Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fitchburg Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fitchburg, Massachusetts 01420
Tuesady, July 22, 1997 15:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot performed a preflight inspection and observed the fuel tanks were half empty. After an uneventful local flight, the pilot departed for another flight. During the initial climb after takeoff, about 75 feet, the engine lost power. The pilot performed a forced landing, and the airplane came to rest left wing low. Examination of the wreckage revealed 7 gallons of uncontaminated automotive gasoline in the left fuel tank, and no fuel in the right tank. The fuel selector valve was found in the 'both' position, and the left fuel cap was found open. The pilot could not recall if he secured it properly during his preflight inspection. Additionally, the engine was test run satisfactorily using fuel that was drained from the airplane. The airplane's total fuel capacity was 39 gallons, of which 36 was usable. It was last refueled 8 months prior to the accident with 28.2 gallons of automotive gasoline. The airplane had been flown for 3/10 of an hour on a ferry flight for an annual inspection, 4 days prior to the accident, and had accumulated 1.38 hours since the annual inspection. According to the owner's manual, fuel consumption in cruise flight at 75% power at 2,500 feet was 8.5 gallons per hour.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/22/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1545 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | FITCHBURG |
| Event State | MASSACHUSETTS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 01420 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | FITCHBURG MUNI |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FIT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 350 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1607 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 190 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ORH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1009 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1918 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 22 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1620 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3553S |
| NTSB Number | NYC97LA150 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172E |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172E |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17250753 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| 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 | Jul 18 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 2595 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PETER J FASCIANO JR |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 115 DUMMER STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | BROOKLINE |
| Aircraft Owner State | MA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 02146 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | ANDREW H LIEBFRIED |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 89 CHARLTON ST |
| Operator City | FITCHBURG |
| Operator State | MA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 01420 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | FIT |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1545 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 3B3 |
| Destination City | STERLING |
| Destination State | MA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| 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 | 32 |
| Runway Length | 4800 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |