Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ford, Virginia 23850
Sunday, April 19, 1998 17:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was flying an airplane he had purchased 18 days prior, from Florida to his home airport in Virginia. On one leg, the airplane's navigational and communications equipment failed and the pilot purchased a handheld global positioning system (GPS) receiver for navigation. While en route the pilot was unable to locate his proposed refueling stop and after 35 to 40 minutes of searching for the airport, his GPS receiver failed due to low battery power. The pilot stated, he was at 2,500 feet AGL, when the airplane's left and right engines simultaneously lost power, and he performed a forced landing to a field. Examination of the wreckage revealed 30 minutes to 1 hour of fuel remained. A 10 to 15 foot long power cable was wrapped around the propeller hub of the left engine. According to an FAA Inspector, propeller ground strikes indicated at least one engine was operating at the time of the accident and the airplane was removed from the accident site by the pilot before it could be examined further. The pilot reported over 3,600 hours of total flight experience, of which about 25 hours were multi-engine aircraft and 10 hours were in make and model.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power simultaneously on both engines as reported by the pilot, for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/19/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1730 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | FORD |
| Event State | VIRGINIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 23850 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1740 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PTB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 193 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4800 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3800 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| 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 | 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) | 1183 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 21 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1045 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N377B |
| NTSB Number | NYC98LA096 |
| 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 | C-50 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | C-50 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | CH-305 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6000 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 17 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 16 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HAYS ENGINEERING INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 35 11 SILVERSIDE RD SUITE 105 |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19810 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | JAMES E. HAYS |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2804 WHITE PINE CT |
| Operator City | TEMPLE HILLS |
| Operator State | MD |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 20748 |
| 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 | 55J |
| Departure City | FERNANDINA |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | W32 |
| Destination City | CLINTON |
| Destination State | MD |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |