Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Manchester Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Manchester, New Hampshire 03101
Thursday, June 18, 1998 11:16 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The vintage ex-military jet was on an airworthiness test flight after a 12-year rebuilding process. Thirty-five minutes into the flight, and while on approach to an airport, the pilot announced over the radio that he wanted to conduct multiple landings. A little over 2 minutes later, he stated that the airplane would make a full stop, and 7 seconds after that, the pilot reported that he would have to eject. The engine had flamed out, but the pilot stayed with airplane until it cleared a crowded parking lot. The pilot did not survive the low trajectory ejection. Post-accident analysis revealed that one fuel gauge was frozen around 575 pounds, while the other had a needle slap mark at 740 pounds. All four fuselage fuel tanks were found empty, while both inboard wing tanks contained some fuel. The amount of fuel in the wing tanks at the time of the accident was undetermined due to tank leakage from the impact.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel exhaustion, resulting from the pilot's reliance on an inaccurate fuel quantity indicating system. A factor in the pilot's death was his intentional delay of the ejection sequence in order to avoid people and property on the ground.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/18/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1116 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | MANCHESTER |
| Event State | NEW HAMPSHIRE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 03101 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | MANCHESTER AIRPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MHT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 350 |
| Airport Elevation | 234 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1120 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MHT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 230 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2500 |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| 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) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 1660 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 18 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1225 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:32AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N745WT |
| NTSB Number | NYC98FA129 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Hawker Aircraft Ltd. |
| Aircraft Model | HUNTER T MK 8 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | HUNTER T M |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 41H695947 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 25000 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 15 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 1192 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | IN LITIGATION |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | |
| Aircraft Owner State | |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | EDWARD C. STEAD |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 31 RANDOM ROAD |
| Operator City | BEDFORD |
| Operator State | NH |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 03110 |
| 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 | MHT |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1041 |
| 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 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 17 |
| Runway Length | 7001 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |