Related factors were: excessive fuel consumption rate, and obstructions (trees and house) in the emergency landing area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/6/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1454 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | FARMINGVILLE |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 11742 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LONG ISLAND MACARTHUR |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ISP |
| 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 | 99 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1500 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 50 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ISP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 600 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 4 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 3 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1296 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 6 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1500 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4400T |
| NTSB Number | NYC97FA069 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-180 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-180 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7205159 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2175 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 37 |
| Airframe Hours | 3278 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PAUL H. POTTER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 50 THE AVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | GREENWICH |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06831 |
| 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 | BHB |
| Departure City | BAR HARBOR |
| Departure State | ME |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1117 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ISP |
| Destination City | ISLIP |
| Destination State | NY |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| 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 | 24 |
| Runway Length | 7002 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |