Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fulton County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Wauseon, Ohio 43567
Saturday, August 30, 1997 20:05 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The annual inspection was completed on the day of the accident, which included the installation of an overhauled engine. The pilot/co-owner hired a flight instructor for the first flight. Break in instructions for the engine were to run it for 2 hours at full throttle and mixture full rich. During takeoff the engine only produced 2,100 rpm's and the takeoff roll used 3,000 feet of the 3,800 foot runway. After flying 1 hour, the pilot landed and called the mechanic about the engine. The pilot was told that 'the timing may be off, or that the engine may still be a little tight.' The pilot then decided to fly again with the other co-owner. After another hour of flying, and during the turn to final, the engine quit. The pilot performed a forced landing to a field short of the runway. After the accident, a witness turned the fuel selector from the left tank to the off position. Only unusable fuel was found in the left wing tank, and the right wing tank was about 1/2 to 3/4 of full. Additionally, no fuel was found in the lines to the carburetor, and only residual fuel was in the engine driven fuel pump. The pilot's total flight experience was 84 hours.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's fuel mismanagement by his failure to switch fuel tank positions, which resulted in the fuel starvation and the loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/30/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 2005 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | WAUSEON |
| Event State | OHIO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 43567 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | FULTON COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | USE |
| 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 | 780 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1951 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 100 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TOL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 684 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| 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) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1821 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 30 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2105 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2372L |
| NTSB Number | IAD97LA116 |
| 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 | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | MUSKETEER 23 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MUSKETEER |
| Aircraft Serial Number | M-214 |
| 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 | Aug 30 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ERNEST GILL & WILLIAM PORTER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1689 CIMARON ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | DEFIANCE |
| Aircraft Owner State | OH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 43512 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | USE |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1900 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 9 |
| Runway Length | 3882 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |