Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Springfield, Missouri 65801
Thursday, July 16, 1998 21:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated that while he was in contact with approach control, the engine quit suddenly, he switched tanks, and the engine restarted without hesitation. The pilot notified approach control of his fuel situation and approach control communicated to the pilot that he was flying directly over the airport. The pilot stated that he still did not have visual contact with the airport. The engine quit, for the second time, and the pilot executed a forced landing into a field. The pilot stated that he used 3 notches of flaps, tried to keep the wings level, and was aware of some trees that were at the beginning of the field he had selected. The aircraft came to rest on some railroad tracks. Post accident investigation showed that the pilot had been flying for at least 4 hours and 4 minutes at the time of the first engine failure. The fuel tanks were drained, with 1.5 pints of fuel being drained from each wing tank. There was no evidence of a fuel spill at the accident site and the fuel tanks were not compromised during the forced landing. There were no other anomalies found with the aircraft, flight controls, or engine.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot in command's inadequate preflight planning/preparation and inaccurate fuel consumption calculations that caused the aircraft's fuel supply to be exceeded. Factors to the accident were the dark light condition and the rough/uneven terrain condition.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/16/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2100 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | SPRINGFIELD |
| Event State | MISSOURI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 65801 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| 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 | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2110 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 104 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SGF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1267 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2411 |
| 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) | 502 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 17 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 44 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2001 11:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2953Y |
| NTSB Number | CHI98LA258 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7990584 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | Mar 6 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 57 |
| Airframe Hours | 1852 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SKY VENTURES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1023 EAST EVANS STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | SPRINGFIELD |
| Aircraft Owner State | MO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 65810 |
| 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 | 3R3 |
| Departure City | AUSTIN |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1708 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 3DW |
| Destination City | SPRINGFIELD |
| Destination State | MO |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2001 6:29PM |
| 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 | -- |