Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Tillamook Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tillamook, Oregon 97141
Friday, June 6, 1997 18:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The aircraft (P-38) had been topped off with full reserve & main fuel tanks (44 US gal/engine reserve tanks & 72 gal/engine main tanks). The pilot took off with about 20 minutes fuel having been already consumed. Operating with another P-38 within the airport area, the 2 aircraft flew about 20 to 25 minutes each. The fuel consumption was reported nominally at 60 gallons/hour/engine (1 gal/minute). With 44 gallons of fuel in each RESERVE tank for the duration of both flights, the engines would have exhausted all available fuel in each RESERVE tank after about 44 minutes. Both fuel selectors were found on the RESERVE setting at the site. No mechanical malfunction was found with either propeller or engine. The flaps & landing gear were retracted. According to the Pilot's Manual (flight manual), if one engine fails below 120 mph (safe single-engine airspeed), the pilot is to 'close both throttles and land straight ahead.' The flight manual did not provide any information for aircraft minimum control speeds with the flaps fully retracted. Several witnesses reported the aircraft was slow while turning base. Since this was a single-seat aircraft, there was no provision for 'dual' instructional training in single-engine procedures or spin recovery. The pilot was reported to have flown 6 or 7 hours in another P-38, which included practice simulated single-engine maneuvers, but no actual in-flight shut down & feathering of an engine.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of the pilot to maintain minimum control speed (VMC), after loss of power in one engine, which resulted in a loss of aircraft control and collision with terrain. Related factors were: the pilot's improper fuel management and failure to change the fuel selector position before a fuel tank had emptied, which led to fuel starvation and loss of power in one engine; and the pilot's lack of familiarity with the aircraft, relative to single-engine minimum airspeeds.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/6/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | TILLAMOOK |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97141 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | TILLAMOOK |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | S47 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 3 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 136 |
| Airport Elevation | 35 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1753 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MMV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 159 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 29 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 900 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1565 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 6 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1844 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:21PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7973 |
| NTSB Number | SEA97FA130 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Lockheed |
| Aircraft Model | P-38L |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | P-38L |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 8006 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 18500 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 2 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PRUETT, BRUCE, L. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO BOX 389 |
| Aircraft Owner City | LIVERMORE |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94551 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | ETHELL, JEFFREY, L. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 9017 STONEWALL JACKSON HIGHWAY |
| Operator City | FRONT ROYAL |
| Operator State | VA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 22630 |
| 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) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | S47 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1735 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| 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 | 31 |
| Runway Length | 4990 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |