Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Purdue University Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
Sunday, October 5, 1997 17:22 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A witness, near the approach end of the runway, monitoring the air traffic control tower frequency, heard the tower clear the airplane to enter left traffic for runway 23, and saw the airplane enter left downwind for the traffic pattern. The witness said that the airplane 'was very low for that part of the pattern, 300 to 500 feet above ground level. The pilot told the tower that he was abeam the numbers for runway 28 and wanted to land on that runway. The airplane 'began a sharp turn, but without much bank - probably skidding - when parallel to runway 28, the plane wobbled, banked sharply left and right, and lost altitude. The airplane 'appeared to be in a landing-type attitude, not nose down.' The airplane wobbled, straightened out, then 'disappeared from sight behind hills and buildings.' Examination of the airplane's fuel tanks revealed no fuel in the right fuel tank. Six gallons of fuel were recovered from the left fuel tank. The fuel selector valve in the airplane's cockpit was positioned on the right fuel tank. No other anomalies were found with the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's improper decision not to land before his airplane ran out of fuel, fuel exhaustion and the inadvertent stall.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/5/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1722 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | WEST LAFAYETTE |
| Event State | INDIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 47907 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | PURDUE UNIVERSITY AIRPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LAF |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 50 |
| Airport Elevation | 606 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1730 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 50 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LAF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 606 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| 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) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2347 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 489 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 5 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2015 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1566A |
| NTSB Number | CHI98LA006 |
| 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 | V35A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | V35A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-9021 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 4 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1078 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JOHN T. LAWLER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3675 AMBERY CIRCLE |
| Aircraft Owner City | NAPLES |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33962 |
| 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 | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | LAF |
| 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 | 23 |
| Runway Length | 4226 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |